Mike Lyle
Guest
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| Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 6:27 pm
Post subject: Re: bloke |
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Andrew Gwilliam wrote:
| Quote: | On Thu, 19 May 2005 16:01:43 +0100, Mike Lyle wrote:
Andrew Gwilliam wrote:
I was going to hazard a guess that it was Cockney in origin, and
probably Victorian. Is that Mayhew as in "London Labour and the
London Poor" (if that's the book I'm thinking of)?
Yes, that Mayhew. Partridge can't pin down the origin.
FWIW, my Macquarie has it as of "Shelta" origin. "Say, what?",
thinks I, leading me to this definition:
"a tinkers' jargon of Ireland and parts of Britain, based on
deliberately altered Gaelic"
I'm not terribly convinced by this derivation, but presumably
someone
has done the research to back it up.
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Partridge says that was a Weekley idea (haw, haw!); OED1 doesn't
mention it at all. Both prefer to remain puzzled.
--
Mike. |
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