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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 #14959 - 01/08/01 01:00 AM Poking the Borax   Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 3,146 Capital Kiwi Carpal Tunnel Capital Kiwi   Carpal Tunnel Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 3,146 Northamptonshire, England I just got asked what this meant. A search (admittedly on Altavista) revealed that it is only mentioned on New Zealand web pages. Does anyone else understand what it means, and can anybody tell me what its origins are and history is? Ta! The idiot also known as Capfka ... #14960 - 01/08/01 03:03 AM Re: Poking the Borax   Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Jackie Jackie   Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Two ideas, neither of which I have time to research: 1.)(dumb, so I'm putting it first)is there such a thing as a bore ax? That could be used threateningly? 2.) borax is, I think, a soft mineral, so maybe poking the borax might be a mining-related term. Could cause a great stir, and a cloud of confusion could arise. #14961 - 01/08/01 05:48 AM Re: Poking the Borax   Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 3,146 Capital Kiwi Carpal Tunnel Capital Kiwi   Carpal Tunnel Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 3,146 Northamptonshire, England Found this through googling: http://www.artistwd.com/joyzine/australia/strine/p.htm It says: poke borack/borax - tease, make fun of, ridicule, especially covertly. The definition is correct, but it doesn't really help! The idiot also known as Capfka ... #14962 - 01/08/01 11:22 AM Re: Poking the Borax   Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 393 NicholasW enthusiast NicholasW   enthusiast Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 393 London Borak is apparently an Aboriginal word for 'fun, ridicule'; so 'to poke borak at'. #14963 - 01/08/01 03:36 PM Re: Poking the Borax   Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Jackie Jackie   Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Trust you to think of and find something like that, Nick-o. Good on yer, as they say. Bet yer right, too! #14964 - 01/09/01 04:06 AM Re: Poking the Borax   Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 3,146 Capital Kiwi Carpal Tunnel Capital Kiwi   Carpal Tunnel Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 3,146 Northamptonshire, England Trust you to think of and find something like that, Nick-o. Good on yer, as they say. Bet yer right, too. No, I don't think he is. I found a similar reference (now lost again and I can't remember the search term that produced it), but the writer felt that it was an unlikely connection. A couple of other things he wrote seemed pretty authoritative to me in relation to Strine. From memory, the writer believed that it wasn't a word that English-speaking Australians would have picked up from an Aboriginal language. Typically these are words for which there is no existing English equivalent or which are more apt. The idiot also known as Capfka ... #14965 - 01/09/01 08:32 AM Re: Poking the Borax   Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 393 NicholasW enthusiast NicholasW   enthusiast Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 393 London I would be inclined to agree with you and your source. Words associated with Aborigines are not necessarily native: tucker, walkabout, damper, and I have grave doubts about gin 'woman' since Aboriginal words aren't monosyllabic. But it is always possible that they could have borrowed a word for 'fun' My source is the Pocket Oxford Dictionary, which has an appendix of Australian/NZ terms. It laconically marks it "[Ab.]". This is not much use for tracking down which one of two hundred odd languages it might come from. #14966 - 01/09/01 08:43 AM Re: Poking the Borax   Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 3,146 Capital Kiwi Carpal Tunnel Capital Kiwi   Carpal Tunnel Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 3,146 Northamptonshire, England Well, NicholasW, I still want to know where it came from! So, any other ideas from anyone will be welcome. The idiot also known as Capfka ... #14967 - 01/09/01 10:01 AM Re: Poking the Borax   Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 393 NicholasW enthusiast NicholasW   enthusiast Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 393 London Okay, in guise of making a cup of tea I have sneaked on tippy-toe to the library and found some answers and questions. The word is first cited from 1845, as a definition, borak, gammon, nonsense. This suggests the author is glossing a native word. Then come various instances of 'poking borak', in quotes as a colloquialism. The first occurrence of 'borax' found is only 1945. The OED suggests a connexion with 'barrack', but I think they're wrong. The earliest uses of 'barrack' are all in the modern sense of 'call out, support', not particularly closer to 'borak'. #14968 - 01/09/01 04:40 PM Re: Poking the Borax   Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 866 stales old hand stales   old hand Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 866 Perth, Western Australia Whilst I think the "borak" explanation sounds close to the mark, thought I might cloud the issue while I still could. A major use of borax is (as Jackie says) in mining or, to be more correct, as a flux for the smelting of mineral ores, particularly gold. It's not impossible to imagine a hopeful prospector poking the borax and mineral concentrate in the crucible to get an idea of how much gold he'll have once it's poured into the mould to make an ingot. Another idea is that this may have some reference to an old time laboratory process that uses a bead of borax, a blow pipe and a bunsen burner to identify minerals. As I recall from high school chemistry (25 years ago now), a sample of the finely ground mineral is placed on a carbon block next to some borax powder. Air is blown through the flame via the pipe to melt the borax, which is then poked onto the mineral sample, engulfing it. The composite bead thus formed is collected in a loop of fine wire, held to the flame and subjected to an air blast. The colour of the flame that comes off the bead is indicative of the mineral present - the basis of spectroscopy and Fire Assaying (I think). Phew stales Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------   Information and announcements   Q&A about words   Wordplay and fun   Words and languages in schools   Miscellany   Weekly Themes   Looking for (writers, speakers, ...) (Old) Weekly themes. 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