#32730
06/19/2001 4:49 AM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 1
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 1 |
redd (red) verb tr. 1. To set in order. 2. To clear.
The other definition was a spawning place for salmon... and so was the example sentence. That was the easy way out!
When's the last time you redded the screen and rebooted? Eh? Oh yeah.... "When contemplating the alphabet soup's diplay the linquist said, 'I'll redd.'"
What's a relevant example for the word not involving FISH?
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#32731
06/19/2001 5:05 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618
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addict
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Have we discovered the elusive redd herring?
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#32732
06/19/2001 7:52 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
'to redd (up) a room', 'to redd the table'
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#32733
06/19/2001 12:00 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The only time I ever heard the word was over fifty years ago, visiting my mother-in-law, who was Pennsylvania-Dutch. After lunch, she said she would "redd up the table."
P.S. When I first posted, I had not seen Today's Word. The use of "redd" for fish spawning areas seems obvious to me. I have watched sunfish work very hard to agitate water where they are about to spawn, to clear away the accumulated algae debris that would prevent fertilized ova getting adequate oxygen.
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#32734
06/19/2001 3:05 PM
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Posts: 544
addict
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I sent a reply to Anu on this one, as there was an interesting bit of linguistic convergence of a sort.
In Spanish, red means net, like you'd catch a fish with (from the same root that gives us reticulate - resembling a net - like the reticulated python, whose markings look like a net over its body). So, one could catch a red herring in a redd with a red.
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#32735
06/19/2001 3:47 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
Hyla, do be sure to tell us if you get a response from TG&P Anu... if you are among those privileged to have Anu's ear, we'll have to roll out the redd carpet for you. 
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#32736
06/19/2001 6:20 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
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Yes, Dr. Bill, as a Pa. Dutchman myself, I am quite accustomed to "redd up" (always used with "up") but I have never heard it used by anyone else -- I thought it was a Pa Dutch word, but Anu doesn't say so.
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#32737
06/19/2001 6:24 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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BobYB thought it was a Pa Dutch word
I wonder if the PD redd and the fish redd are even the same word.
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#32738
06/19/2001 6:44 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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TRANSITIVE
VERB:
Inflected forms: redd·ed or redd, redd·ing, redds
Chiefly Pennsylvania To clear: redd the dinner table.
PHRASAL VERB:
redd up To tidy: redded up the front room.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English dialectal redden, to clear an area (influenced by Middle English
redden, to rescue, free from), from Old Norse rydhja. See rid.
REGIONAL NOTE:
The terms redd and redd up came to the American Midlands from the many
Scottish immigrants who settled there. Meaning “to clear an area or to make it
tidy,” redd is still used in Scotland and Northern Ireland; in the United States it
is especially common in Pennsylvania as the phrasal verb redd up. The term,
which goes back to Old Norse rydhja, can be traced from the 15th century to
the present, particularly in dialects of Scotland and the North of England.
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#32739
06/19/2001 8:26 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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So then does redd (sorry, folks, what other color was I supposed to use with this one?) have any association with ready ? And does it have anything to do with in the red as opposed to "in the black"?
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#32740
06/19/2001 8:34 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Re: in the red (in the financial clear)
Huh? to me in the red is in debt or in business sense-- a loss-- not making a profit. I never want to be in the red! and i think that is different reasoning-- maybe from old ledger books-- where losses where noted in RED ink
Red letter days have a different source too, from old missles-- holidays were marked on the calendar in RED-- Faldage posted some very nice info--over 3 months ago if you should try and search..
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#32741
06/19/2001 9:15 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 328
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 328 |
I have never heard it used by anyone else -- I thought it was a Pa Dutch word, but Anu doesn't say so.
I always thought that "redd up" was Pennsylvania Dutch too. I was truly surprised to see it come up as the WAD today! My immediate family doesn't use it, but my mother says that some of her relatives always do.
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#32742
06/19/2001 10:13 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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(in the financial clear) Sorry for the confusion, of troy...I edited this out just as soon as I posted (my mind must've done a flip!)...you must've peeked at it as soon as it appeared. 
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#32743
06/20/2001 1:42 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
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Carpal Tunnel
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You can count on Helen as your reddy reckoner...
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#32744
06/20/2001 1:56 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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You can count on Helen as your reddy reckoner...
maverick.....Ouch!   She is Woman, hear her roar! (we might as well groan together!)
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#32745
06/20/2001 2:21 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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OK. But if she sidles up to you with a smart looking jacket and says "Just slip your arms in here...." - RUN She may never find the key.
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#32746
06/20/2001 12:35 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Obviously, Only CK-- off galavanting and not reading or adding to these threads would understand...
Halloween was big at our house.. we have all sorts of paraphanalia for costumes.. some of it bordering on weird-- okay, okay, some of has crossed the border!
