Slang is the English language doomed

reply to post by alldaylong


ar, you may be right.. just putting it out there though

oddly accents and such are catching, possibly an existential virus?

My gf is from Lincs originally and still about 100 miles away (we are long distance etc) and she has strangely picked up a brummie accent since we met. which obvs i dont have (i speak a weird polyglot of walsall/wolves with black country and manc overtones with some middle class p&q's drilled into me by mater and highland/island bits from me gran),

slang, accents and dialect ftw

reply to post by clemo


Gornal had to be there somewhere... i used to work in Tipton (well Princes End) a long time back. they spoke so fast, even for the midlands

reply to post by skalla


I have that trait of speaking at a million miles an hour, my mom and dad met in princes end in the pub opposite the scratchings factory

Originally posted by skalla
then the priest was talking bollocks

nothing new there, its old

Well seeing as the court agreed with him, I would say not eh?

reply to post by ANOK


not always the best defence... the term was in use in the middle ages, check the link. The Bollock dagger is very well known and predates the court case you mention by some 500 years... once you see it, it's quite clear

more links..

english.stackexchange.com...

en.wikipedia.org...

The word has a long and distinguished history, with the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) giving examples of its usage dating back to the 13th century.

i like the pistols too, it dont make it true though




the source of your suggestion?

From the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, bollocks or ballocks was allegedly used as a slang term for a clergyman, although this meaning is not mentioned by the OED's 1989 edition. For example, in 1864, the Commanding Officer of the Straits Fleet regularly referred to his chaplain as "Ballocks". It has been suggested that bollocks came to have its modern meaning of "nonsense" because clergymen were notorious for talking nonsense during their sermons

and more from wiki

"Bollocks" /ˈbɒləks/ is a word of Anglo-Saxon origin, meaning "testicles".

reply to post by skalla


The Pistols is not the point, and I actually didn't say Bollocks was not used as slang for testicles, the court did.

It was a court case, and the judge deemed what the priest said as true, so the case was dropped.

I doubt the court would just take the priest at his word without checking.

From your link...

Perhaps the best-known use of the term is in the title of the 1977 punk rock album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. Testimony in a resulting prosecution over the term demonstrated that in Old English, the word referred to a priest, and could also be used to mean "nonsense". Defence barrister John Mortimer QC and Virgin Records won the case: the court ruled that the word was not obscene.[59]

reply to post by rockymcgilicutty


I haven't read through the whole thread... this is good though.

I will just say, that living near and around memphis ...well...theres a whole different "language" that people speak around here..called ebonics..I'm sure you have heard of this?

It has litterally made memphis a much more illiterate place. When some not all people speak, I cannot understand a dang word out of there mouth..its sad really.

~nat cat~
also..sorry if this "langauge" has been brought up...

yep..covered on first page in chicago.... so through tales I hear memphis is kinda like chicago...but never been there so I really do not know.

The first time I realized I was getting really old was when I would listen to the local teenagers in London and not have a clue what they were talking about.

Yeah Blud he was bare jokes. He moved to me so I switched on 'im

reply to post by sulaw

With all the crap going on in this twisted ass world, slang should be the last thing to be whining about.

Um yonder and reckon are real words....

But you did reveal a great point....the English language is doomed....because people don't really know the English language. People need to open a dictionary.

Originally posted by rockymcgilicutty

Originally posted by ANOK

Originally posted by rockymcgilicutty
What I found harder to believe than a choir boy in a porn shop, and started this thread was why anyone would call a phone a dog. And a Phone and receiver a dog and bone.

That is from Cockney rhyming slang.

Dog and Bone - Phone

Rosie Lee - Tea

Rabbit and pork - Talk

Elephant's Trunk - Drunk

Cream Crackered - Knackered

Knackered - Tired

China Plate - Mate (as in, my old China)

Mickey Mouse - House

Whistle and Flute - Suite

Out of all the slang I have heard. I find the cockney rhyming slang the hardest to understand.

That's on purpose right.

If I recall correctly

It was started as a way of speaking if the old bill (police) were around so as to be able to communicate without fear of being nabbed (arrested)

Sorry if I confused you Rocky, as you see we in Britain have a very colourful language that varies wildly from region to region.

I have a London type accent so I pronounce butter more like batter (much cause of hilarity when ask for 'batter' on my toast when up north), and London more like Landon, although London is a word I use very rarely we just call her The smoke (referring to the bad old days of pea soupers)) (very bad smog).

Great thread me old china
It's the mutts nuts (southern version of dogs bollocks)

I think it was Churchill that said: America and Britain .................. two great nations separated by a common language.

Cody

reply to post by rockymcgilicutty


Good post !

Here in the U.K. Two of my favourite corruptions of spoken English are :

" Gonna " ( Going to. )

" Tranna " ( Trying to. )

I hear even well spoken news readers using this slang.

I suppose languages are in a constant state of evolution. More so nowadays, as people travel and intermingle.

I have a real Yorkshire accent, but find myself using Yorkshire phrasing less, as the upcoming generations I live among don' t seem to have any particular accent, possibly due to the media. And people moving around more with employment...

My favourite hate word at present, though not slang is the word " Like " . Teenagers us it once or twice in each sentence, and it is irritating...But maybe I'm getting old and intolerant !

