Category: Words and phrases

Dangerous Nonsense

By Simon

In the Czech lessons I’ve been working on this week, some interesting words have come that I thought I’d share with you.

One word is smsyl [smɪsl̩], which means sense, purpose, meaning, effect, intent, and I just like its sound. It is used in the following sentences:

Nemá smysl poslouchat jeho nesmysl
It makes no sense to listen to his nonsense

Jaký to má smysl?
What’s the point?

Related words and expressions include:

  • smysl bytí = raison d’etre, reason or justification for existence
  • smysl pro humor = sense of humour
  • smysl pro věc = flair
  • smyslnost = sensuality, lust, voluptuousness, sensuousness
  • smyslná = voluptuous
  • smyslná žádost = lust
  • smyslný = sexy, erotic, sensuous
  • smyslový = sensitive, sensory, sensual
  • smysluplnost = meaningfulness
  • smysluplný= meaningful
  • nesmsyl = nonsense
  • nesmyslný = stupid, absurd, pointless
  • nesmsylnost = absurdity, nonsense
  • nesmysly = nonsense, rubbish, mumbo-jumbo

Another word is nebezpečný [ˈnɛbɛspɛt͡ʃniː], which means dangerous, hazardous, unsafe, reckless. It is a compound of ne (not), bez (without), péče (care) and the suffix -ný, which is equivalent to -ly in English. So you could translate it as “not-without-care-ly”.

Related words and expressions include:

  • nebezpečnost = dangerousness, hazardousness
  • nebezpečí = danger, risk, peril
  • bezpečný = secure, sure, save
  • bezpečnost = safety, security
  • péče = care, attention

Sources: bab.la, Wiktionary and Wikislovník

Pongiste Whiff-Whaff

By Simon

Yesterday I came across a wonderful word – pongiste – which is apparently what a table tennis player is called in French.

There is a simliar word in English – ping-pongist – which refers to “one who plays or is enthusiastic about ping pong”. It’s marked as dated and rare, and I’ve never come across it before. Have you?

Table tennis was originally played as an after-dinner game by the upper classes in the 19th century Victorian England. Versions of the game were also played by British military officers in India in the 1860s and 1870s.

The name ping-pong, which is of omomatopoeic origin, was trademarked in 1901 by J. Jaques & Son Ltd, a British manufacturer of table tennis equipment, and came to be used to refer to the game. They sold the rights to the name to Parker Brothers in the 1920s, and it was trademarked in the USA in 1930. Parker Brothers still own the trademark.

Another name for the game, whiff-whaff, was coined by Slazenger & Sons in 1900. Apparently whiff-whaff also means “the breathy sound of something rushing quickly; whoosh”.

In South Lancashire dialect, whiff-whaff can mean “nonsense, words or deeds of little import” or “unnecessary items or additions” [source].

IMG_7816_DxO

Sources: Wiktionary, Wikipedia

40 Days

By Simon

I learnt last night that the word quarantine, as in “a restriction on the movement of people and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests”, comes from Venetian word meaning forty, quarantina, which comes from quarantina giorni (forty days). Quarantina comes from quaranta (forty), from the Latin quadrāgintā (forty).

During the 14th and 15th centuries there were several outbreaks of the bubonic plague in Europe. At that time there was a practise of requiring ships to wait for a period of time before entering Venice or Ragusa (modern Dubrovnik in Croatia), which was ruled by Venice at the time. Initally the crew and passengers had to wait 30 days on their ships or on nearby islands. This period was extended to 40 days by the Venetian Senate in 1448.

Sources: Wiktionary & Wikipedia

Fish Kettles

By Simon

If you said that something was “a different kettle of fish” or “another kettle of fish”, you would mean that it’s something else altogether, and very different to what you have been discussing. At least in the UK.

This expression dates from the late 19th century, and is/was most common in Scotland and northern England. Before then, fish kettles featured in the phrase “a pretty kettle of fish”, which means “a muddle or awkward state of affairs”.

A fish kettle (see below) is type of long saucepan used since the 17th century to poach fish, especially large fish like salmon.

Fish Kettle

Appartently in the USA you might say that it’s “quite another story”, “a whole different story”, “a different ball game” or “a horse of a different color. Are there others?

Equivalents of these idioms in French include “c’est une autre paire de manches” (it’s another pair of sleeves”) and “c’est une toute autre histoire” (it’s a whole other story). Do you know of others in French or other languages?

