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Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day

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Resurrection pie – a pie made of scraps or leavings (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

For Example:

  1. Spaghetti Pie: 1. mix left over spaghetti and sauce with additional mozzarella cheese and an egg; 2. You can also add spinach and additional meat if you like or put it in a pie shell; 3. bake ’till done.
  2. Resurrection Sheppard’s Pie: 1. chop up left-over meat of any variety; 2. mix with left over veg (broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, celery are all good); 3. heat on the stove in a dutch oven with complimentary broth thickened with cornstarch; 4. when appropriately stew like, cover with re-hydrated instant mash potato, sprinkle some cheese on top and put in oven for 30 min. or so.

Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day

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“I’ve gotta wrinkle that’ll turn your Friday face to a giggle-mug”

What was that now?

WRINKLE:  an idea, or fancy:  an additional piece of knowledge which is supposed to be made by a wrinkle a posteriori   (Cab Calloway’s Hepster’s Dictionary)

FRIDAY-FACE. A dismal countenance. Before, and even long after the Reformation, Friday was a day of abstinence, or jour maigre. Immediately after the restoration of king Charles II. a proclamation was issued, prohibiting all publicans from dressing any suppers on a Friday. (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

GIGGLEMUG:  “An habitually smiling face.” (1909 Passing English of the Victorian era : a dictionary of heterodox English, slang and phrase by James Redding Ware)

So, basically, “I’ve got an idea that’ll turn your frown upside down.”

Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day

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“I was out to get a sinker for nooning and some Big Six shambles in front of me without so much as a mind the grease.  I was all glimflashy!  But, I didn’t want to go waking snakes so I cheesed it before starting a bobbery.”

What was that now?

Sinker – a doughnut ( Flapperspeak: Dictionary of Words From the 1920’s and 1930’s )

Nooning – an interval for rest and refreshment at midday, as in the harvest field  (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

Big six – a strong man; from auto advertising, for the new and powerful; six cylinder engines ( Flapperspeak: Dictionary of Words From the 1920’s and 1930’s )
 
TO SHAMBLE – To walk awkwardly. Shamble-legged:  one that walks wide, and shuffles about his feet.  (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)
 
Mind the Grease – When walking or otherwise getting around, you could ask people to let you pass, please. Or you could ask them to mind the grease, which meant the same thing to Victorians.
 
GLIMFLASHY – Angry, or in a passion. CANT.  (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)
 
Waking snakes – getting into trouble  (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)
 
CHEESE IT – Be silent, be quiet, don’t do it. Cheese it, the coves are fly; be silent, the people understand our discourse.  (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)
 
Bobbery – a tumult or bother  (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)
 
In other words:  “I was out to get a doughnut for my midday break and some muscle bound guy shuffles in front of me without so much as an excuse me.  I was so angry!  But, I didn’t want to go getting into trouble so I kept my mouth shut before starting a tumult.”
 
 
 

Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day

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“When I get my fams on the cunning shaver who left me with this fakement, I’ll annoint him with the oil of gladness.”

OR: ‘When I get my hands on the cheat who left me with this forgery, I will beat him to a pulp.’

Let’s break it down:

FAMS: Hands. Famble cheats; rings or gloves.
CUNNING SHAVER: a sharp fellow, one that trims close, i.e. cheats ingeniously
FAKEMENT: A counterfeit signature. A forgery. Tell the macers to mind their fakements; desire the swindlers to be careful not to forge another person’s signature.
OIL OF GLADNESS: I will anoint you with the oil of gladness; ironically spoken for, I will beat you.

-all from the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose

Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day

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“His mother’s loll, the lollpoop, lolloped.”

Let’s dissect:

LOLL: Mother’s loll; a favourite child, the mother’s darling,
LOLLPOOP: A lazy, idle drone…
TO LOLLOP: To lean with one’s elbows on a table.

-all from the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose

Clement Skitt’s Word of the Day

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ClementSkittsays005“The swell was flash, so I could not draw his fogle.”

Let’s dissect:

Swell: gentleman (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

Flash: Knowing. Understanding another’s meaning.   (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

Draw his fogle: pick his pocket of his silk handkerchief.  (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

In other words: the gentleman knew exactly what I was doing so I could not sneak the silk handkerchief from his pocket.

Clement Skitt’s word of the day

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ClementSkitt010c“I set about kittle pitchering any tom long with a circumbendibus chestnut as soon as I see ’em.”

