OT: zorch
Vocaboly.com Forum Index Vocaboly.com
Vocabulary builder software for SAT, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT and more
 
 FAQFAQ   MemberlistMemberlist   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 
 
Google
 
Web www.vocaboly.com
OT: zorch

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Vocaboly.com Forum Index -> alt.usage.english
Author Message
Jim Ward
Guest





Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:02 am    Post subject: OT: zorch Reply with quote

A word that seems to have disappereard is 'zorch', which Maxim claims
is Korean War slang for excellent.

http://www.maximonline.com/grit/articles/article_5913.html

Back to top
John Dean
Guest





Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:02 am    Post subject: Re: zorch Reply with quote

Jim Ward wrote:
Quote:
A word that seems to have disappereard is 'zorch', which Maxim claims
is Korean War slang for excellent.

http://www.maximonline.com/grit/articles/article_5913.html

Google finds some references in this group in recent years to 'zorch' as
a 60s term for something good. Or even cool.
--
John Dean
Oxford
Back to top
Maria Conlon
Guest





Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:02 am    Post subject: Re: OT: zorch Reply with quote

Jess Askin wrote:
Quote:
Bill Bonde wrote:
Jim Ward wrote:
Dylan Nicholson wrote:

So, er, how is that OT exactly?

Playing it safe ... I'm not quite sure what's on topic any more,
except questions about usage ... and I'm pretty sure its usage is 0.
Zorch!

Course you used the OT: that IE changes on replies.

That's happened to me a couple times. What shouldn't I be typing in my
subject line?

It seems safe to use this: [OT] followed by the Subject.

(Now just watch. It won't work just because I said that.)

Maria Conlon

Back to top
Bill Bonde ( ``And the La
Guest





Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:04 am    Post subject: Re: OT: zorch Reply with quote

Jess Askin wrote:
Quote:

"Bill Bonde ( ``And the Lamb lies down on Broadway'' )"
stderr2@backpacker.com> wrote in message
news:4192AEE2.8E1FE9D4@backpacker.com...


Jim Ward wrote:

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 10:22:00 +1100, "Dylan Nicholson"
wizofaus@hotmail.com> wrote:

So, er, how is that OT exactly?

Playing it safe ... I'm not quite sure what's on topic any more,
except questions about usage ... and I'm pretty sure its usage is 0.
Zorch!

Course you used the OT: that IE changes on replies.

That's happened to me a couple times. What shouldn't I be typing in my
subject line?

Unless IE gets fixed, fat bloody chance a that, you probably shouldn't

put xx: at the start of a subject line.


--
So I was feeding the hummingbirds but not changing the feeder sugar
water quickly enough and it fermented into something like that stuff
that Hunter S Thompson was drinking in the Rum Diary, anyway, so I had
these drunk birds flying everywhere just like mosquitoes in Minnesota,
dashing up one side of me, darting down the other, crashing into the
windows, falling off their perches, didn't even know they perched,
flying backwards, flying backwards, it was like something out of the
Exorcist. After a while though, I got bored with it all. Next Summer I'm
going to Alaska to feed french bread soaked in Wild Turkey to polar
bears. Wish me luck!
Back to top
Jess Askin
Guest





Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:06 am    Post subject: Re: OT: zorch Reply with quote

"Bill Bonde ( ``And the Lamb lies down on Broadway'' )"
<stderr2@backpacker.com> wrote in message
news:4192AEE2.8E1FE9D4@backpacker.com...
Quote:


Jim Ward wrote:

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 10:22:00 +1100, "Dylan Nicholson"
wizofaus@hotmail.com> wrote:

So, er, how is that OT exactly?

Playing it safe ... I'm not quite sure what's on topic any more,
except questions about usage ... and I'm pretty sure its usage is 0.
Zorch!

Course you used the OT: that IE changes on replies.

That's happened to me a couple times. What shouldn't I be typing in my
subject line?
Back to top
Dylan Nicholson
Guest





Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:06 am    Post subject: Re: OT: zorch Reply with quote

"Jim Ward" <tomcatpolka@NyOaShPoAoM.com> wrote in message
news:3a85p01rc9tvva666d2dfi9jsve1al6jvq@4ax.com...
Quote:
A word that seems to have disappereard is 'zorch', which Maxim claims
is Korean War slang for excellent.

So, er, how is that OT exactly?
Back to top
Jim Ward
Guest





Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:06 am    Post subject: Re: OT: zorch Reply with quote

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 10:22:00 +1100, "Dylan Nicholson"
<wizofaus@hotmail.com> wrote:

Quote:
So, er, how is that OT exactly?

