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Pooh-Bah
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Turned up on WW, a new one on me http://www.wordwizard.com/ch_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18794Don't find it in OneLook nor in any of the standard online slang dicts. Is is obscure, regional, a neologism--thanks guys Edited to apologize for not noting that I'm mainly concerned with any onshore usage--Sorry and thanks all
Last edited by dalehileman; 03/03/2006 8:16 PM.
dalehileman
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OED has six separate entries for skift: 4 nouns, 2 verbs; 2 British, 2 Scots, 2 NA -- none of these are what you'd call 'new'. 3 of them can be found in M-W Unabridged.
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Pooh-Bah
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tsu: As I couldn't find the word in my usual sources, including Random unabridged, I supposed it might be a neologism of some sort. Actually too I'm interested only in leftpond usage so I edited the thread accordingly Thank you for spurring a clarification of my question
dalehileman
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>>2 NA
clarification: 2(two) North American
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joe (insert witticism here) friday
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Pooh-Bah
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tsu: I will ask for M-W unabridged at Xmas time but in the meantime what are those two defs and does it give their respective age--thanks greatly
Incidentally, this is the only one I've turned up so far:
skift link send redefine 2 up, 1 down
The act of rubbing a finger that has recently been in an unsavoury place(such as a sweaty bum crack/between your toes/in your belly button)accross the filtrum(under the nose)of someone, leaving them with a pooey whiff every time they breath in--Brett,UD
Last edited by dalehileman; 03/04/2006 3:53 PM.
dalehileman
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>in the meantime what are those two defs and does it give their respective age
you got money ridin' on this or sumpin??
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You can subscribe to Merriam-Webster Unabridged online here: Merriam-Webster Unabridged online
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Quote:
You can subscribe to Merriam-Webster Unabridged online here:
Merriam-Webster Unabridged online
29.95 per annum (USn)
(it's one of my hidden costs! : )
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Pooh-Bah
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Thanks guys, I'll see if my No. 1 Son can find a way to get it free
You will sound like a cheapskate too when you're living on a fixed income
dalehileman
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That would be the "onshore" price?
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skift (American style)
n. (also skiff) dialect : something that is light: as a) a light fall of snow or rain b) wisp <skift of snow - Mencken>
n. var. of skiff, as in a small boat
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Pooh-Bah
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There once was a young man named Joe
Who said, on the subject of snow,
"I'll jump into this drift"
But it was only a skift
And he was buried right up to his toe
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Alex, that was cute!  Ok: a skiff sort of skims across the water, does it not, or at least that's the impression I have. Therefore-- skiff-->skift = a skimming of snow, for ex.? That is, what I'm trying to ask is whether skiff may have been morphed into skift?
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Quote:
skift (American style)
n. (also skiff)
n. var. of skiff
-ron (morphed? I guess.) o.
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Er--sorry if I seemed to mantle you, tsuwm. Maybe I even did, but. I was really just wondering about the meaning. I have never heard skiff used in this way, let alone skift.
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Aw, jeez, dale. I had that word at the top of my list for the day I would get brave enough to be the Hogmistress...I ran across it in a book a couple of months ago and forgot to jot it down, so I had to reread the book to find it again. It wasn't in my brick and mortar Webster's. I heard about access to the OED free online while the BBC was running a show on it. I picked the wrong day to try and had to wait three days to try again. You owe me an obscure word now, guy  
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