My neices and nephews love that i have a "can of Mixed Nuts" that opens to have a giant snake pop out-- and that i have bubbles.. enough for every one to blow bubbles-- and bubble wands to make bubbles as big as they are tall... and blue print paper-- to make "sun photos"-- and rockets-- (5 foot tall rockets-- that go really high up) and 50 foot long kites.. and we have bon fires in the summer.. and jars for catching fire flies.. and masks-- I have lots of masks-- piggy noses and feather ones.. and wigs and straight jackets, and handcuffs, and well, my house is fun place to visit.. (one of the bedrooms in my house has glow in the dark stars on the ceilings and walls.. kids like to go to bed... )
didja ever take a nickle or dime (or other small value coin) and crazy glue it to the concrete? Its hours of fun-- works best in high traffic areas.. makes the hour long wait at an air port really fun! (and if you consider the entertainment value-- its cheap even if you do it with a doller coin! ) most news stands sell crazy glue-- the set up takes about 30 minutes- (the kids have to hide the coin till the glue fully sets up).. and they the fun begins.. people try to pick it up, traffic jams.. and eventually, the cleaning crew removes it with a little nail polish remover-- and no harm done...
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#32747
06/20/2001 12:51 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428
addict
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addict
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didja ever take a nickle or dime (or other small value coin) and crazy glue it to the concrete?
I used to work at a place where the owners had done it with a quarter, but it got to be so painful watching the vast majority of customers try to pick it up they had to switch to a penny, which got much less interest.
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#32748
06/20/2001 1:44 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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yes, you can glue a coin to a roofing nail (large headed nail) and pound into a wooded floor..
we like water guns too-- last year i got drenched when i called some cousins provincial.. it was relayed other that i had called them "weenies"-- and i retaliated by pointing out that they were so provincial, they didn't even know the meaning of the word.. (did i mention they had "Super pumpers" the giant water guns that hold almost a liter of water-- and can shoot a stream 10 meters? )
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#32749
06/20/2001 1:46 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
The passageway leading to the entrance of Pancaster Market has old coins- the old, pre-decimal currency, that is - set randonly into the flag-stones. It makes an interesting pattern and gives some idea of why the market is there - - -
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#32750
06/20/2001 3:19 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Dear pf troy: Here are a couple other crazy glue tricks I hope you won't try. At a town meeting, a guy who kept jumping up to make inappropriate remarks had the guy behind him put cyanoacrylate on his chair set when he got up, and spray accelerator on his trouser seat. When he sat down, he could not get up again.
A woman who found her husband was cheating on her, removed covers from the sleeping Lothario and poured a vial of cyanoacrylate over his genitalia which ran down into his crotch. When he awoke, he was so immobilized he had to have a trip to hospital ER to have debonder applied. Less drastic than Mrs. Bobbit's revenge.
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#32751
06/20/2001 3:37 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The most common "cure" i have heard for "sleeping around" is to freeze marbles-- and pour them onto the appropiate anatomy- and point out to the partner -- "it could have just as easily been boilling water.. "
cold marbles work well, too, to get children out of the bed.. cheap, reusable, and they don't melt into puddles..
and at family picnics, as things settle down, but the children still have way to much energy- have them warm some water to temid (over the dieing coals)-- and then find cousin/uncle/friend who has "fallen asleep" and dip their hand in the warm water..---a most embarrassing moment!
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#32752
06/20/2001 3:47 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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a coin glued to concrete...and the fun begins...people try to pick it upYes!, of troy! But even more fun here at the shore is the old string-on-a-dollar-bill gag on the boardwalk! Heres' how it works: You punch a small whole in, usually, a dollar bill (but you can use a $5 or $10 if you're that brave!) and tie a sturdy, long string onto it (invisible fishing line works best). Then you find a nice bench on the boardwalk, lay the bill out, and let the string drop through, along the crack in the boards...and, when some unsuspecting passerby ecstactically reaches down to pluck up their newfound treasure, you give the string a good yank and the bill dances away... And with all the foot traffic there's usually a good twenty people or more to laugh at the poor victims's embarrassment! But, the more classic approach (and probably safer in this day and age when people seem to be a lot less good-natured than they use to be) is to go UNDER the boardwalk, slip the bill through the crack, and yank it back down through the crevice just as the unsuspecting victim is about to pick it up! This is hysterical when viewed from the top, the stuff that Candid Camera legends were made of! So remember, of troy, if you come down here to the Wildwood boardwalk, don't try to pick up any bills! 
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#32753
06/20/2001 3:55 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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So both the hand immersed in tepid water and terror can dampen the underwear.
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#32754
06/20/2001 6:47 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I continue a tradition taught me by my Grandfather : I take my pennies and drop them randomly on the sidewalk in the town center. Sometimes I sit in my car and watch the delight on children's faces as they find the pennies and head for the penny candy in our local family-run Market!! Other times I drop and leave.
