'Bat-aid' battery pills

[chris w]

I bow to your superior knowledge on these matters

Edited October 16, 2007 by chris w

[anhar]

That's almost a PhD dissertation. You obviously have too much time on your hands!!!!

 

For the uninitiated, "taking the Mick" or "taking the Micky" are derived from the word micturate which, as Steve mentioned above, means to urinate.

 

Steve: as the fount of all knowledge on this body stuff, what's the "in" word these days for a "J. Arthur"?

 

Chris

Strangely perhaps there is no popularly used rhymer for wank of which I'm aware. For some reason Londoners say just that.

 

I've never heard of Barclay to which snibble refers. For a while Jodrell was used, aeons ago when the radio telescope was put into service and became widely known but it never stuck. Equally there is no common rhymer for wanker, in the metaphorical sense of a derogatory expresssion for a person. There was an attempt to use merchant (merchant banker) some years ago but it never caught on much and it was generally used just in the personal description sense, not for the actual activity. Even now you will sometimes hear a snigger when someone is described in the media as a merchant banker. But it isn't really common in speech.

 

J Arthur was around in my youth, centuries back but I haven't heard it for an extremely long time.

 

So for the time being we have that rhyming lacuna for the word wank or wanker. And of course the language is impoverished for it. What is amusing is the visual reference but I don't know if it's just London. I was discussing recently with someone a mutual acquaintance whom I didn't know well but he did. When I asked something about this person he said nothing but curled his right hand into a loose open circle formed by his four fingers opposed by his thumb and gently oscillated the hand up and down, conveying perfectly his opinon of the individual concerned.

 

From the academic point of view of their usage, wank and wanker are interesting. For instance the term is normally applied only to males, an illogicality given that the activity and the description are by no means the sole preserve of males.

 

However whether it has any application to reviving dodgy batteries, I wouldn't know.

 

regards

Steve

Edited October 16, 2007 by anhar

[Sir Nibble]

I now feel crippled in my ability to hold an adult conversation. I had not fully appreciated the depth of my ignorance.

[chris w]

I now feel crippled in my ability to hold an adult conversation. I had not fully appreciated the depth of my ignorance.

 

 

How many inches is that

 

Chris

 

PS: are you aware of the derivation of callling someone a "Berk"?

Edited October 16, 2007 by chris w

[anhar]

...

PS: are you aware of the derivation of callling someone a "Berk"?

I don't know to whom you were addressing that question Chris but I am certainly aware of its origin. Oddly perhaps, the word "berk" is not the worst thing you can say about someone but its rhyming origin of "c**" probably is so.

 

We have wandered far from battery pills but then again I suspect that the original topic is exhausted anyway. An interesting discusson.

 

Steve

Edited February 1, 2016 by DHutch
language

[Hairy-Neil]

No but I had an interesting experience after swmbo made a chilli and didn't wash her hands afterwards.

 

Have rubbed it in an eye but never anywhere tender......

 

I understand natural yoghurt is a good antidote.....

[chris w]

I don't know to whom you were addressing that question Chris but I am certainly aware of its origin. Oddly perhaps, the word "berk" is not the worst thing you can say about someone but its rhyming origin of "cunt" probably is so.

 

Steve

 

 

That's an interesting observation. One might even call a loved one a "Berk" in jest, but never the C-word. I guess we never think of the origin of the expression.

 

Chris

[magnetman]

Micturition is the desire to make water and not the act itself, according to the oxford dictionary. The 'c' word has a possible origin in nautical use, the '****lines' are the grooves between the strands of a laid rope.I thought 'taking the mickey' was from Mickey Bliss.

[chris w]

The 'c' word has a possible origin in nautical use, the '****lines' are the grooves between the strands of a laid rope.

 

 

Wow, that's interesting - I thought they were camel's feet!!!!

[anhar]

Micturition is the desire to make water and not the act itself, according to the oxford dictionary. The 'c' word has a possible origin in nautical use, the '****lines' are the grooves between the strands of a laid rope.I thought 'taking the mickey' was from Mickey Bliss.

Which Oxford is that Magnet? Mine defines micturate, the verb, as urinate which is what I understood it to mean. The noun is micturition which therefore means precisely an act of urination, not merely the desire so to do.

 

I agree though with your query over Chris's stated origin of "taking the mickey". I never thought it was from micturition. For a start that word is not widely known so it is an unlikely source. I checked out the source of the phrase with the Oxford and it says origin unknown, from the 1950s. Whether or not it was Mickey Bliss is therefore just as questionable. Who or what is Mickey Bliss anyway? Nobody seems to know though googling it reveals various ideas none of which are certain.

