I've been thinking about this since Geoff challenged me to find some obscure Kiwi slang for the word game. It's hard to guess what you might and mightn't already know, so sorry if everyone thinks, "Oh, for goodness sakes, that's just too obvious!" - "bobsidie" didn't register on OneLook so I'm hoping it really is obscure.

Please send a PM if you want to guess at the meaning of "Kick up bobsidie" - (pronounced bob-see-die)

Good on ya. I've sent my parcel.

Thanks, proof - you sent a swag!

Two things - first I had a thought about the spelling and find that the COED has "bobsy-die". I got my spelling from The Beaut Little Book of NZ Slang which was written by Harry Orsman who also wrote The Dictionary of NZ English and contributed to the OED, so he was a pretty respectable lexicographer and I'd have thought he'd be particular about things like that. He's dead now but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, even though "bobsy-die" does actually look a bit better to me.

Second thing - the word isn't used alone, it's always used in the whole phrase "to kick up bobsidie" so your daffynitions should probably be verbs not nouns, if you get my meaning.

Let me think for a day, and I'll get one to you. It sounds like a fun phrase, that's for sure.

quote:

Originally posted by Proofreader:
I've sent my parcel.

Is that anything like blowing your wad?

I won't touch that one with a ten-foot pole.

Any more suggestions? Some of you regulars haven't joined in - is it because I forgot to write "Bluffing Game" in the topic heading ???

Can you add it? Wait, you changed the name of the game! So, write "Daffynitions" in the heading!

I can't get back into the heading, Geoff, so it will have to stand or fall as it is.

Personally I don't mind if only a few people play, but as I said to Kalleh, most of these games have a shelf life. Sometimes it's good to have a break when interest falls away and then start afresh.

And as I said to Stella, I agree about game shelf lives, but not necessarily with this game. It's all about words, and we have had fun with it since 2002. It does ebb and flow, though, I agree.

OK, just an ebb maybe ... and there are plenty of reasons for abstaining besides lack of interest so I won’t draw any conclusions from the fact that there are only 3 contributors.

You can join the guessing section (by PM) even if you didn’t join the contributing section

To kick up bobsidie (bobsy-die) means ...

1. To gather with friends at a party and get rotten

2. To offer an allowance of one bob per week to a child

3. To walk on stilts (as used by ceiling plasterers)

4. To mate a red kangaroo with a Parma wallaby

5. To immerse a suspected witch in water

6. To create a row or commotion

7. To round up sheep for drenching

8. To have a game of backyard rugby

I'll guess you're having a party, so #1, and you invite a wallaby and a few sheep...

I pick 6. (My second choice is 1. My third choice is ... .)

After all the rain we've had here, I think local sheep are kicking up bodsie, so I'll take #7.

I'll take #6.

6 sounds most plausible
4 sounds least plausible

I shall therefore take 8.

An unexpected flurry of activity! Well, I’ll make the end short and sweet since I’m abandoning ship for a few days.

Results:

Geoff, evidently a party man, chose Kalleh’s suggestion #1 to gather and get rotten

proofreader’s inventiveness fooled no-one with suggestions #2-5

Tinman and Kalleh correctly chose Geoff’s #6

And two suckers, proof and Bob, were lured by sheep and rugby with my #7 & 8

bobsy-die - a great deal of fuss or trouble. ORIGIN - contraction of Bob’s-a-dying . (You have to wonder how that came about)

Thanks for playing!

Well, I am all confused. Was the correct answer Geoff's number 6?

I'm reminded of this old Johnny Cash song: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics...ightisontheleft.html
There, if you weren't already confused, you are now!

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:
I'm reminded of this old Johnny Cash song: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics...ightisontheleft.html
There, if you weren't already confused, you are now!

Johnny Cash - The One On The Right Is On The Left

quote:

Originally posted by stella:
bobsy-die - a great deal of fuss or trouble. ORIGIN - contraction of Bob’s-a-dying . (You have to wonder how that came about)

Here's what I found:

OED Online:

quote:

Bob's-a-dying dial.
Also in contracted form bobsy-die (quots. are N.Z.).
A great fuss; pandemonium.
1829 W. N. GLASCOCK Sailors & Saints II. iv. 80 Nothing but dining, and dancing, and Bob's-a-dying on deck from daylight till dark.
1872 HARDY Under Greenw. Tree I. II. vi. 204 She used to kick up Bob's-a-dying at the least thing in the world.
1876 Ethelberta Sequel II. 309 She threatened to run away from him, and kicked up Bob's-a-dying, and I don't know what all.
1892 R. O. HESLOP Northumb. Words I. 72 ‘What a Bob's-a-dying they made!’ means ‘What a row they kicked up’.
1940 N. MARSH Surfeit of Lampreys (1941) xvi. 251 If she's right..it plays Bobs-a-dying with the whole blooming case.
1952 Here & Now (N.Z.) II. IV. 25 Or Dido kicked up quite such bobsy-die If she had had a squint in her left eye.
1960 T. MCLEAN Kings of Rugby vii. 50 By generally kicking up bobsy-die.