Sometimes an adult will spot a penny and pick it up and smile.
See a penny, pick it up,
All the day you'll have good luck.
OR
Find a penny, give it away,
Luck will follow you all the day.
Give it a try sometime when you have a few extra pennies!
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#32755
06/20/2001 7:19 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
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One of our neighbors, years ago knew her husband was sleeping around. She finally got fed up when he gave her a case of pediculosis (we call it "crabs" here). So she waited until the next time he came home from an outing and passed out drunk (didn't have long to wait), then took a large blue Magic Marker and painted the head of his member with it so that it was solid purple. When he woke the next morning, he came running out of the bathroom screaming. She told him it came from sticking it into those filthy whores he was sleeping with and it would serve him right if it had to be amputated. The doctor laughed hysterically when he examined him. He gave up the trollops, at least for a while.
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#32756
06/21/2001 12:39 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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I wondered if the PD redd and the fish redd are even the same word.
My suspicions are bolstered. The AHD gives a long specific etymology for redd in the sense we know from the Pennsylvania Dutch ( http://www.bartleby.com/61/70/R0097000.html) and a terse "Origin unknown" for the fish spawning sense. ( http://www.bartleby.com/61/70/R0097050.html)
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#32757
06/21/2001 2:56 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Forgive me for indulging in the vanity of repeating a previous post. When fish spawn, the bottom must be clear sand or else the developing ova would not get enough oxygen. The fish spend a considerable amount of time and energy agitating the water in the place they plan to deposit the ova, to "redd up" the layer of dead or living algae. I have seen sunfish do this. All along the edge of the pond there were light colored circles of their nests, outlined by the dark dead algae layer. I have a hunch the males do the work, to attract a roe laden female.So the name "redd"
for a cleared place for fish to deposit ova makes sense to me.
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#32758
06/21/2001 3:03 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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the name "redd" for a cleared place for fish to deposit ova makes sense to Dr. Bill
But not, apparently, to the etymologists at the American Heritage Dictionary.
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#32759
06/21/2001 3:59 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
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the etymologists at the American Heritage Dictionary...who depend, damn their eyes hi, BY!not on surmise or surprise but on being well-redd
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#32760
06/21/2001 4:52 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And the etymological authorities never went salmon fishing or saw a sunfish building its nest. Sod the bunch of them. They should commune with nature occasionally.
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#32761
06/21/2001 5:16 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 218
enthusiast
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enthusiast
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etymological authorities never went salmon fishing
I bet an entomological etymologist sure could fly fish for words.
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#32762
06/21/2001 6:31 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Tsuwm is our master expisciator of words, but has never said what technique he prefers - fly fishing, trolling artifical lures, or bottom fishing with live bait.
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#32763
06/24/2001 11:33 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Tsuwm is our master expisciator of words, but has never said what technique he prefers - fly fishing, trolling artifical lures, or bottom fishing with live bait ... or guddling (one of this week's Hogwash®-type challenges on NPR's "Says You!")
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#32764
06/24/2001 7:13 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Forgive me, but perhaps this may be of interest
To see a spawning salmon in the stream look for white flashes underwater that
persist in one location. This is the female or 'doe' salmon turning on her side to
dig the redd. She selects the spawning location and prepares the redd while the
male, or 'buck' fights off other males who wish to take his place beside the
female when she is ejecting her eggs. A salmon redd is a depression created by
the upstroke of the female salmon's body and tail, sucking up the river bottom
gravel and using the river current to drift it downstream. The female salmon digs
a number of redds, depositing a few hundred eggs in each during the one or two
days she is spawning. Each redd is located immediately upstream from the last to
allow the current to deposit drifting gravel on top of and covering the previous
redd. Redds are very obvious in the stream, visible by clean exposed white
gravel.
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#32765
11/07/2001 8:32 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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From C. S. Lewis's "That Hideous Strength", which I happen to be reading at the moment. Mr. MacPhee, an Ulsterman, is speaking:
"You are to imagine us, Mrs. Studdock, living on a world where the criminal clases of the eldila have established their headquarters. And what's happening now, if the Director's views are correct, is that their own respectable kith and kin are visiting this planet to red the place up." (page 207)
C.S. Lewis himself was from Ulster, so presumably this is an authentic use of the word "red" or "red" in the sense of clear up or tidy up.
Another word which may be of interest to AWADers occurs a few pages later: diuturnity. The meaning is in white in case you want to guess first: longlastingness
Bingley
Bingley
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#32766
11/07/2001 4:18 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Bingley I found "diutiurnal" in Phrontistery meaning "long lasting".
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#32767
11/07/2001 4:31 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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diuternity == not quite as long as eternity :)
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#32768
11/07/2001 4:50 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear tsuwm: which is the longer, your "diuternity" or Bingley's "diuturnity"?
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