 

Speaking from my own recollection I have the feeling that "taking the mickey" precedes "taking the piss" chronologically. I seem to recall people using mickey in that sense long before I recall them using piss in that sense. Consequently, if I'm right, and I may well not be, memory is notoriously unreliable, it follows that the mickey expression cannot be rhyslan for the piss expression.

 

And please don't asteriskify your messages. It is poor English and I find it extremely offensive. Quite apart from which when I asked a recent new girlfriend if she objected to my touching her asterisk, she said "only if you think I have that star quality".

 

All of which does wonders for my knackered batteries.

 

regards

Steve

[magnetman]

My 1983 Oxford Shorter English ***tionary states: micturition:the desire to make water, a morbid frequency in the voiding of urine. Often erron: the action of making water.

[anhar]

My 1983 Oxford Shorter English ***tionary states: micturition:the desire to make water, a morbid frequency in the voiding of urine. Often erron: the action of making water.

In that case they clearly have totally revised the definition in current versions. Out goes "morbid frequency" and the formerly erroneous "action of making water" and in comes what I said above. Consequently micturition is no longer "morbid" and is no longer used erroneously to mean urinating. In fact that is now precisely what it means.

 

Language changes, one needs to have an up to date dictionary. Unless you merely wish to take the micturate by deliberately using an old definition that no longer applies though I don't think you were. It's just a problem of using old dictionaries.

 

I have remarked on this phenomenon before when someone here claimed that fora is the plural of forum when it is no longer used that way for internet forums etc., and then to their shame refusing to admit it despite being proven wrong, but there are many words that have changed definition over the years, often radically. The example I like to use is egregious which used to mean outstandingly bad and now means the exact opposite, outstandingly good. Using an ancient dictionary can lead to misunderstandings. It must have been tricky to communicate on the cusp of the change when some people were using the old meaning and some the new.

 

regards

Steve

Edited October 16, 2007 by anhar

[magnetman]

i'll get a new dictionary sometime, an egregious one if i can find one.

[cugsey]

will the wanking moderators close this cunting thread

 

can i say that

[carlt]

I don't see why not, everyone seems to be saying it here.

 

A good point well made Cugsey (and no, I'm not being ironic).

[Guest]

Strangely perhaps there is no popularly used rhymer for wank of which I'm aware. For some reason Londoners say just that.

 

regards

Steve

My one-time workmate from Walthamstowe (spelling?) used to use the rhyming term "ham shank."

[Sir Nibble]

will the wanking moderators close this cunting thread

 

can i say that

I have also noticed that the whole "naughty words" thing appears to be on hold, perhaps if we can be adult in our restraint this will continue to be the case.

I note that at this point, the proto-human Cugsy has stood slowly to face the sky to the strains of Aslso sprach zarathustra, at the dawning of humankind and said "Fuck"! Like Carl, I aprove of this post, it's iether pig ignorant or very clever.

[carlt]

to the strains of Aslso sprach zarathustra, at the dawning of humankind and said "Fuck"!

Is that "Nietzsche - the opera?"

[anhar]

I don't see why not, everyone seems to be saying it here.

 

A good point well made Cugsey (and no, I'm not being ironic).

If you mean that Carl it is almost unbelievable that you agree with cugsey's appallingly unfunny trash. Wasn't it only very recently that you told us that he was on your ignored reader list? Didn't last long did it. The only person to whom you have ever granted that privilege because of the insulting semi literate puerile troll rubbish that he continually writes on this forum, with never anything positive or worthwhile to say or the redeeming characteristic of humour.

 

There was a reasonable discussion under way, moreover with a humorous element, with which you might not have agreed but so what. It wasn't about insulting people as happens in many other threads, it was about discussing word usage. Then along comes this person spouting his usual vitriolic abuse and you agree with him.

 

What happened to you?

 

regards

Steve

Edited October 16, 2007 by anhar

[carlt]

If you mean that Carl it is almost unbelievable that you agree with cugsey's appallingly unfunny trash. Wasn't it only very recently that you told us that he was on your ignored reader list? The only person to whom you have ever granted that privilege because of the insulting semi literate puerile rubbish that he continually writes on this forum, with never anything positive or worthwhile to say?

 

There was a reasonable discussion under way, with which you might not have agreed but so what. It wasn't about insulting people as happens in many other threads, it was about discussing word usage. Then along comes this person spouting his usual vitriolic abuse and you agree with him.

 

What happened to you?

