October 15, 2009 by Adam Jacot de Boinod
MOBILE MUTATIONS
When people switched to predictive text, they discovered the phenomenon of the phone’s software coming up with the wrong word; most famously ‘book’ for ‘cool’ (so teenagers started describing their hipper friends as ‘book’). Other textonyms with some service providers include:
lips for kiss , shag for rich, poisoned for Smirnoff
“do you want to in out some time” for “do you want to go out some time”
Has anyone come across any others ?
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September 2, 2009 by Adam Jacot de Boinod
CHARACTERS
In my research I’ve discovered some fascinating people, from the parnel, a priest’s mistress, through the applesquire, the male servant of a prostitute, to the screever, a writer of begging letters. If the first two of these are now largely historical, the third certainly isn’t, nor is the slapsauce, a person who enjoys eating fine food or the chafferer, the salesman who enjoys talking while making a sale. Most of us know a blatteroon , a person who will not stop talking, not to mention a wallydrag, a worthless, slovenly person, and even a shot-clog, a drinking companion, only tolerated because he pays for the drinks.
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English slang from outside Britain offers us everything from a waterboy (US police) a boxer who can be bribed or coerced into losing, to a shubie (Australian), someone who buys surfing gear and clothing but doesn’t actually surf. In Canada, a cougar is an older woman on the prowl for a younger man, while in the US a quirkyalone is someone who doesn’t fall in love easily, but waits for the right person to come along.
Does anyone know others in this vein ?
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