Seldom Used Words (Cont'd)

[oggbashan]

"The word "worm", derived from Old English wyrm, originally referred to a dragon or serpent. "Wyvern" is derived from Old Saxon wivere, also meaning serpent."

I recall something about a wyrm living in a well in Northumberland, but cannot call it to mind; there's a folk-song about it somewhere, I believe.

The Bamburgh Worm?

Or The Lambton Worm?

 

[oggbashan]

Misandry isn't yet accepted as a word.

Why should it be? We already have:

The word misanthrope - Year of first recorded use 1683 - A man-hater; one who distrusts men and avoids them. With misanthropy 1656, misanthropic 1762, misanthropist 1656.

 

[CarlusMagnus]

Misandry isn't yet accepted as a word.

Why should it be? We already have:

The word misanthrope - Year of first recorded use 1683 - A man-hater; one who distrusts men and avoids them. With misanthropy 1656, misanthropic 1762, misanthropist 1656.

Not to mention misogynist, whose existence meets the need that whoever is complaining about misandry may think the latter non-word fills. (It wouldn't; it would be a synonym for misanthrope.) [Edit: Correction--a synonym for misanthropy.]

 

[Handley_Page]

[/off direct]

These words with "MIS" at the start strike me as the opposite of another word.
Thus misandry should be the opposite (or negative) of andry.

OR am I barking up the wrong tree ?

[/on direct]

 

[AllardChardon]

I must admit, I do not have a good answer to Og's question, but from the little research I did, he seems correct with the word misandry.

The Lambton Worm link was a wonderful read, Og, many thanks.

This one just sounds interesting:

Nissen hut - noun a barrel-shaped prefabricated shelter of corrugated iron with cement floor

 

[Handley_Page]

I must admit, I do not have a good answer to Og's question, but from the little research I did, he seems correct with the word misandry.

The Lambton Worm link was a wonderful read, Og, many thanks.

This one just sounds interesting:

Nissen hut - noun a barrel-shaped prefabricated shelter of corrugated iron with cement floor

Much beloved of servicemen until the late 1960s.
Used as dormitories, offices & stores.

 

[CarlusMagnus]

[/off direct]

These words with "MIS" at the start strike me as the opposite of another word.
Thus misandry should be the opposite (or negative) of andry.

OR am I barking up the wrong tree ?

[/on direct]

The prefix mis- comes from a Greek word meaning to hate.

 

[oggbashan]

...

This one just sounds interesting:

Nissen hut - noun a barrel-shaped prefabricated shelter of corrugated iron with cement floor

I remember them well. The boarding school I attended when my parents were still in Gibraltar accommodated their students, including me, in Nissen Huts.

There were two electric heaters in each large Nissen Hut. Above them, the air was warm. Beside them, it was cold. Any heat escaped through the corrugated iron roof. In winter the few windows would freeze on the inside from our condensed breath. In summer, those windows would stream from our condensed sweat.

While I was at that school, parents were promised that we would be rehoused in purpose built modern blocks like a University campus with individual bedrooms.

The first block was occupied five years AFTER I had left the school. The last Nissen Hut ceased to be a dormitory twelve years after I had left.

When my brother did his National Service in the Royal Navy, the Nissen Huts built during the Second World War had been demolished. He had better accommodation in Barracks than his younger brother had in a fee-paying school...

You can see the Nissen Huts on the right of the picture. The long one was classrooms, the shorter ones, further away, were the dormitories.

Although this picture is of a 'hospital', the interior of our dormitories were like this. We didn't have the roof lights, just windows on the sides. We kept our belongings in trunks under the beds.

 

[Weird Harold]

Much beloved of servicemen until the late 1960s.
Used as dormitories, offices & stores.

Nissen Huts -- or their evolutionary descendants -- were still in use in 1989 Germany when I retired. Most had been buried under three to five feet of earth for insulation and bomb-proofing. Larger versions, reinforced with 24-36 inches of reinforced concrete, were used as individual aircraft shelters.

NB: The particular shelter shown is c1981 at RAF Bruggen; It is a newer design than the oversized Quonset Huts (as The US Military called it's version of Nissen Huts,) located where I was stationed in Germany. The shelters where I was were made of corrugated arches covered with reinforced concrete. They were a bit smaller than the one shown.

