| Author |
Message |
Peter Duncanson
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 6:48 am
Post subject: Re: Nesh |
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On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 00:23:40 +0100, "einde. ocallaghan" <"einde.
ocallaghan"@planet-interkom.de> wrote:
| Quote: | Robin Bignall wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 16:51:40 +0000, Peter Duncanson
mail@peterduncanson.net> wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 16:23:21 +0000, Robin Bignall <docrobin@ntlworld.com
wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 12:20:31 +0000, Phil C.
philstoxicwaste@fsmail.net> wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 00:19:06 +0000, Robin Bignall
docrobin@ntlworld.com> wrote:
"As sharp as
houses" was one of the expressions used for people who were witty and
quick.
I was aware of "as safe as houses".
I must have been falling asleep when I wrote that. Of course it's "As
safe as houses". I was thinking of "As sharp as a tack", a tack being
one of those short, sharp, broad-headed nails used in those days for
tacking new leather soles onto boots, for example. COD10 gives
"drawing pin" as the AmE example, but tacks are nothing like drawing
pins except in their ability to land sharp side up if you drop a bunch
of them.
I agree that a thumbtack/drawing pin is not the same as, for example, a
carpet tack.
However, see the following entry in COD10:
"thumbtack n. North American term for DRAWING PIN."
But see the COD10 entry:
tack1
· n.
1 a small, sharp broad-headed nail. Ø N. Amer. a drawing pin.
I don't think one could describe a drawing pin in BrE as a 'tack'.
'Thumbtack' is an AmE word.
Google UK yields a number of examples of thumbtack in use this side of the
pond.
Of that I have no doubt. AmE has been part of our staple diet for
decades. <g
I can remember using both "drawing pin" and "thumbtack" to describe the
same object in Ireland during the 1950s and 1960s. This was quite
different from the kind of tack we used to keep the carpet attached to
the floor.
To me a tack is for a temporary fixing, where temporary can be from minutes |
to months, or longer. It is expected to be removed, and possibly reused.
This is obvious in the case of a drawing pin or thumbtack. These are
designed for repeated use.
Leather soles on boots and carpets on floors are expected to be replaced at
some time. Hence the the use of removable tacks.
In needlework a tack is a long temporary stitch used to hold two pieces of
cloth together prior to sewing them.
--
Peter Duncanson
UK
(posting from u.c.l.e) |
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Phil C.
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 6:46 pm
Post subject: Re: Nesh |
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|
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 21:52:44 +0000, Molly Mockford
<nospamnobody@mollymockford.me.uk> wrote:
| Quote: | At 19:48:15 on Sat, 22 Jan 2005, Phil C. <philstoxicwaste@fsmail.net
wrote in <bcb5v0p2dn7mu5kgm01ct5n2eun8q3sqq6@4ax.com>:
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 19:13:21 -0000, "mUs1Ka" <mUs1Ka@exite.com> wrote:
What's brown and tacky?
I know this one!!!
A stick?
Nah - a saddle. What's brown and specky?
Me, when I've been on holiday without contact lenses.
|
Nah - that bloke off the Halifax ads. You're not even trying. What's
brown and stocky? An Oxo cube. See? One last chance. What's brown and
sticky and came to fame in the 1970s?
--
Phil C. |
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Dave Clarke
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 5:07 am
Post subject: Re: Nesh |
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|
On Sunday 23 January 2005 11:46 Phil C. wrote:
| Quote: | On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 21:52:44 +0000, Molly Mockford
nospamnobody@mollymockford.me.uk> wrote:
At 19:48:15 on Sat, 22 Jan 2005, Phil C. <philstoxicwaste@fsmail.net
wrote in <bcb5v0p2dn7mu5kgm01ct5n2eun8q3sqq6@4ax.com>:
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 19:13:21 -0000, "mUs1Ka" <mUs1Ka@exite.com> wrote:
What's brown and tacky?
I know this one!!!
A stick?
Nah - a saddle. What's brown and specky?
Me, when I've been on holiday without contact lenses.
Nah - that bloke off the Halifax ads. You're not even trying. What's
brown and stocky? An Oxo cube. See? One last chance. What's brown and
sticky and came to fame in the 1970s?
|
Mud
--
Dave Clarke |
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K. Edgcombe
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 5:09 pm
Post subject: Re: Nesh |
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|
In article <6cq1v01cb7ei4kn52bp6quihdku31i01kp@4ax.com>,
Phil C. <philstoxicwaste@fsmail.net> wrote:
| Quote: |
Nippy out, isn't it.
I'd have assumed nippy was linked to a "nip" in the air - as in
"biting" cold. However, Partridge gives C19th proletarian "as white as
|
I'd always associated it with
....when icicles hang by the wall...and milk comes frozen home in pail,
when blood is nipped and ways be foul
then nightly sings the staring owl
and all that.
