What about the alternatives? On The Goon Show, way back in the Neolithic, they used to describe someone as a 'player of the pink oboe' to get around BBC censorship. Back in my schooldays, when 'self-winding' watches were in use, 'winding his watch' was the euphemism de jour. Try that in a post. See how many horologists you can shock. Best wishes.
It's Australia Day, Old NFO. If a dinky-di Aussie can't sink a few tinnies today, when can he? Mind you, as a transplanted Brit, I still find it odd to be asked 'could you keep one down?' rather than 'what can I get you to drink?'
For the record, you get the same effect in my area if you set cruise control at the speed limit. The local police are quite fond of nailing you for 5 over on the in town expressways.
I recall an SF short story set in a cult on the moon - where each and every member, of whichever gender, had themselves surgically modified to resemble the unclothed - Barbie doll. Daily all gathered together, and shared their experiences for the day. That way, no one could tell one Barbie from another.
The title of the story was "The Barbie Doll Murder". It seems there was a perversion among the identical blonde, tall, air-brushed body feature, hairless below the nose cult members - one kept a mirkin in a secret locker.
That word, mirkin, was a surprise to me. An obsolete word, now, it is a hairpiece for the pubic area.
Few people have a real need to use this word, except . .
My buddy pointed out that "mirkin" is an *excellent* word to use when buying a dictionary. If a dictionary has "mirkin" as an entry, then it is pretty likely to work out.
Note that mirkin isn't related to firkin - a measure of beer, 1/4th of a barrel, according to my Chambers dictionary, or 56 lb of butter.
One of Jane Yolen's books with dragons occasioned to use the technical term "fewmet" (same as "fumet", the dung of deer, rabbits, etc.) for dragon droppings . If it weren't for the dragon, I suppose "muck" would suffice. Don't confuse fewmet with fumetto, a cartoon or comic strip; a balloon in a cartoon, or the plural of fumetto, fumetti.
If you enjoy the wanker term, and don't confuse it with the rotary Wankel engine, you might enjoy Iver Biggun's "Bra's on 45" (She wore a bra size 45, and she could shuck and jive. . ). Or maybe his NSFW "Halfway Up Virginia" travelogue.
So here are a couple of other words I don't see you use regularly.
I remember the Fuller Brush guy stopping to sell Watkins drink mixes and brushes. But I don't think the "Fuller" had to do with the blacksmith tool, a fuller, used to shap iron.
Pleach is a verb, to intertwine the branches (as of a hedge); to fold (the arms - Shakespeare); to plash.
Plash, of course, is to interweave (branches and twigs) by partly cutting through, bending and twining, so as to form a hedge, etc.; to bend down; to break down; to make, mend, or treat (a hedge) by cutting, bending, and interweaving stems and branches. As a noun, plash can be a plashed branch; a plashed place.
The word plash seems to beg comparing to plait, a braid in which strands are passed over and under one another in turn. SI I guess plait applies to dead stuff, not living plants like plash does, and plash creates disorder, where plait is a repeated pattern.
Just don't smirk at mirkin, when you consider your next dictionary.
Heh. A friend's 14-year-old daughter was overfond of that term, going so far as to use it in her voicemail message (in which she feigned a pretty bad Cockney accent). Neither of them had any idea what it meant, until I informed them.
Thanks for the laugh Tam. First decent one I've had all day.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the alternatives?
ReplyDeleteOn The Goon Show, way back in the Neolithic, they used to describe someone as a 'player of the pink oboe' to get around BBC censorship.
Back in my schooldays, when 'self-winding' watches were in use, 'winding his watch' was the euphemism de jour.
Try that in a post. See how many horologists you can shock.
Best wishes.
I thought that horology meant you paid someone else to wind your watch for you.
ReplyDeletePun intended.
Funny you should do that- I'm down in Australia and surrounded by them... sigh... Drunk Aussies are NO FUN...
ReplyDeleteLet's use that in a sentence: 'The wanker required 2 teleprompters to talk to a bunch of 6th graders'.
ReplyDeleteIt's Australia Day, Old NFO.