 

[Handley_Page]

Nissen Huts -- or their evolutionary descendants -- were still in use in 1989 Germany when I retired. Most had been buried under three to five feet of earth for insulation and bomb-proofing. Larger versions, reinforced with 24-36 inches of reinforced concrete, were used as individual aircraft shelters.


NB: The particular shelter shown is c1981 at RAF Bruggen; It is a newer design than the oversized Quonset Huts (as The US Military called it's version of Nissen Huts,) located where I was stationed in Germany. The shelters where I was were made of corrugated arches covered with reinforced concrete. They were a bit smaller than the one shown.

That brings back some memories of RAFG in 1968.

 

[AllardChardon]

I thought my last entry might get some posting action, and now, I am better acquainted with the many versions of Nissen huts, thanks to you, gentlemen.

nisi - adj taking effect at a specified time unless previously modified or avoided by cause shown, further proceedings, or a condition fulfilled (decree ~)

 

[AllardChardon]

Good day, everyone.

nisei - noun a son or daughter of immigrant Japanese parents who is born and educated in America and esp. in the U.S.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Misandry isn't yet accepted as a word.

Why should it be? We already have:

The word misanthrope - Year of first recorded use 1683 - A man-hater; one who distrusts men and avoids them. With misanthropy 1656, misanthropic 1762, misanthropist 1656.

[/off direct]

These words with "MIS" at the start strike me as the opposite of another word.
Thus misandry should be the opposite (or negative) of andry.

OR am I barking up the wrong tree ?

[/on direct]

Sorry about back-tracking, but I just got here.

And hello, my partner in unwedlock.

Misanthropy doesn't really fit the bill as it comes from 'anthropos' meaning adult human. "Andros" is the Greek term for man, as "gynecos" is for woman, thus, someone might like to have the word "misandry" or "misandrist."

And, no HP, there is no "andry" nor is there "gyny, but there also is no "anthropy," although the term "anthropic" does come close.

 

[AllardChardon]

A wish for a pleasant day to everyone.

Another grouping;

nip and tuck - adj so close that the lead or advantage shifts rapidly from one contestant to another

nipper - noun 1. any of various devices used for nipping (as pincers) 2.a. an incisor of a horse b. CHELA 3. chiefly Brit: a. a boy employed as a helper (as of a carter or hawker) b. CHILD

nippy - adj 1. marked by a tendency to nip 2. brisk, quick, or nimble in movement: SNAPPY 3. PUNGENT, SHARP 4. CHILLY, CHILLING [a ~ day]

nip-up - noun a spring to a standing position from a supine position

 

[CarlusMagnus]

nipper - noun 1. any of various devices used for nipping (as pincers) 2.a. an incisor of a horse b. CHELA 3. chiefly Brit: a. a boy employed as a helper (as of a carter or hawker) b. CHILD

Reminds me of a verse from the song "Aboard the Good Ship Venus":

The cabin boy was a pipper,
A right smart little nipper!
He powdered his ass
With broken glass,
And circumcised the skipper!

 

[AllardChardon]

Carlus, very funny and thanks for sharing it. The things you learn about on this thread are amazing, indeed.

nip(1) - vb 1. to catch hold of and squeeze tightly between two surfaces, edges, or points: PINCH 2.a. to sever by or as if by pinching sharply b. to destroy the growth, progress, maturing, or fulfillment of [nipped in the bud] c. to check sharply 3. to injure or make numb with cold: CHILL 4. SNATCH, STEAL

nip(2) - noun 1. something that nips; as a. a sharp biting comment b. a sharp stinging cold c. a biting or pungent flavor: TANG 2. the act of nipping: PINCH, BITE 3. a small portion: BIT

nip(3) - noun a small quantity of liquor

nip(4) - vi to take liquor in nips: TIPPLE

 

[Handley_Page]

I'll just nip to the shops for some milk, then . .

 

[AllardChardon]

Handley, I don't think that particular usage of nip was defined. How would you define it?

Niobe - noun a daughter of Tantalus and wife of Amphion held in Greek legend to have been turned into stone while weeping for her slain children and to continue weeping her loss

 

[oggbashan]

More Nips

Nip - (Brit) move quickly or swiftly. Hence Nipper - a person who nips, a fast delivery boy.

Nip and Tuck - (Brit) face lift, cosmetic operation.

