How many of us, I wonder, when swearing about the doddery old so and so at the head of a slow moving line of traffic are aware that Dodder was the Anglo Saxon for Snail? Another everyday word of ancient lineage.
Roy.
Roy.
Lost for words...
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Benchwayze
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Where does all this stuff come from Roy? Excuse the cliché, but you are a mine of information! Thanks.
Regards
John 
Regards
John
Age John, a photographic memory and many interests besides woodwork and motor bikes.
One word that I've never been able to resolve is 'Bodger', in the High Wycome area of course it was a spindle maker, elsewhere a lousy worker.
Roy.
One word that I've never been able to resolve is 'Bodger', in the High Wycome area of course it was a spindle maker, elsewhere a lousy worker.
Roy.
Benchwayze
Established Member
My photographic memory is selective Roy! There are pages of text I can see in front of me from my teens, but then sometimes I can't recall what i had for breakfast a week before!
I won't list my interests here as I too have many. My Missus says I am Mercurial. (I had to look up that word BTW!) :lol:
But I never had heard of 'Dodder' referred to a snail!. Makes sense though. And yes, here in Brum too, a bodger is a 'cowboy'!
John
I won't list my interests here as I too have many. My Missus says I am Mercurial. (I had to look up that word BTW!) :lol:
But I never had heard of 'Dodder' referred to a snail!. Makes sense though. And yes, here in Brum too, a bodger is a 'cowboy'!
John
gus3049
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Digit":115ms14l said:
Ah, another misused word. Time was a 'bodger' was well respected member of society who was ,as you say a spindle maker but also a chair maker and general Mr. Fixit. Usually an itinerant worker. How the word was hijacked I don't know but presumably because they tended to be a jack of all trades. Actually, many of them seem to have been masters of all of them judging by some of the work I've seen in museums.
Eric The Viking
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bugbear":6kj6lh8z said:It also used to be rule (for those that wish to follow old rules) that one shouldn't start a sentence with a conjunction, such as "and".
I don't think that has obtained for quite a while. Even Strunk & White indicate it's acceptable in some circumstances (IIRC). It provides additional emphasis, and since written language should reflect speech, that, to me, makes sense.
My least favourite misapplications list presently includes:
"Light year," as a unit of time,
"Quantum leap," as anything, especially not anything other than a very, VERY small jump,
"prevaricate" as an incorrect substitute for 'procrastinate' (Malapropism?).
Cheers,
E. (pedantry R we)
Eric The Viking
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On split infinitives: I've just searched my copy of the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual. It's an American edition from 1994. There's no reference.
The Economist style guide says, "To never split an infinitive is quite easy." I assume, therefore, that it bothers their sub-editors little.
Strunk & White (American) have a nice take on it: "There is precedent from the fourteenth century down for interposing an adverb... [but it] should be avoided unless the writer wishes to place unusual stress on the adverb."
And there is even a woody quote on the subject: "Some infinitives seem to improve on being split, just as a stick of round stovewood does." In their terms, I think that means it's deprecated!
I can't find the reference to starting sentences with conjunctions. I'm beginning to suspect I imagined it.
E.
The Economist style guide says, "To never split an infinitive is quite easy." I assume, therefore, that it bothers their sub-editors little.
Strunk & White (American) have a nice take on it: "There is precedent from the fourteenth century down for interposing an adverb... [but it] should be avoided unless the writer wishes to place unusual stress on the adverb."
And there is even a woody quote on the subject: "Some infinitives seem to improve on being split, just as a stick of round stovewood does." In their terms, I think that means it's deprecated!
I can't find the reference to starting sentences with conjunctions. I'm beginning to suspect I imagined it.
E.
heimlaga
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bugbear":3370htpj said:
In my very oldfashioned dialect of Swedish "ti leik" means "to play" children's play. In Icelandic "leik" also refers to sports.
An aquintance who had visited York heard Yorkshiremen refere to children as "bairns". That is for sure the nordic word "barn".
condeesteso
Established Member
re bairn, I know it widely used in west Scotland (specifically Ayrshire)... the wee bairns = the small children. Still in very common use to this day. And will I be OK making my dovetails with a double bewel axe? I'd like to get down to one tool does everything - reduce the clutter. As you get older, less is supposed to be more.
studders
Established Member
I thought that too, at times they almost seem to be speaking English.
Been watching a few Icelandic progs recently, apart from 'thanks' and 'Hi' I can't make out what they're saying at all: just sounds like a lot of 'Grrrrr ing' .
Been watching a few Icelandic progs recently, apart from 'thanks' and 'Hi' I can't make out what they're saying at all: just sounds like a lot of 'Grrrrr ing' .
heimlaga
Established Member
Especially in boat building there are a lot of old words that are common for English and our dialect of Swedish. The difference between our dialect and standard Swedish is greater than between English spoken in Tennessee and in Glasgow.
