Posted by Robert Hill on January 08, 2001 at 19:02:10 from 129.11.159.106:
In Reply to: COOT CLUB - observations, part FOUR posted by Ed Kiser on January 05, 2001 at 06:39:18:
Hats:
Bowler and billycock hats appear to be the same thing. The OED
defines 'bowler' as
a low-crowned stiff felt hat, a 'billy-cock'
and 'billycock' [here without the hyphen] as
a colloquial term for a round low-crowned felt hat worn by men,
and sometimes by young women.
This probably refers to what daring young women were wearing in the 1880s
or thereabouts when the original work on the OED got to the letter B.
The only quotation cited in evidence of the wearing of billycock hats by
women is an undated one from a 'modern' newspaper:
She is masculine from the crown of her billycock hat to the point
of her laced-up double-soled boots.
Why double-soled, one wonders. Clothing terminology seems to date
much faster than most other terminology!
lummock:
Presumably a dialect word. If I remember correctly, Nancy (possibly
in PM) calls somebody (probably Peggy) a 'gummock'. Nancy is presumably
selfconsciously borrowing a word of Cumbrian dialect. I hate to think
what her Great Aunt would say if she heard her use such an unrefined term.
Interesting that two apparently synonymous words from quite different
parts of the country are so similar.
Berney Arms:
Still exists, still lonely. I've never been there but probably lots of
other readers have. Even more remarkably, the (fairly) nearby Berney Arms
railway station is still open, and must be one of the most isolated
stations in England.
'diddle':
In Britain to diddle somebody is to cheat them, e.g. to give them
short change.
Ginty dialect:
Your translation is correct. This is of course Scottish.
braw = brave, ainsel = own self.
No sign on 'em here:
Probably dialect, not a misprint. 'On' for 'of' is, I think, fairly
widespread in regional dialects in Britain.