Something I didn’t know until today.

[xsnaggle]

A mate of mine from Pontypridd calls a job on the side a “Hobble”, where as i’ve always called it a fiddle.
A Scottish mate of mine calls a throw in a “Shy” when watching a game.

As in coconut shy

[the other bob wilson]

Many years ago I worked at Cambridge University in a maintenance dept. There was an old English language professor who could talk in English using only words with a French origin and then have the same conversation only using words with a German origin.

This ties in with what Susie Dent was saying in the video I watched about how English is almost a magpie language stealing words from others continuously.

[the other bob wilson]

I wonder if anyone under the age of, say 50, has been ‘out over gardens’ ?…..you did get a six for it though. Cricket had some great old traditional sayings. ‘One handed off the wall’, ‘Last man bats on’, ‘3 shies at the bat’ (if it was a contentious LB (never LBW)).
.

We used to play at some council garages which meant that to score runs you had to play the ball square of the wicket all of the time rather than straight like a teacher or coach would have encouraged us to do. It did mean we had to try to keep the ball on the ground though as it was six and out if you hit a ball into the surrounding gardens, while could be caught off the garage roofs, but only if it was with one hand

[the other bob wilson]

It was always so unless you didn't have enough players and odd numbers on each side, when the goalie could come out and play. If he was 'needed' he had to sprint back and carry out his keepers 'duties'. too much effort for me even then.

That’s what goalie when was when I was about ten.

[Dorcus]

This ties in with what Susie Dent was saying in the video I watched about how English is almost a magpie language stealing words from others continuously.

In other words the English are thieves. Interestingly the word "Tory" originally had the same meaning.

[Rjk]

We used to play at some council garages which meant that to score runs you had to play the ball square of the wicket all of the time rather than straight like a teacher or coach would have encouraged us to do. It did mean we had to try to keep the ball on the ground though as it was six and out if you hit a ball into the surrounding gardens, while could be caught off the garage roofs, but only if it was with one hand

I used to play cricket on the street with my brothers and neighbours, using a lamp post as a wicket.
you were out if you hit a car, but that didn't happen much as there were usually huge gaps between the cars, as not many parked there, during the day at least.


completely impossible to play there now as there are a huge number of cars there now, every square inch of parking space has a car in it

[the other bob wilson]

I used to play cricket on the street with my brothers and neighbours, using a lamp post as a wicket.
you were out if you hit a car, but that didn't happen much as there were usually huge gaps between the cars, as not many parked there, during the day at least.


completely impossible to play there now as there are a huge number of cars there now, every square inch of parking space has a car in it

The pitch has got an awful lot greener down the years then.

[Rjk]

The pitch has got an awful lot greener down the years then.

if, as some people predict, the model of car ownership will eventually change completely to self driving cars you summon for an individual journey, and then they bugger off somewhere else when you're done, that could have a transformative effect on some of these old Victorian terraced streets

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Many years ago I worked at Cambridge University in a maintenance dept. There was an old English language professor who could talk in English using only words with a French origin and then have the same conversation only using words with a German origin.

After the Norman invasion the imported aristocracy and ruling classes spoke Norman French whilst the peasants working in the fields spoke what we know as Anglo-Saxon.

That's why the name we use for farm animals often comes from the Germanic language group and the names of the meat they produced usually originates from the Latin language group.

Modern English name of animal / Modern German equivalent / Meat thereof / Modern French equivalent
Cow / Küh - Beef / Boeuf
Sheep / Schaaf - Mutton / Mouton
Lamb / Lamm - (as above)
Pig (archaic = Swine) / Schweinefleisch (swine flesh) - Pork /Porc
Deer / (Cognate with the Geman word 'tier', meaning animals in general) - Venison / Veau
Horse / Ross (archaic word) - N/A
Chicken / Hähnchen - N/A
Ox / Ochse - N/A

I'm boring myself now

[Taunton Blue Genie]

This ties in with what Susie Dent was saying in the video I watched about how English is almost a magpie language stealing words from others continuously.

Invasions and incursions by the Celts, Romans, Danes, Jutes, Angles, Saxons, Frisians and the Normans are largely responsible for most of our language, of course. English supposedly has around 60% of its words originating from Latin and Norman French and 25% from the Germanic language root.
However, it is also purported that 80% of the most common words we use are Germanic in origin and English is well and truly considered to be a Germanic language rather than a Latin one.

If you want to be sophisticated always use a English word from French/Latin rather than German - and most words of three syllables or more should help you on your way

[Wash DC Blue]

We used cree up in the valleys. I've no idea where the term originates. It's one of those words I only ever used as a child, until now!

Used that in Newport too.

[Rjk]

I suppose the word Britain/ British itself would ultimately have come from the pre Roman Celtic inhabitants of Britain, but I guess that would be a predecessor of Welsh, rather than Welsh itself

[jon1959]

A mate of mine from Pontypridd calls a job on the side a “Hobble”, where as i’ve always called it a fiddle.
A Scottish mate of mine calls a throw in a “Shy” when watching a game.

A job on the side was called ‘a foreigner’ in Bristol and in Sheffield.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

I suppose the word Britain/ British itself would ultimately have come from the pre Roman Celtic inhabitants of Britain, but I guess that would be a predecessor of Welsh, rather than Welsh itself

The word Britain supposedly comes from the name the Greeks applied to the inhabitants of Marseille i.e. Prettani / Pritani and, subsequently, the Romans called the inhabitants of our island Brettani / Brittani.

By the way, talking about ancient history, did you know that the name Caesar, a generic title for Roman emperors, is cognate with the words Tsar, Czar and Kaiser?

[Random in Duquesa]

I was working on the StPancras rebuiuld in 2006ish and used a turkish cafe behind Kings cross regularly. One day I opted for a curry and to my surprise the guy said !"Alf and alf?" I'd never heard it outside S Wales before. Where he got it from I don't know!

There is a small Spanish owned bar " el Velero " in the.village of Castillo de la Duquesa that has served chicken curry with half and half for years. The owners barely speak English so God knows how it came about.... very nice though.

[Dorcus]

The word Britain supposedly comes from the name the Greeks applied to the inhabitants of Marseille i.e. Prettani / Pritani and, subsequently, the Romans called the inhabitants of our island Brettani / Brittani.

By the way, talking about ancient history, did you know that the name Caesar, a generic title for Roman emperors, is cognate with the words Tsar, Czar and Kaiser?

I didn't know that but when you look at the similarity of the names it seems so obvious.

[Rjk]

The word Britain supposedly comes from the name the Greeks applied to the inhabitants of Marseille i.e. Prettani / Pritani and, subsequently, the Romans called the inhabitants of our island Brettani / Brittani.

By the way, talking about ancient history, did you know that the name Caesar, a generic title for Roman emperors, is cognate with the words Tsar, Czar and Kaiser?

I did know that, but only because I listened to a "you're dead to me" podcast recently on Julius Caesar.
he also had a sister called Julia Caesar