Stem= stam
oar= oåro
Seam=sii
Land= land (the overlap in lapstrake planking)
Mast= Mast
Keel=tjyöl
A part of it surely came to England with the wikings and part may go back to the Saxons and Angles who in part came from the border region between Germany and Denmark.
Still in the 13th centuries the Scandinavian languages were considered one language as people could understand each other all the way from the coast of Finland to Greenland and the Norse settlements in Scotland. Then contact was lost and the dialects diverified so much that in the 19th century Swedes from different parts of the country did not understand each other. Now the language rapidly becomes more standardized but sadly the Stockholm dialect that became standard Swedish is the dialect that is furthest away from it's origin.
Icelandic is much different from the other Scandinavian languages. Still very close the 13th century old Norse. I can understand most of it in text but when they speak too fast I understand nothing. To those who speak standard Swedish Icelandic is totally indecipherable but up here we keep much enough of the old words and grammar to give us a good starting point.
Stem= stam
oar= oåro
Seam=sii
Land= land (the overlap in lapstrake planking)
Mast= Mast
Keel=tjyöl
A part of it surely came to England with the wikings and part may go back to the Saxons and Angles who in part came from the border region between Germany and Denmark.
Still in the 13th centuries the Scandinavian languages were considered one language as people could understand each other all the way from the coast of Finland to Greenland and the Norse settlements in Scotland. Then contact was lost and the dialects diverified so much that in the 19th century Swedes from different parts of the country did not understand each other. Now the language rapidly becomes more standardized but sadly the Stockholm dialect that became standard Swedish is the dialect that is furthest away from it's origin.
Icelandic is much different from the other Scandinavian languages. Still very close the 13th century old Norse. I can understand most of it in text but when they speak too fast I understand nothing. To those who speak standard Swedish Icelandic is totally indecipherable but up here we keep much enough of the old words and grammar to give us a good starting point.
Eric The Viking
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We also have "pram" dinghies, Larboard (port), rubbing strakes, and quite a few other words. I think a number are Dutch (pram?) , but I'm sure there are a lot that are Norse.
E.
E.
Benchwayze
Established Member
I think the term Starboard came from the side which shipped the steering oar. 'Steerboard'. Just a guess.Eric The Viking":65xsjric said:
Anyhow Larboard is Port which is LEFT in the bottle. It's also red of course, in case anyone would like a neumonic! :mrgreen:
heimlaga
Established Member
Yes indeed.
"Starboard" is "styrbord" in Swedish. Directly translated that becomes "steerboard". The steering oar was always on the starboard quarter.
"Larboard" is "babord" in Swedish. I suppose the word originally was "barbord" which would mean "bareboard". There is no steering oar so the larboard quarter is indeed bare.
"Bord" means plank but also in some cases ship's topside.
Pram dinghies are called "eka" or "snebba" in Swedish. No connection there.
"Starboard" is "styrbord" in Swedish. Directly translated that becomes "steerboard". The steering oar was always on the starboard quarter.
"Larboard" is "babord" in Swedish. I suppose the word originally was "barbord" which would mean "bareboard". There is no steering oar so the larboard quarter is indeed bare.
"Bord" means plank but also in some cases ship's topside.
Pram dinghies are called "eka" or "snebba" in Swedish. No connection there.
theblindwoodturner
Established Member
is pineapple a universal insult or is this a complete fruit salad based series of insults or mask words?
Plum bob?
OK all bets are off lol it's a run by fruiting ladies and gentlemen and WE'RE OFF!!!!!!!!!!!
(hamster playing with a lonely wood shaving about to start walking in lathe mounted hamster wheel) 20rpm.
that keeps any woodworking hamster or wood based rodent quite amused.
Plum bob?
OK all bets are off lol it's a run by fruiting ladies and gentlemen and WE'RE OFF!!!!!!!!!!!
(hamster playing with a lonely wood shaving about to start walking in lathe mounted hamster wheel) 20rpm.
that keeps any woodworking hamster or wood based rodent quite amused.
feswood
Established Member
I saw a guy on a bike cycling up-hill very impressively. Without thinking (much) I said "Wow, he looks fit."
The reaction from the back of the car was immediate and electric - the daughters were beside themselves... near pain with laughter.
That was when I learned that 'fit' means something else now, and one man mustn't say that about another man. That was not always the case.
Toilet / toilette... I prefer the French ,So you like french fit men hmmmmm you coming out of the timber closet
The reaction from the back of the car was immediate and electric - the daughters were beside themselves... near pain with laughter.
That was when I learned that 'fit' means something else now, and one man mustn't say that about another man. That was not always the case.
Toilet / toilette... I prefer the French ,So you like french fit men hmmmmm you coming out of the timber closet
Benchwayze
Established Member
theblindwoodturner":2yp0i9d0 said:
It's a 'Masking' word BT.
John
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