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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Guising is the word used by children in Edinburgh, always guising, never "trick or treating". Reading a discussion of Halloween in another thread, I noticed mention of its ancient origins. I have been having a discussion with a neighbour for a while. It seems that observance of the tradition is quite recent in some areas. I grew up in Lancashire which has a large Irish population and where the Pendle witches were part of local folklore http://members.aol.com/NutterWV1/PENDLE.htm, so as children, we always dressed up, ducked for apples and went "trick or treating" with costumes and a large stuffed "Guy" not only for sweets but for money ( largely frowned on now that people recognise the danger of children setting off their own fireworks) to help pay for the fireworks for bonfire night on the 5th, the two events were interconnected. We made our lanterns (I've just remembered that they were made from swedes or turnips)), on Halloween and took them with us to the bonfire night parties on the 5th. In other parts of England, certainly amongst friends of mine living further south or maybe without a large Irish population, there doesn't seem to be much history of the celebration of Halloween, so although the origins of the event are undoubtably ancient, it has grown greatly in recent years.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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>Would love to know which species of turnips those were, for the ones we grow here on the farm would provide only elfin-sized lanterns. I think that part of the problem is that in Scotland and the North East of England (not so sure about Ireland), turnips are swedes and swedes are turnips, so are bigger and with a flat bottom, more like the size of small pumpkins. I have seen larger turnips around, maybe our wet boggy soil helps them grow bigger! According to the following site, swedes are also known as swedish turnips and were developed in the seventeen century http://www.vegetables.co.nz/veg/veg.cfm?i=46
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The splendidly snappy word geezer is a variant of 'guiser' too.
Nicholas! A beloved Brit-speaking friend of mine pronounces the word geyser as geezer, whereas I and everyone I know of here says it with the long-i sound, as I would say guiser. Geyser isn't related to guiser, is it?
Why the difference in pronunciation, do you know?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Isn't that contracted from samhainella?
TEd
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Carpal Tunnel
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the "swedes" that Jo (jmh) talks about are the kind of turnip known in NY (and elsewhere in US, but i am not sure if everywhere) as Rutabaga's. they are large, heavy and yellowish, with a purplish top. rutabaga is the swedish name for them. what local vegetable stores (shops) call turnips are smaller (about the size of a large beet) and have a shape similar to a beet, (globular, but with a tapering point at the bottom) and white flesh. turnips also come, like beets, with the greens attached, and the same are also eaten.
(they are one of my favorite veggies, as kids, we even ate them raw!)
this is not a food thread!
this is not a food thread!
this is not a food thread!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear jmh: I am brokenhearted that you did not comment of pronunciation of that guy Guy Fawkes. Does his first name rhyme with pee or with pie?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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>I am brokenhearted that you did not comment of pronunciation of that guy Guy Fawkes. Does his first name rhyme with pee or with pie?
Mend your heart dear Bill, I did not reply because I thought you might like a definitive answer, rather than a personal one. In my experience his first name rhymes with pie but in his day, who knows?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Sounds like it is one of those Markwis/Markee (Marquis), fillet/filley (fillet) kind of words!
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