Nippy - (1920s and 30s Brit) Initial letter capitalised. Waitress in a Lyons Corner House. [Og's note: Lyons' Nippies were superior waitresses who were expected to be literate and knowledgable as well as efficient. Courting and marrying a Nippy was socially acceptable when marrying an ordinary waitress would not have been.]

Dict Hist Slang:
Nouns:

Nip (1) Thief, especially a cut-purse or pickpocket.
Nip (2) A Cheat late C17-early C19 when this was the main usage of the word.
A cut-purse was a Bung-Nipper.
Nip (3) A person carried on a stage-coach with the collusion of the staff without paying for a ticket.

Verbs:

Nip (1) To steal
Nip (2) To catch, snatch, take up smartly
Nip (3) To pinch = arrest

 

[oggbashan]

Yet more Nip-related

Dict Hist Slang:

Nip, white as a - As white as snow

Nip along, in, out, up, etc. from meaning of move fast

Nip-cheese - a ship's purser from the purser's 'pinching' part of the cheese or other food rations.

Nip-louse - a tailor from circa 1850; also Nip-shred mid C17 - mid C18

nippence - nothing, no money

nipper (1) a skilful thief circa 1580 - 1830
nipper (2) a boy who assists a tradesman, workman etc, whence
nipper (3) a boy [Og's note: in plural C20 young children]
nipper (4) a frosty/cold day
nipper (5) a cabin boy
nipper (6) Australian - a prawn

nippers (1) - handcuffs 1820-1920
nippers (2) - Royal Navy slang up to 1960s - neat Navy Rum, also known as sippers, as opposed to Grog - diluted Rum.

nipping Christian - A cut-purse 1800-1860

nipping-jig - a judicial hanging, execution early C19

nippy (1) - children's slang from about 1850 = penis
nippy (2) - Lively, nimble, active, sharp, prompt [Og's note: Lyons Corner House Nippies were expected to be this]
nippy (3) - fairly cold - British understatement 'It's a bit nippy' = damn cold

nippitate, nippitato, nippitatum, nippitaty - strong, prime, (alcoholic) liquor especially ale circa 1575-1700

 

[AllardChardon]

Og, it is amazing one little root word like nip could yield so many meanings. Thanks for adding them all to this thread.

I thought I knew a fair amount about fabrics, but this one is new to me;

ninon - noun a smooth sheer fabric

 

[oggbashan]

...

I thought I knew a fair amount about fabrics, but this one is new to me;

ninon - noun a smooth sheer fabric

I knew about ninon from the name of this Lady:

Ninon De L'Enclos

Ninon took a succession of notable and wealthy lovers, including the king's cousin the Great Condé, Gaston de Coligny, and François, duc de La Rochefoucauld. These men did not support her, however; she prided herself on her independent income. "Ninon always had crowds of adorers but never more than one lover at a time, and when she tired of the present occupier, she said so frankly and took another. Yet such was the authority of this wanton, that no man dared fall out with his successful rival; he was only too happy to be allowed to visit as a familiar friend," Saint-Simon wrote.

Ninon de l'Enclos is a relatively obscure figure in the English-speaking world, but is much better known in France where her name is synonymous with wit and beauty. Saint-Simon noted "Ninon made friends among the great in every walk of life, had wit and intelligence enough to keep them, and, what is more, to keep them friendly with one another."

 

[AllardChardon]

Og, you are such a wealth of knowledge and I truly appreciate your contributions. I almost did not post that word and I am so glad I did. I might have missed out on a fascinating woman of the past. Thank you so much.

The first one I know; the second, not at all;

ninny - noun FOOL, SIMPLETON

ninnyhammer - noun NINNY

 

[oggbashan]

More N from the Dictionary of Historical Slang

nimble-hipped - generally of women - active during intercourse [Og's note: as opposed to 'lie back and think of England'.]

nimenog, nigmenog - a very silly fellow. Also nidget, nidyard, and SE England niddicock

nimgimmer - a surgeon, doctor, apothecary, 'or any one that cures the Clap or the Pox'

nimrod - penis 'because Nimrod was a mighty hunter'

nimshod - a cat from Romany

nincum-noodle - a noodle (=fool) with no money London 1820-1840

Nine - Cats have nine lives, but women ten. Mid C18-C19

 

[AllardChardon]

That is a wonderful book, Og, I do enjoy your postings immensely. Here is one that seems to fit right in;

nine days' wonder - noun something that creates a short-lived sensation