 

regards

Steve

I think the different ways in which expletives can be used is interesting and the different reactions, depending on their context seems to come down to class and pseudo intellectualism.

 

We can discuss language and it's use, quoting the most taboo words, without a flicker on the "modometer" but, as soon as someone uses them for their intended purpose, the blustering outrage begins.

 

I thought it was fairly obvious that cugsey was pointing that out using the minimum amount of words necessary and it's disappointing that it needed a longer, over-elaborate explanation.

 

Put bluntly Steve, it's alright for you to write c**t, w**k and others, because you're clever, but not Cugsey because you don't think he is. I thought it was the cleverest post on this thread, but, if it wasn't I'm sure Cugsey will put me right.

[anhar]

I think the different ways in which expletives can be used is interesting and the different reactions, depending on their context seems to come down to class and pseudo intellectualism.

 

We can discuss language and it's use, quoting the most taboo words, without a flicker on the "modometer" but, as soon as someone uses them for their intended purpose, the blustering outrage begins.

 

I thought it was fairly obvious that cugsey was pointing that out using the minimum amount of words necessary and it's disappointing that it needed a longer, over-elaborate explanation.

 

Put bluntly Steve, it's alright for you to write c**t, w**k and others, because you're clever, but not Cugsey because you don't think he is. I thought it was the cleverest post on this thread, but, if it wasn't I'm sure Cugsey will put me right.

My query wasn't really about cugsey but about you Carl. Amazing that someone you until recently thought fit to put on an ignored reader list because of what you clearly saw as his obnoxious comments is now someone whose messages you read and moreover, in this case, admire. What a turn round! I repeat, what happened to you?

 

I wouldn't have responded to cugsey at all, I'm not worried about his use of those words or whether they are only for "clever" people. So you are wrong about me there. He was just taking the french though in typically unwitty, clumsy and obvious fashion. But having a poor sense of humour is no crime.

 

If you really think that his comments were "A good point well made" then I find that hard to believe. It really was the most obvious comment that anyone wanting to make some wisecrack about this topic could have said. So I think you are just trying to be controversial for the sake of it which as you know you often do just to argue, I don't believe you really think his comment well made etc.

 

But no, it wasn't cugsey, it was your lack of consistency towards him that I was querying. From being banned by you to adulation in about five minutes. Why so? That's what I think would be interesting to know.

 

Does cugsey really exist? Maybe it's a reader using another name purely to cause mischief.

 

regards

Steve

Edited October 16, 2007 by anhar

[Hairy-Neil]

Maybe it's a reader using another name purely to cause mischief.

 

As if......

[carlt]

My query wasn't really about cugsey but about you Carl. Amazing that someone you until recently thought fit to put on an ignored reader list because of what you clearly saw as his obnoxious comments is now someone whose messages you read and moreover, in this case, admire. What a turn round! I repeat, what happened to you?

 

I wouldn't have responded to cugsey at all, I'm not worried about his use of those words or whether they are only for "clever" people. So you are wrong about me there. He was just taking the french though in typically unwitty, clumsy and obvious fashion. But having a poor sense of humour is no crime.

 

If you really think that his comments were "A good point well made" then I find that hard to believe. It really was the most obvious comment that anyone wanting to make some wisecrack about this topic could have said. So I think you are just trying to be controversial for the sake of it which as you know you often do just to argue, I don't believe you really think his comment well made etc.

 

But no, it wasn't cugsey, it was your lack of consistency towards him that I was querying. From being banned by you to adulation in about five minutes. Why so? That's what I think would be interesting to know.

 

Does cugsey really exist? Maybe it's a reader using another name purely to cause mischief.

 

regards

Steve

I hardly think a one line compliment is adulation! I happen to think the majority of his posts are pointless nonsense but, occasionally, he writes something funny.

He came off the ignored list because somebody quoted him (you can't 'ignore' the quotes of others) and the quote was relevant to the thread, and amusing.

 

I really don't think an internet forum of, largely, anonymous personalities is the place to dismiss anybody completely. Like any medium that features fictional characters, the less savoury ones can sometimes be the most entertaining. With one exception (for his bullying, aggressive, racist and threatening posts) there is no'one on this forum I wouldn't buy a pint. Though Chrisw is so rich (or so he says) he can get them in.

 

One thing I do know, you perpetuating this subject is massaging Cugsey's ego far more than my throwaway comment.

[Keeping Up]

For a while this thread has been most interesting. Not only when it was on-topic, but I also found the discussion on the origins of words and rhyming slang most interesting. However it has now gone too far off topic and become excessively personal, so I am closing it.

 

Allan