Originally posted by cody599

Originally posted by rockymcgilicutty

Originally posted by ANOK

Originally posted by rockymcgilicutty
What I found harder to believe than a choir boy in a porn shop, and started this thread was why anyone would call a phone a dog. And a Phone and receiver a dog and bone.

That is from Cockney rhyming slang.

Dog and Bone - Phone

Rosie Lee - Tea

Rabbit and pork - Talk

Elephant's Trunk - Drunk

Cream Crackered - Knackered

Knackered - Tired

China Plate - Mate (as in, my old China)

Mickey Mouse - House

Whistle and Flute - Suite

Out of all the slang I have heard. I find the cockney rhyming slang the hardest to understand.

That's on purpose right.

If I recall correctly

It was started as a way of speaking if the old bill (police) were around so as to be able to communicate without fear of being nabbed (arrested)

Sorry if I confused you Rocky, as you see we in Britain have a very colourful language that varies wildly from region to region.

I have a London type accent so I pronounce butter more like batter (much cause of hilarity when ask for 'batter' on my toast when up north), and London more like Landon, although London is a word I use very rarely we just call her The smoke (referring to the bad old days of pea soupers)) (very bad smog).

Great thread me old china
It's the mutts nuts (southern version of dogs bollocks)

I think it was Churchill that said: America and Britain .................. two great nations separated by a common language.

Cody

Haddaway man, am gannin yam for some scan... Geordie for go way sir i am going home for something to eat...

Batter is a popular word up north amongst the "lads" so to speak.. normally called fanny batter, although i am not going to describe exactly what it means for fear of being banned for ever and ever and ever

Doesn't "fanny" in the staes mean bottom? i remember my granny having a fanny whacker hanging on her wall (a souvenir from holidays in the States)

Kindest respects

Rodinus

If we're going down the pistols road. A great band by the way





And you all thought we were a tiny island with tea and biscuits, and warm beer

Welcome to English 101 my dear ATS friends.

Cody

reply to post by Rodinus


I still remember you saying

"I'm just going out for a fag"

Reckon that turned a few heads.

Off to work

Catch you all later

Cody

reply to post by cody599


My brother in law says " Just going out for a puff " ( ! ! ! )

( Going outside to smoke a cigar, as he' s not allowed to smoke indoors.)

reply to post by ANOK


We could get pedantic and go round in circles all day.. It's an interesting subject though - perhaps you could present some sources or evidence re its priest related use in the middle ages? Or perhaps from the saxon era as I have done, showing I know my bollocks

Eta: didn't this exchange begin when you said the term originated in the eighteenth century


meh, gonna lay this one to bed...

The word has a long and distinguished history, with the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) giving examples of its usage dating back to the 13th century. One of the early references is John Wycliffe bible (1382), Leviticus xxii, 24: "Al beeste, that ... kitt and taken a wey the ballokes is, ye shulen not offre to the Lord..." (any beast that is cut and taken away the bollocks, you shall not offer to the Lord, i.e. castrated animals are not suitable as sacrifices).

The OED states (with abbreviations expanded): "Probably a derivative of Teutonic ball-, of which the Old English representative would be inferred as beall-u, -a, or -e".

The Teutonic ball- in turn probably derives from the Proto-Indo-European base *bhel-, to inflate or swell. This base also forms the root of many other words, including "phallus".

looks like you'll need to find the PIE root of priest relating to bollocks to counter that one the court case is not enough to "prove" the issue, as the birmingham six, bridgewater four and many others can attest to

Originally posted by cody599
reply to post by Rodinus

 

I still remember you saying

"I'm just going out for a fag"

Reckon that turned a few heads.

Off to work

Catch you all later

Cody

Fags... yes, the dreaded word that can get an Englishman into a lot of trouble in the USA...

I quote from the great English philosopher Biffa Bacon : "I dring Beer an smurk tabs me!"





Kindest respects

Rodinus

reply to post by skalla


I had to smirk Skalla,

I came across this earlier on :

www.houseofnames.com...

Imagine having Bollocks as a family name? (Imagine getting pulled over by the police... "what is your name sir?"... "Bollocks Constable"

Bollocks also stems from this :

The word's probable derivation is so non-vulgar as to be quite amusing. Specifically, a bollock is a pulley-block at the head of a topmast, otherwise known as a bullock block. This was used to great effect to prevent the Sex Pistols' album Never Mind the Bollocks from being censored apparently. A refreshing example of the legal system grabbing hold of the wrong reason and using it to do the right thing. (Although that it has also been said that the term bollocks is derived from the 18th century word defining priests, as people used to say that their sermons were rubbish and that the word for rubbish was "Bollocks" and that this was also used in the sex Pistols defense case by Richard Branson.

A 'Bollocking' on the other hand, is a severe dressing down or ticking off. The reason for this is mercifully unclear.

Brits will say 'Bollock-naked' while Americans will say 'butt-naked'. Why Brits verify nudity from the front and Americans verify it from the rear is anyone's guess.

And, "i have bolloxed the whole thing up" means that you have made a right mess of something... example : you have broken the car engine whilst trying to change the oil :

"Oh Bollocks i have bolloxed up the car, i am going to get a right bollocking from my wife and she is going to kick me in the bollocks!"

An amusing and educational link here :

h2g2.com...

Kindest respects

Rodinus