Today I was reading a tiny anecdote about Spike Milligan. In brief, he would occasionally lie down in front of a funeral parlour and shout "Shop!".
This very mildly amusing story was recounted to my colleagues. It fell entirely flat because none of them had any idea what shouting "shop" meant, nor had ever heard it used anywhere.
I can't say I've ever used it myself in the real world but surely everyone knows what it would mean in that context? Didn't the Two Ronnies use it every five minutes? I must be getting old.
Have any phrases tripped you up by blank incomprehension on the part of your listener when you used them?
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I use Wireless for the radio - and use the phrase mobile telephone for mobile...but am cool enough to know about Tumblr...
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Wireless was a big brown box with accumulators in the back......
Pat
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>> I use Wireless for the radio - and use the phrase mobile telephone for mobile...but
>> am cool enough to know about Tumblr...
>>
Radiogram was posh and record player/ auotchanger was cheaper
The meaning of "mangled it" has changed from squeezed dry to reshaped :-(
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I had a fork 'andles moment over the weekend.
Try asking for two sausage suppers and a fish supper in a rural Cheshire chip shop. We got there eventually...
:-)
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I haven't heard any girl say, "I fancy you" for a quite number of years now :-(
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I've lost entirely the meanings of words like "sick" and "radical"' which seemed to mean the opposite of what you might expect for a while, and then perhaps have reverted to their original meanings. If I'm wrong, then, ahem, "my bad", whatever that actually is supposed to convey.
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The all-time change in meaning is definitely "gay"
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'Gay' meaning immoral, homosexual or connected with the sexual underworld dates from the 18th century Roger. Earlier perhaps.
The really puzzling mid-Atlantic word is 'liberal'.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Wed 3 Apr 13 at 20:49
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My late father, ( think Christopher Foyle, but quite a bit taller, from Foyle's War if you need a mental picture ) used to refer to his clothes as his "duds"
Another phrase or more accurately word he used to use, which although it hasn't really changed it's meaning, is etched upon my consciousness as a mild reprimand. If I, as a child, found myself having to explain that I'd done something which I may not have been looking forward to admitting or confessing, he would almost always retort with a quiet but firm one word comment...he would simply say, "inevitably" followed by a half sigh...
I can't hear that word now without feeling scolded.
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Siding the plates, meaning to clear the table.
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to" drop one" has many ... connotations
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>> Siding the plates, meaning to clear the table.
West Riding dialect. We still side the table.
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Humph, I was doing some work with a surveyor recently and he said that he would come back and inspect the roofspace in "his duds".
First time I had ever heard the saying.
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I actually looked that word up in the 1932 dictionary today...as you say.
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Shooting has of course got a new meaning
In case you are not up to "speed" ( like me )then here is some light reading :-(
I was amazed.
www.urban75.com/Drugs/drugterm.html
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I haven't even looked henry, but have you ever heard of 'booting'?
Just like a pipe smoker with the tools and pipe cleaners and mess, so junkies get obsessive about syringes and blood and veins. Not a spectacle for the squeamish, but a bit of smack soon deals with that.
:o[ ,
but heh heh too.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Thu 4 Apr 13 at 00:40
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Defunct phrases - R.P.
