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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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better that than your bonsai...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In case you didn't know what AS was referring to: Webster's 1913 Dictionary Definition: \Gam"mon\ (-m[u^]n), n. [OF. gambon, F. jambon, fr. OF. gambe leg, F. jambe. See {Gambol}, n., and cf. {Ham}.] The buttock or thigh of a hog, salted and smoked or dried; the lower end of a flitch. --Goldsmith.
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Joined: Jan 2004
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
And the -on is the augmentative suffix I was discussing in another thread. Something like a big old leg, haunch. Our ham, OTOH, has more to do with the bone. It's cognate with Old Irish cnaim 'bone' and Greek kne:me: 'shinebone'.
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
So--gammon, in that sense, was rhyming slang--or did I miss something? ~ Jackie
No, I didn't mean that the Irish language called Shelta (and also known as Gammon) *was rhyming slang, but that it had been developed for the same reason, i.e.: to deceive or confuse the unwanted listener.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
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The dentical might be a word confused with another word dandiacal that fits the context you quote, Jackie:
of, relating to, or suggestive of a dandy : DANDIFIED <dandiacal elegance> <a dandiacal pose MW
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 11,613 |
I bet you're right, WW--many thanks! I just love getting to the bottom of things. My apologies, dxb--there was indeed a clue in the context, but *I didn't get it. [bow] to Wordwind.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Thanks, Dr Bill and jheem, for the augmentations!
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
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Jackie,
It was just a guess--and I could very easily be incorrect here. I'll Google a bit and see whether something identical--or dentical--turns up.
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
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or it could be the most obvious one...
dentical, a.
Obs. rare.
[f. dens, dent- tooth + -ic + -al1.] = dental a. 1b.
1776 ‘Courtney Melmoth’ Pupil of Pleas. II. 216 A Treatise on Toothpicking, wherein I show the precise method of holding, handling+and replacing the dentical instruments.
OED2
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Presumably a 'dentical fine gentleman' was one who had all his teeth.
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