Let’s dissect:

KITTLE PITCHERING. A jocular method of hobbling or bothering a troublesome teller of long stories: this is done by contradicting some very immaterial circumstance at the beginning of the narration, the objections to which being settled, others are immediately started to some new particular of like consequence; thus impeding, or rather not suffering him to enter into, the main story. Kittle pitchering is often practised in confederacy, one relieving the other, by which the design is rendered less obvious.  (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

TOM LONG. A tiresome story teller. It is coming by Tom Long, the carrier; said of any thing that has been long expected. (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

Circumbendibus – round about; a story with no end to it (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

Chestnut – an old story; an often repeated yarn.  The average chestnut of the ‘dago’ fruit stand has claims to respect on account of its age, but is not desirable as an article of diet, and ancient stories are equally tiresome (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

So, to sum up:  “I start immediately and humorously undermining the stories of any tiresome story teller with a round about, often repeated yarn.”

 

Clement Skitt’s word of the day

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ClementSkitt010aSeeing it was mizzling, the lallycooler inkslinger decided to stay in and have resurrection pie for his nooning.

Let’s dissect:

Mizzling – drizzling rain (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

Lallycooler – one who is pre-eminently successful in his line (daisy, dandy, darling, lullu) (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

Inkslinger – a writer or editor (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

Resurrection pie – a pie made of scraps or leavings (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

Nooning – an interval for rest and refreshment at midday, as in the harvest field (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

So, in other words:  Since it was lightly raining, the preeminent writer decided to stay in and have remixed left-overs for his afternoon refreshment.

Clement Skitt’s word of the day

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clement001s

 

“He’s real blowed-in-the-glass, you’d never smoke he’d go caterwauling and end up in monkey and parrot time.”

Let’s dissect:

Blowed-in-the-glass:  a genuine, trustworthy individual (Wikipedia: Hobo Expressions used through 1940s)

Monkey and parrot time: a lady left her favorite bird in company with a monkey and during her absence the two animals had a fight.  When she returned the monkey was wiping his scratched face and the almost featherless parrot called out, ‘we’ve been having a hell of a  time.’  a general row or free fight is a ‘monkey and parrot time.’ (1891 American Slang Dictionary by James Maitland)

CATERWAULING: Going out in the night in search of  intrigues, like a cat in the gutters. (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

TO SMOKE: To observe, to suspect. (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

To sum up “He’s real blowed-in-the-glass, you’d never smoke he’d go caterwauling and end up in monkey and parrot time” means “he’s a really genuine and trustworthy, you’d never suspect that he’d go out on the town all night and get into to fights.”

Clement Skitt’s word of the day

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ClementSkitt010b

“I wanted to have a butcher’s so I took a Dublin packet and slapdash, a bracket-faced seven sided animal gave me a dub o’ th’ hick.”

Let’s dissect:

butchers:  Cockney slang meaning look.  Cockney slang, or rhyming slang, was most prevalent in the East End of London.  It consists of replacing a word with the beginning portion of a rhyming phrase.  For example:  substituting ‘look’ with ‘butcher’s hook’ but dropping the ‘hook.’  It may have risen to wide use as a way to keep outsiders from a close community (Wikipedia).

Dublin packet:  turn a corner; to ‘take the dublin packet” viz run around the corner – probably a pun on doubling a corner (A dictionary of modern slang, cant, and vulgar words by John Camden Hotten)

Slapdash:  Immediately, instantly, suddenly. (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

Bracket-faced:  Ugly, hard-featured (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

Seven sided animal:  you know this one 😉

dub o’th’hick:  A lick on the head (1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose)

So, to sum up “I wanted to have a butcher’s so I took a Dublin packet and slapdash, a bracket-faced seven sided animal gave me a dub o’ th’ hick”  means “I wanted to take a look so I turned a corner and suddenly an ugly one eyed man gave me a lick on the head.”

Clement Skitt’s word of the day

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ClementSkitt010 Introducing Clement Skitt’s word of the day.  You may recognize Clement from Levi Levi and the Time Machine.  He and his sister have since peeped into many different times and Clement has developed a healthy fascination with outdated slang.  Today’s slang:

SEVEN-SIDED ANIMAL: a one-eyed man or woman, described as such because each  has a right side and a left side, a fore side and a back side, an outside, an inside, and a blind side.

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