Wordnik. Cool website for those who like words. I love how they provide samples from actual articles on the internet. And they actually provide an answer to links like the one above.
Tag Archives: language
dinkum
(DING-kuhm)
, also dinky-di, fair dinkum, adjective
True; honest; genuine.
Etymology
Probably derived, like many other Australian words, from English dialect. The counties of Lincolnshire and Derbyshire had a word dinkum or dincum meaning “work; a fair share of work.” The word was first recorded in Australia in Rolf Boldrewood’s Robbery Under Arms (1888): “It took us an hour’s hard dinkum to get near the peak.” (© Wordsmith Words)
parsimonious
(par-si-MO-nee-uhs)
adjective: Excessively sparing or frugal.
Etymology
From Middle English parcimony, from Latin parsimonia, from parcere (to spare). First recorded use: 1598.
Usage
“President Calvin Coolidge was so parsimonious with words that he became known as ‘Silent Cal’.” — Rob Christensen; Interesting, But Not Quite Convincing; The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina); Sep 12, 2010. (© Wordsmith Words)
Lesson for today
There is an old hotel/pub in Marble Arch, London which used to have gallows adjacent. Prisoners were taken to the gallows (after a fair trial, of course) to be hung. The horse drawn dray, carting the prisoner was accompanied by an armed guard, who would stop the dray outside the pub and ask the prisoner if he would like “ONE LAST DRINK.”
If he said YES it was referred to as ONE FOR THE ROAD. If he declined, that prisoner was ON THE WAGON.
So there you go. More history…
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken and sold to the tannery. If you had to do this to survive you were “Piss Poor.” But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot. They “didn’t have a pot to piss in” and were the lowest of the low.
And that’s the truth. Now, whoever said History was boring!