ReplyDeleteIf a dinky-di Aussie can't sink a few tinnies today, when can he?
Mind you, as a transplanted Brit, I still find it odd to be asked 'could you keep one down?' rather than 'what can I get you to drink?'
Whatever happened to the good old American equivalent, Dork?
ReplyDeleteFor the record, you get the same effect in my area if you set cruise control at the speed limit. The local police are quite fond of nailing you for 5 over on the in town expressways.
ReplyDelete"Dork" is the technical term for a whale's penis (also a dolphin's). I'm not sure what calling someone a whale's penis is supposed to mean. Anyone?
ReplyDeletes
Tam,
ReplyDeleteI recall an SF short story set in a cult on the moon - where each and every member, of whichever gender, had themselves surgically modified to resemble the unclothed - Barbie doll. Daily all gathered together, and shared their experiences for the day. That way, no one could tell one Barbie from another.
The title of the story was "The Barbie Doll Murder". It seems there was a perversion among the identical blonde, tall, air-brushed body feature, hairless below the nose cult members - one kept a mirkin in a secret locker.
That word, mirkin, was a surprise to me. An obsolete word, now, it is a hairpiece for the pubic area.
Few people have a real need to use this word, except . .
My buddy pointed out that "mirkin" is an *excellent* word to use when buying a dictionary. If a dictionary has "mirkin" as an entry, then it is pretty likely to work out.
Note that mirkin isn't related to firkin - a measure of beer, 1/4th of a barrel, according to my Chambers dictionary, or 56 lb of butter.
One of Jane Yolen's books with dragons occasioned to use the technical term "fewmet" (same as "fumet", the dung of deer, rabbits, etc.) for dragon droppings . If it weren't for the dragon, I suppose "muck" would suffice. Don't confuse fewmet with fumetto, a cartoon or comic strip; a balloon in a cartoon, or the plural of fumetto, fumetti.
If you enjoy the wanker term, and don't confuse it with the rotary Wankel engine, you might enjoy Iver Biggun's "Bra's on 45" (She wore a bra size 45, and she could shuck and jive. . ). Or maybe his NSFW "Halfway Up Virginia" travelogue.
So here are a couple of other words I don't see you use regularly.
I remember the Fuller Brush guy stopping to sell Watkins drink mixes and brushes. But I don't think the "Fuller" had to do with the blacksmith tool, a fuller, used to shap iron.
Pleach is a verb, to intertwine the branches (as of a hedge); to fold (the arms - Shakespeare); to plash.
Plash, of course, is to interweave (branches and twigs) by partly cutting through, bending and twining, so as to form a hedge, etc.; to bend down; to break down; to make, mend, or treat (a hedge) by cutting, bending, and interweaving stems and branches. As a noun, plash can be a plashed branch; a plashed place.
The word plash seems to beg comparing to plait, a braid in which strands are passed over and under one another in turn. SI I guess plait applies to dead stuff, not living plants like plash does, and plash creates disorder, where plait is a repeated pattern.
Just don't smirk at mirkin, when you consider your next dictionary.
One assumes that "dork" is simply a more polite way to say "dick".
ReplyDeleteI never have either and as many wankers I have around me at work, I should have used it before now. I'll try to add it to something appropriate later.
ReplyDeleteHeh. A friend's 14-year-old daughter was overfond of that term, going so far as to use it in her voicemail message (in which she feigned a pretty bad Cockney accent). Neither of them had any idea what it meant, until I informed them.
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/yzf5d76
ReplyDeleteUploaded that just for you Tam. Pick I used to sling at people back in the fledgling IM years.
It's spelled "merkin." As in President Merkin Muffley, the POTUS in "Dr. Strangelove."
ReplyDeleteTam doesn't need to use that word, or otherwise engage in name-calling. She is sharp and knowledgable, and a Master Debater.
Justthisguy,
ReplyDeleteThanks - *blush*.
And sorry. I had never encountered the word merkin in a name calling context - just that one SF forensic reference, outside a dictionary.
I'd forgotten that about Dr. Strangelove. Where I first encountered the word was in the movie Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?
ReplyDelete