Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 3 of 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
#67849 05/01/02 09:00 AM
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 444
B
addict
Offline
addict
B
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 444
{blue]: it is perfectly OK to regard Victora as the southernmost part of oz too! Max is geographically correct of course but we mainlanders would not take offence at Vic being called southern

southern
southernmost

Isn't there another thread on this?


#67850 05/02/02 01:08 AM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
I got:\sluggers

speedo-type bathers: Look at that guy, thinks he's so hot in his sluggers!

Okay, whenever I make it up there, I want to see all you guys model a pair for me! :-)
I'm glad they included an example of use. Otherwise, I'd have thought it referred to people who swim fast. Here, bather is an old-fashioned word for swimmer. I take it the usage here is what we would call swim trunks? stales, you ought to be bi-lingual--help!




#67851 05/02/02 02:01 AM
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 477
H
hev Offline
addict
Offline
addict
H
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 477
\sluggers

speedo-type bathers:

Hmm, there's plenty of other names for them too... more colloquial than sluggers! Dicky danglers; Dick stickers; and DP's (DP stands for "Dick Pokers", which is what you see when a guy wears them). I'm sure there are other names too.

I want to see all you guys model a pair for me! :-)

And I'll be busy that day!


#67852 05/02/02 02:52 AM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 45
Z
newbie
Offline
newbie
Z
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 45
Oh blech!
"sluggers"? ?
What nasty connotations this has - and could be construed to be somewhat derogatory to the boys out there!
I am astonished to see that this word is attributed to my neck of the woods (West Oz). I've always lived here and have never heard it - well, apart from it being the name of a baseball-themed restaurant down the road. Like Hev says - we have other names for this little item of swimming attire, which are usually just called "speedos", but "sluggers"? No thanks!


#67853 05/03/02 03:54 AM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Someone sent me a site about dinosaur-bone digging in Oz, and it was near the very bottom of the continent (SE region), near a town called Inverloch. I know that the town that is just about the southernmost part of NZ is Invercargill. Does inver- have something to do with a southern location? Say--there's a street near me called Inverness--but it's not the southernmost end of town, let alone the continent. Loch and ness make we wonder if it's Scottish. Cargill is a mystery to me.


#67854 05/03/02 05:00 AM
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148
A
member
Offline
member
A
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148
My lucky dip was:
white rabbits

you have to say it on the first day of any month which contains the letter R: White rabbits!

It says this is in Victoria, but having lived here for 5 years I've never heard it; we just say "A pinch and a punch for the first day of the month" and all the silly follow-ons. My husband, who grew up in Vic, tells me that people say "White rabbits" when they put out a campfire, to make the smoke go away!

alexis



#67855 05/03/02 05:10 AM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
B
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
B
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
According to xrefer (http://www.xrefer.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=443769&secid=.1.-#s.1.-) inver is Celtic for river mouth. So Inverness is the town at the mouth of the river Ness.

Bingley


Bingley
#67856 05/03/02 02:15 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Alexis ~

Could you expand on the first-day-of-the-month ritual? Is this exchange something one does on the first of every month? Typically with whom? And what is the complete litany, please?


#67857 05/03/02 10:14 PM
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 444
B
addict
Offline
addict
B
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 444
you have to say it on the first day of any month which contains the letter R: White rabbits!

Similar things in the UK when I grew up, except that in my family we had to say 'Rabbits and Hares' rather than 'White Rabbits'. I think I knew both variations before I lived overseas, but I'd never heard the 'pinch and a punch' until I got to Oz. So maybe that's the one they should put on the word map?

In my understanding too, the words (whichever version you go with) have to be the very first ones you utter that month to be effective. (some kind of goodluck incantation?? - there's more to this than I realised when I started...)
All well and good if you a)remember what day of the month it is first thing in the morning when you wake up or b)don't ever indulge in the kind of latenight activity where midnight passes unheeded and you find you've said something else before you realise!

And this is the first time I've heard of the limitation to months which contain the letter R - I always thought it was all months. The letter R rule was for eating oysters or when to water cacti or something.




#67858 05/03/02 10:26 PM
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 444
B
addict
Offline
addict
B
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 444
inver is Celtic for river mouth. So Inverness is the town at the mouth of the river Ness.

Which is all well and good, but 'ness' is a standard element meaning headland. (Check in the Norse section on Bingley's link.) So how did it get to be the name of a river? Is this pure coincidence or what?



Page 3 of 6 1 2 3 4 5 6

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,912
Posts229,283
Members9,179
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV, Heather_Turey, Standy
9,179 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 676 guests, and 4 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
tsuwm 10,542
wofahulicodoc 10,510
LukeJavan8 9,916
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5