I Never Knew There Was a Word for It - Adam Jacot De Boinod [116]
ELYSIAN FIELDS
The spirit has most definitely left the body, but to travel who knows where? Over the centuries there have been many different answers to this fascinating question:
fiddlers’ green (1825) the place where sailors expect to go when they die: a place of fiddling, dancing, rum and tobacco
psychopannychy (1545) the sleep of the soul between death and the day of judgment
Lubberland (1598) a mythical paradise reserved for those who are lazy
GOD’S IN HIS HEAVEN
Back on earth, those left behind try and make sense of this alarming flight. Many find a visit to a church helpful in all kinds of ways …
scaldabanco (1670) a preacher who delivers a fiery sermon
utraquist (1894) one who partakes of the wine as well as the bread at communion
officers of the 52nd (b.1909) young men rigidly going to church on the 52 Sundays in a year
… though some motives are more suspect than others:
thorough churchman (b.1811) a person who goes in at one door of a church, and out at the other without stopping
autem-diver (17C) a pickpocket specializing in the robbery of church congregations
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
God is known by few names: God, Allah, Jehovah. But his old adversary has any number of monikers: author of evil, black gentleman, fallen angel, old scratch, old split-foot and the noseless one. Just in the north-east of England he’s been Clootie, Awd Horney, Auld Nick and the Bad Man, while Yorkshire has had him as Dicky Devlin; Gloucestershire as Miffy and Suffolk as Jack-a-Dells.
THE UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Religion asks us to accept our fate, whatever that may be. For many that’s not good enough. They need more concrete assurance of the good or bad things to come:
onychomancy (1652) fortune-telling using reflected light on oiled fingernails
pessomancy (1727) divination by throwing pebbles
belomancy (1646) divination using arrows marked with symbols or questions, guidance being sought by firing the arrows or drawing them at random from a bag or quiver
planchette (French 1920s) a small, heart-shaped board on casters with a pencil attached; when participants in a séance touched it lightly the planchette allegedly wrote messages from the dead
WORD JOURNEYS
juggernaut (17C) from Hindi jagannath: a title of the god Vishnu ‘lord of the world’. It was believed that devotees of Vishnu threw themselves beneath the wheels of a cart bearing his image in procession
mortgage (14C from Old French) a death pledge, a promise to pay upon a person’s death
bask (14C) to bathe in blood
bless (Old English) to redden with blood; then to consecrate
SLAPSAUCE
Food
An apple pie without the cheese is like
the kiss without the squeeze
(1929)
British food is often unfavourably compared with the cuisines of other nations. But why on earth should this be?
dribble-beards (Scotland 1829) long strips of cabbage in broth
dog and maggot (UK military forces) biscuits and cheese
chussha-wagga (Worcestershire) inferior cheese
druschoch (Ayrshire) any liquid food of a nauseating appearance
HORSE FODDER
Dr Johnson famously described oats as ‘a grain which is in England given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people’. Turnips on the other hand have long sustained people on both sides of the border. In the dialect of north-east England they have been known as bagies, naggies, narkies, nashers, snadgers, snaggers, snannies, snarters, tungies and yammies. In Scotland they’re called neeps, as in bashed neeps (mashed turnips) the traditional accompaniment to haggis.
KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL
Pig-months (19C) are those months in the year which have an ‘r’ in their name: that is, all except the summer months of May, June, July or August, when it was traditionally considered unwise to eat pork (or shellfish). But however safe your ingredients, correct preparation is essential:
spitchcock (1675) to prepare an eel for the table
bonx (Essex) to beat up batter for pudding
engastration (1814) the act of stuffing one bird into another (the result is