Sources: Reverso, The Phrase Finder

Fancy some cuddle-me-buff?

By Simon

According to an episode of the podcast Something Rhymes with Purple, the expression cuddle-me-buff is slang for beer, although why is uncertain.

According to Word and Phrases from the Past, cuddle-me-buff is a Derbyshire dialect terms for an intoxicating liquor.

Another interest word in Derbyshire dialect is swilkerin’, or to drink tea from a saucer [source].

According to QI, cuddle-me-buff is a Yorkshire dialect term for beer.

There are some other more common slang words for intoxicating beverages, such as booze and hoo(t)ch. Do you know others?

Fine Fettles

By Simon

Are you in fine fettle?

If you’re in fine fettle, you are in a good state or condition, according to dictionary.com. It apparently comes from a Lancashire dialect word meaning “to shape, prepare, fix, arrange”.

Fettle may come from Middle English fetlen (to shape, fix, put, bestow), possibly from the Old English fetian (to fetch, bring to, marry), or from the Old English fetel (belt, girdle).

According to Wiktionary, fettle as a noun means:

  • A state of proper physical condition; kilter or trim.
  • One’s mental state; spirits.
  • Sand used to line a furnace.
  • A person’s mood or state, often assuming the worst (Geordie / Cumbrian dialect): e.g. What’s yer fettle marra?
  • a seam line left by the meeting of mold pieces (in ceramics)
  • The act of fettling (British dialect)

As a verb, fettle means:

  • To sort out, to fix, to mend, to repair (Northern England)
  • To make preparations; to put things in order; to do trifling business
  • To line the hearth of a furnace with sand prior to pouring molten metal.
  • To be upset or in a bad mood (Geordie dialect), e.g. Divint fettle yersel ower that!
  • To remove (as by sanding) the seam lines left by the meeting of two molds (in ceramics)
  • To prepare (archaic)

Fettle is usually used in the phrase ‘in fine fettle’. Have you seen/heard it used with other words or in other contexts?

Clustering Consonants!

By Simon

Clusters of consonants are quite common in Czech. Some words have no vowels at all. A couple that I came across recently: brzd [ˈbr̩st] (break) and krb [kr̩p] (fireplace).

Brzd is the genitive plural of brzda (brake (in a vehicle)). Related words include: brzdit [ˈbr̩zɟɪt] (to break) and brzdný [ˈbr̩zdniː] (breaking).

Krb means fire, hearth, fireplace or ingle. Related words include: krbový (relating or pertaining to fireplaces), krbová deska (hearthstone) and krbové náčiní (fire irons).

Other vowelless words include:

  • blb [ˈbl̩p] = wally (stupid person)
  • chrp [ˈxr̩p] = of cornflowers
  • drhl [ˈdr̩ɦl̩]= he scrubbed, scoured, rubbed
  • hrkl [ˈɦr̩kl̩] = he rattled
  • krk [kr̩k] = neck
  • plch [pl̩x] = dormouse
  • scvrkl [ˈst͡svr̩kl̩] = he shrank
  • škrtl [ˈʃkr̩tl̩] = he cancelled, deleted, scratched
  • vlk [vl̩k] = wolf

Source: Wiktionary

There are several tongue twisters made up of words like this:

See and hear more of these.

In fact, the r and l in these words funtion as semi-vowels, so you could say that they’re not really vowelless. This doesn’t make them any easier to pronounce.

Sources: Wiktionary and bab.la

Are you a quidnunc?

By Simon

A quidnunc is “a person eager to learn news and scandal”, or in other words, a busybody, gossip or nosy parker. It comes from the Latin quid nunc? (what now?) [source].

If you are a quidnunc, then you could be said to be quidnunctious and maybe you engage in quidnuncery (irresponsible rumourmongering).

I heard this word discussed on the Something Rhymes with Purple podcast, and thought I’d write about it.

Do you know any other words that come from phrases like this?

What would you call a quidnunc?

Nurdling

By Simon

Do you nurdle? Have you ever nurdled?

The verb to nurddle means:

  • To score runs by gently nudging the ball into vacant areas of the field (in cricket).
  • To gently waffle or muse on a subject which one clearly knows little about.

The noun nurddle means:

  • A type of shot in cricket
  • A cylindrical shaped pre-production plastic pellet used in manufacturing and packaging.
  • A blob of toothpaste shaped like a wave, often depicted on toothpaste packaging.

The origins of this word are uncertain.

Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nurdle

Are there equvialents of this word in other languages?