Katy |
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Phil C.
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 6:33 pm
Post subject: Re: Nesh |
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On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 22:07:52 +0000, Dave Clarke
<pinggetridofthisbituino@operamail.com> wrote:
| Quote: | On Sunday 23 January 2005 11:46 Phil C. wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 21:52:44 +0000, Molly Mockford
nospamnobody@mollymockford.me.uk> wrote:
At 19:48:15 on Sat, 22 Jan 2005, Phil C. <philstoxicwaste@fsmail.net
wrote in <bcb5v0p2dn7mu5kgm01ct5n2eun8q3sqq6@4ax.com>:
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 19:13:21 -0000, "mUs1Ka" <mUs1Ka@exite.com> wrote:
What's brown and tacky?
I know this one!!!
A stick?
Nah - a saddle. What's brown and specky?
Me, when I've been on holiday without contact lenses.
Nah - that bloke off the Halifax ads. You're not even trying. What's
brown and stocky? An Oxo cube. See? One last chance. What's brown and
sticky and came to fame in the 1970s?
Mud
|
Good try but no cigar. It's Skid Viscous.
--
Phil C. |
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Brian {Hamilton Kelly}
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 2:01 am
Post subject: Re: Nesh |
|
|
On Saturday, in article
<qkn5v09o8t5bgrg7rvlt8865ft0fmhd35s@4ax.com>
mail@peterduncanson.net "Peter Duncanson" wrote:
| Quote: | On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 23:09:30 +0000, Robin Bignall <docrobin@ntlworld.com
wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 16:51:40 +0000, Peter Duncanson
mail@peterduncanson.net> wrote:
Google UK yields a number of examples of thumbtack in use this side of the
pond.
Of that I have no doubt. AmE has been part of our staple diet for
decades. <g
Hard tack?
|
Now THAT takes the biscuit.
--
Brian {Hamilton Kelly} bhk@dsl.co.uk
"Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu
le loisir de la faire plus courte."
Blaise Pascal, /Lettres Provinciales/, 1657 |
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Si Nicholls
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 10:52 pm
Post subject: Re: Nesh |
|
|
"Peter Duncanson" <mail@peterduncanson.net> wrote in message
news:kuo5v09piikup4u4uvubi9t5c10nc5r143@4ax.com...
| Quote: | On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 00:23:40 +0100, "einde. ocallaghan" <"einde.
ocallaghan"@planet-interkom.de> wrote:
Robin Bignall wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 16:51:40 +0000, Peter Duncanson
mail@peterduncanson.net> wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 16:23:21 +0000, Robin Bignall
docrobin@ntlworld.com
wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 12:20:31 +0000, Phil C.
philstoxicwaste@fsmail.net> wrote:
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 00:19:06 +0000, Robin Bignall
docrobin@ntlworld.com> wrote:
"As sharp as
houses" was one of the expressions used for people who were witty and
quick.
I was aware of "as safe as houses".
I must have been falling asleep when I wrote that. Of course it's "As
safe as houses". I was thinking of "As sharp as a tack", a tack being
one of those short, sharp, broad-headed nails used in those days for
tacking new leather soles onto boots, for example. COD10 gives
"drawing pin" as the AmE example, but tacks are nothing like drawing
pins except in their ability to land sharp side up if you drop a bunch
of them.
I agree that a thumbtack/drawing pin is not the same as, for example, a
carpet tack.
However, see the following entry in COD10:
"thumbtack n. North American term for DRAWING PIN."
But see the COD10 entry:
tack1
· n.
1 a small, sharp broad-headed nail. Ø N. Amer. a drawing pin.
I don't think one could describe a drawing pin in BrE as a 'tack'.
'Thumbtack' is an AmE word.
Google UK yields a number of examples of thumbtack in use this side of
the
pond.
Of that I have no doubt. AmE has been part of our staple diet for
decades. <g
I can remember using both "drawing pin" and "thumbtack" to describe the
same object in Ireland during the 1950s and 1960s. This was quite
different from the kind of tack we used to keep the carpet attached to
the floor.
To me a tack is for a temporary fixing, where temporary can be from
minutes
to months, or longer. It is expected to be removed, and possibly reused.
This is obvious in the case of a drawing pin or thumbtack. These are
designed for repeated use.
Leather soles on boots and carpets on floors are expected to be replaced
at
some time. Hence the the use of removable tacks.
In needlework a tack is a long temporary stitch used to hold two pieces of
cloth together prior to sewing them.
--
Peter Duncanson
UK
(posting from u.c.l.e)
|
Also a temporary weld.
Si Nicholls |
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