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Two Briticisms
February 19, 2007, 12:40
shufitzTwo Briticisms
Brits? Your Quentin Letts used a couple of words in one of our papers last week:
The were fined and "grounded" for two weeks (i.e. prevented from leaving the premises of there pukka boarding school, Eton College).
Possession of a spliff today is likely to earn, at most, a raised eyebrow from the constabulary.
I gather that a
spliff is a joint. Anything further on the these words: meanings, etymologies, etc.?
February 19, 2007, 12:59
zmježd is 'first-class, superior'
secundum A-H.
—Ceci n'est pas un seing.
February 19, 2007, 13:13
BobHaleI don't know anything about
spliff but
pukka is a word that entered the language in the days of the Empire. It had more or less fallen out of use but has become a vogue word again thanks to the "mockney" phenomenon, where the well-to-do classes try to ape the speech of "the lower classes", presumably to get some street cred.
One prominent person to use the word frequently is TV Chef Jamie Oliver.
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
February 19, 2007, 13:24
zmježdI forgot
spliff entirely. I believe it is a British term of West Indian (Jamaican) origins. The first time I ran across it was in the mid-'80s, post-Nina-Hagen band of
the same name.
—Ceci n'est pas un seing.
February 20, 2007, 09:04
arnieAccording to the
Online Etymology Dictionary spliff is from the West Indies. They are curiously precise with their dating of 1936 though they say it is of unknown origin.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
February 21, 2007, 01:30
CaterwaullerHow did pukka go from being a cooking term to being "first class"?
Is a spliff like a blunt or a joint?
*******
"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.
~Dalai Lama
February 21, 2007, 11:23
arniequote:
Originally posted by Caterwauller:
How did pukka go from being a cooking term to being "first class"?
Is a spliff like a blunt or a joint?
I can only hazard a guess here. In the days of the Raj cooks may well have been complimented by the sahib saying that the food was 'well pukka' (well-cooked). Those without any knowledge of Hindi might have guessed that it meant a term of approval.
A spliff is another word for a joint, yes. I had to Google for blunt; I found that my education is sorely lacking. It appears to mean a spliff made out of a cigar. For step-by-step instructions, see
here.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
February 21, 2007, 12:59
zmježdAnd, let us not forget the infamous
Camberwell carrot from
Withnail & I.
—Ceci n'est pas un seing.
March 09, 2007, 04:17
CaterwaullerI hadn't noticed your links before, Arnie and Z. I did know the basics of loading a blunt from the tobacco flakes left in our public library bathrooms after the act, but I found all the tutorials on that site to be interesting, Arnie.
*******
"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.
~Dalai Lama
March 09, 2007, 07:27
saranitaquote:
Originally posted by BobHale:
It...had more or less fallen out of use but has become a vogue word again thanks to the "mockney" phenomenon, where the well-to-do classes try to ape the speech of "the lower classes", presumably to get some street cred.
Brings to mind Eliza Doolittle's "new smalltalk" that charmed Freddie Einsford-Hill at the Royal Ascot.
March 09, 2007, 17:51
tinmanquote:
Originally posted by Caterwauller:
How did pukka go from being a cooking term to being "first class"?
From the OED Online:
quote:
pukka, a. (n.)
[a. Hind pakka cooked, ripe, mature; hence thorough, substantial, permanent: cf. CUTCHA. Sense c is the only sense used outside Anglo-Indian contexts.]
A. adj. a. Applied to the larger of two weights of the same name: Of full weight, full, good; also, genuine, thorough. b. Strong, severe; malignant, as a fever. Obs. c. Sure, certain, reliable; thorough, out-and-out. Also in general use outside India in various extended senses. Of things: real, not sham; of information: factually correct; of persons: authentic, not pretended; proper or correct in behaviour, socially acceptable. Freq. in pukka sahib (cf. SAHIB 1b), used with allusion to life in the former British Indian Empire. d. Permanent, esp. as an appointment. e. Permanent, as a building; solidly-built, of stone or brick and mortar.
B. n. a. A weight or system of weights which is larger than ‘cutcha’. b. A copper coin not now used; also pucka piece. c. A building material of permanent nature, such as brick
cutcha, a. (n.)
[a. Hind kachcha raw, crude, unripe, uncooked.]
Imperfect, slight, temporary, makeshift (opp. to pucka, solid, substantial, permanent, etc.). As n. = Sun-dried brick, dried mud, as a material.
First citations: 1698 for
pukka; 1834 for
cutchaTinman
March 16, 2007, 13:32
goofyHindi pakkā पक्का is cognate with "cook", "kitchen", and of course
precocious and apricot.