(The OED Online is a subscription service, an expensive one, but you may be able to access it free through your local library, like I do.)

A dictionary of slang and unconventional English: colloquialisms and catch ... 8th edition, 1984, By Eric Partridge, Paul Beale

quote:

Bob's-a-dying. Idling; idling and dozing: nautical: ?ca 1780-1850. Wm N Glascock, Sailors and Saints, 1829 (I, 179), 'Nothing but dining, and dancing, and Bobs-a-dying on deck from daylight till dark'. (Moe.)

A glossary of words and phrases used in S. E. Worcestershire ..., Volumes 72-74 By Jesse Salisbury, 1893

quote:

FOLK-PHRASES OF FOUR COUNTIES
To Kick up Bob's a-dying = To make noisy merriment.

Northumberland words, Volume 1  p. 79 By Richard Oliver Heslop, 1892

quote:

BOB'S-A-DYING. A great row or racket is called a Bob's-a-dying. "What a Bob's-a-dying they made!" means "What a row they kicked up."

Naval Rum Terminology

quote:

Bob's-a-Dying: In Admiral Nelson's day, it meant a "stupendous drunken bash"

It seems the meaning has changed over time. It was originally a nautical term meaning, according to Partridge, "Idling; idling and dozing." Then it morphed into a s great fuss, pandemonium, a drunken row, noisy merriment, etc. Notice The OED's first quote and Partridge's are the same, bet their definitions are different. A sailor had a hard job, and I surmise that those who weren't working, i.e, were "idling and dozing" were sarcastically referred to as "dying." It could also have referred to sea-sick sailors. It's easy to see how that could be extended to drunken sailors, then to raising hell in general. This is all conjecture, of course.

Here's a song that uses the phrase:

Merchant's Island lyrics;
mp3
New words by Charlie Ipcar © 1999
Tune: My Love Is But a Lassie Yet

Oh, the wind blew up 'bout nor'nor'east,
Blew right up on Monty's beach;
The men got drunk an' the women too –
'Round the pub the rum jug flew!

Chorus:
We're kicking up Bob's a-dying,
Kicking up Bob's a-dying;
We're kicking up Bob's a-dying –
Down on Merchants Island!

One thing that we know is true,
There's nothing like ol' Brett's home brew,
For on our toots we're pissed as newts –
Down on Merchant's Island...

Chorus:

Now, Kendall's not one to complain,
When he's in the fog or rain;
He'll sniff the air an' if it's fair,
We're bound for Merchant's Island...

Chorus

When Jeri's drained her final jar,
You'll find her clingin' to the bar,
With wheel adrift, sheets to the wind,
She'll need a tow back home ag'in...

Chorus

No one can drink as much as Nor,
And still be standin' on the floor,
With decks awash an' a gale to face,
Hear him shout, "Splice the main brace!"...

Chorus

Then, Barry blew in through the gate,
Drinkin' twice as fast for he come in late,
He raised that rum jug to his nose
"Tilt 'er up an' down she goes!"...

Chorus

Then, Tom an' Linn was the last come by,
They never drank but they said they'd try;
They drank so much of the ale an' stout,
They closed the pub an' threw us out...

Chorus

Notes:
This song is based on a fragment of the same title collected by Jennifer Puleston from fishermen in the Stonington, Maine, area in the early 1960's. There was no chorus and only two verses which we recall:

Oh, the wind blew up 'bout nor'nor'east,
Blew right up on Monty's beach;
The men got drunk and the women too –
'Round the shack the pisspot flew!

Now, Sammy was a good old man,
But he could not make his rhubarb stand;
So he took it in his hand –
Down on Merchant's Island...

Merchant's Island is a small island in the Northeast Corner of Penobscot Bay. The phrase "Kicking up Bob's a-dying" comes from the Patrick O'Brian sea novel series, featuring Captain Jack Aubrey and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, and may be the title of a traditional dance tune but generally means raising Hell ashore. There is no relation to the names mentioned in my extended version of this song with a person or persons living or indisposed.

Thanks for that great reply, tinman, and for doing the research. It's an interesting progression that "idling and dozing" developed into "making a commotion".