I Never Knew There Was a Word for It - Adam Jacot De Boinod [150]
The monotonous nature of the rhyme, which would have been repeated many times during the day, also supposedly gave rise to the idea of ‘counting sheep’ in order to get off to sleep.
WHO WANTS TO BE A VIGINTILLIONAIRE?
When numbers give way to mathematics, things start to get a bit more daunting:
zenzizenzizenzic (1557) the eighth power of a number
lemniscate (1781) the ∞ or ‘infinity’ symbol
preantepenult (1791) the fourth last
shake a unit of time equal to a hundred-millionth of a second (from top secret operations during the Second World War based on the expression ‘two shakes of a lamb’s tail’, indicating a very short time interval)
vigintillion (1857) the number expressed as a one followed by sixty-three zeros
EVEN STEVENS
Colloquial English takes delight in rhyming expressions, offcially known as Reduplicative Rhyming Compounds:
nibby-gibby (Cornwall 1854) touch and go
winky-pinky (Yorkshire) a nursery word for sleepy
hockerty-cockerty (Scotland 1742) with one leg on each shoulder
inchy-pinchy (Warwickshire) the boy’s game of progressive leapfrog
fidge-fadge (Yorkshire) a motion between walking and trotting
boris-noris (Dorset) careless, reckless, happy-go-lucky
wiffle-waffle (Northamptonshire) to whet one’s scythes together
Shropshire, in particular, has some fine examples:
aunty-praunty (Ellesmere) high-spirited, proud
bang-swang (Clee Hills) without thought, headlong
holus-bolus impulsively, without deliberation
opple-scopple (Clun) to scramble for sweets as children do
This is not just a local phenomenon, as these transatlantic modern versions demonstrate:
stitch ’n’ bitch sewing or knitting while exchanging malicious gossip
denture venturer a long trip away from work pre-retirement
chop shop a stolen car disassembly place
zero-hero the designated driver: someone who doesn’t drink alcohol at a social gathering etc. to drive those who do drink home safely
YOUR NUMBER’S UP
In the drugstores of 1930s America, staff often found it easier to talk in numerical code about certain sensitive matters:
13 a boss is roaming
14 a special order
86 we’re out of what was just ordered; to refuse to serve a customer
87½ a pretty woman just walked in
95 a customer is walking out without paying
98 the manager is here
MMMMM …
We all know there are twenty-six letters in the alphabet. But don’t think that’s the end of it:
izzard (Swift 1738) an archaic name for Z
lambdoidal (1653) shaped like the letter L
tittle (1538) the little dot above the letter i (it’s also the name for a pip on dice)
hyoid (1811) having a U shape
octothorpe (US 1960s) the offcial name of the ‘#’ (aka the hash mark)
annodated (b.1913) anything bent somewhat like the letter S (from heraldry)
mytacism (b.1913) the incorrect or excessive use of the letter M
NEVER ODD OR EVEN: PALINDROMES
The English word palindrome was coined by the playwright Ben Jonson in around 1629 to describe words that read the same forwards as backwards; an ongoing source of fun with phrases too:
no, it is opposition
Niagara, o roar again!
rats live on no evil star
nurse, I spy gypsies, run!
murder for a jar of red rum
harass sensuousness, Sarah
a man, a plan, a canal, Panama
sums are not set as a test on Erasmus
sir, I demand - I am a maid named Iris
a new order began, a more Roman age bred Rowena
SOUND EFFECTS
Noises sometimes seem to defy description. But not in this language:
fremescence (Thomas Carlyle 1837) an incipient roaring
rimbombo (1873) a booming roar
cloop (1848) drawing a cork from a bottle
amphoric (1839) the hollow sound produced by blowing across the mouth of a bottle
wheep (Kipling: Life’s Hand 1891) a steel weapon when drawn from a sheath
callithumpian (1836) a big parade, usually accompanied by a band of discordant instruments
rip-rap (1894) fireworks detonating
swabble (1848) water being sloshed around
crepitation (1656) the crackling and popping sound of a wood fire
jarg (1513) the creaking of a door or gate
juck-cum-peng (Jamaican English 1943) a wooden-legged person