19 March 2008

Inpidginous Vocab D

Do you find yourself lapsing into pidgin from time to time? God knows how long we've been here, trying to eat from the tree of knowledge and then falling from grace or from the Anglosphere. It may be time to consider a bit of a vocab overhaul and on the other hand some revision too. ciloo DAAAH

revision:
DUCKS ON THE POND look out!female approaching! A warning cry from a male as a signal to other men that a woman is approaching a traditionally all-male environment. It is a reminder that the men should modify their language and behaviour to avoid giving offence. It was first used in shearing sheds, but is now heard in other places, especially in a pub.
DAG way out west a dag is a nebech. RATTLE YOUR DAGS hurry up, get a move on. Dags are clumps of matted wool and dung which hang around a sheep’s rear end. When a ‘daggy’ sheep runs, the dried dags knock together to make a rattling sound. The word dag (originally daglock) was a British dialect word that was borrowed into mainstream Australian English in the late nineteenth century.
DIDGERIDOO the didgeridoo is a wind instrument that was originally found only in Arnhem Land in northern Australia. It is a long, wooden, tubular instrument that produces a low-pitched, resonant sound with complex, rhythmic patterns but little tonal variation.
In popular understanding most Australians probably believe that this is an Aboriginal word. Indeed, the 1988 edition of The Australian National Dictionary attributed it to the Yolngu language of northern Queensland. Subsequent research has cast doubt on this etymology, and in 1990 the following statement was made in Australian Aboriginal Words in English: 'Although it has been suggested that this must be a borrowing from an Australian language it is not one. The name probably evolved from white people's ad hoc imitation of the sound of the instrument'.
This argument is supported by the two earliest citations:
1919 Huon Times (Franklin): 'The nigger crew is making merry with the Diridgery doo and the eternal ya-ya-ya ye-ye-ye cry'.
1919 Smith's Weekly (Sydney): 'The Northern Territory aborigines have an infernal - allegedly musical - instrument composed of two feet of hollow bamboo. It produces but one sound -'didjerry, didjerry, didjerry -' and so on ad infinitum'.

new words:
DOUBLE BAY TRACTOR a late model Range Rover seen driving around the suburbs. It has never seen any dirt, and the person driving it probably doesn't know how to engage the 4 wheel drive
DAY TRADER a stock trader who holds positions for a very short time (from minutes to hours) and makes numerous trades each day. Most trades are entered and closed out within the same day.
DESKFAST breakfast that is eaten at a desk, as at work.
DIRT ROAD noun. a frustratingly slow Web connection. "Geez, that GIF still hasn't loaded yet? The @#$%&! server must be on a dirt road."
DRINK THE KOOL-AID v. to become a firm believer in something; to accept an argument or philosophy wholeheartedly or blindly.
Example Citation:
One top executive named McMahon, the treasurer, was known for going around the company after he met with Skilling, Lay, and Fastow, and they directed him to do some bogus deal and say, 'Well, we've all got to go drink the Kool-Aid.'
William Lerach, quoted in Marie Brenner, "The Enron Wars," Vanity Fair, April, 2002
DRIVEWAY EFFECT n. a special quality exhibited by a radio program that causes listeners to stay in their cars after they have arrived home so they can hear the end of the program.



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