Playing it safe ... I'm not quite sure what's on topic any more,
except questions about usage ... and I'm pretty sure its usage is 0.
Zorch!
Back to top
Bill Bonde ( ``And the La
Guest





Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:06 am    Post subject: Re: OT: zorch Reply with quote

Jim Ward wrote:
Quote:

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 10:22:00 +1100, "Dylan Nicholson"
wizofaus@hotmail.com> wrote:

So, er, how is that OT exactly?

Playing it safe ... I'm not quite sure what's on topic any more,
except questions about usage ... and I'm pretty sure its usage is 0.
Zorch!

Course you used the OT: that IE changes on replies.



--
So I was feeding the hummingbirds but not changing the feeder sugar
water quickly enough and it fermented into something like that stuff
that Hunter S Thompson was drinking in the Rum Diary, anyway, so I had
these drunk birds flying everywhere just like mosquitoes in Minnesota,
dashing up one side of me, darting down the other, crashing into the
windows, falling off their perches, didn't even know they perched,
flying backwards, flying backwards, it was like something out of the
Exorcist. After a while though, I got bored with it all. Next Summer I'm
going to Alaska to feed french bread soaked in Wild Turkey to polar
bears. Wish me luck!
Back to top
R H Draney
Guest





Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:06 am    Post subject: Re: OT: zorch Reply with quote

Jim Ward filted:
Quote:

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 10:22:00 +1100, "Dylan Nicholson"
wizofaus@hotmail.com> wrote:

So, er, how is that OT exactly?

Playing it safe ... I'm not quite sure what's on topic any more,
except questions about usage ... and I'm pretty sure its usage is 0.
Zorch!

My mother remembers it (junior high school age during the Korean Conflict), but
says she could never figure out if it meant "good" or "bad"....

It also occurs in the lyrics of the song "Ape Call" by Nervous Norvus, who's
better-known for his song "Transfusion"...there it appears as an admonishment
("Be zorch, daddy-o; go ape"), suggestion the connotation is positive....r
Back to top
Ben Zimmer
Guest





Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 2:03 pm    Post subject: Re: OT: zorch Reply with quote

R H Draney wrote:
Quote:

My mother remembers it (junior high school age during the Korean Conflict), but
says she could never figure out if it meant "good" or "bad"....

It also occurs in the lyrics of the song "Ape Call" by Nervous Norvus, who's
better-known for his song "Transfusion"...there it appears as an admonishment
("Be zorch, daddy-o; go ape"), suggestion the connotation is positive....r

Nervous Norvus (aka Jimmy Drake) got "zorch" from the DJ Red Blanchard,
who started using the word on KCBS in San Francisco around 1952. In
1955, Blanchard recorded a song called "Zorch" as the B-side to his
"Captain Hideous" single. The timeless lyrics to "Zorch" go:

Um bully bully bully bully bully bully
Zorch means it's edgar
Edgar means it's dimph
Dimph means it's in there
Zorch, man it's nervous
Nervous, that's the most
Zorch, oh it's threatened
Threatened means it's new
Zorch, ain't it nervous
Nervous, it's the most
When some cat looks dimph to you

http://www.aspma.com/drake/
http://www.thefang.co.uk/nervous.htm

Nervous Norvus was heavily influenced by Blanchard (The Jargon File
<http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/Z/zorch.html> incorrectly credits the
"Zorch" B-side to NN.)

The word "zorch" also appeared in a Jan. 1952 episode of _I Love Lucy_
called "Lucy Fakes Illness", in which Hal March, posing as a doctor,
informs Lucy, "We'll have to go in and take out your zorch." (See:
<http://www.youns.com/lucy/lovelucy.asp?offset=15>.)
Back to top
John Ings
Guest





Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 6:06 am    Post subject: Re: zorch Reply with quote

On Wed, 10 Nov 2004 23:59:51 +0100, "John Dean"
<john-dean@frag.lineone.net> wrote:

Quote:
Jim Ward wrote:
A word that seems to have disappereard is 'zorch', which Maxim claims
is Korean War slang for excellent.

http://www.maximonline.com/grit/articles/article_5913.html

Google finds some references in this group in recent years to 'zorch' as
a 60s term for something good. Or even cool.

As a radar technician in the RCAF circa the 1950s and 1960s I heard
the word commonly used as a slang term meaning "to burn out".

"He got the clamshell assembly in crooked so when the power came on it
zorched three or four resistors and a couple of diodes. The lab
sergeant sure was ticked!"
Back to top
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Vocaboly.com Forum Index -> alt.usage.english All times are GMT + 1 Hour
Page 1 of 1

 
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum



Office Forum Access Forum Electronics Windows Server Exchange Server
New Topics Powered by phpBB