The coo's goat sluppra in its ganners

Published on Wednesday 23 September 2009 22:00

PRONOUNCING feelimageeries uncovered in a new lexicon may cause plappering.

A new book by a former researcher on the BBC television series QI has unearthed esoteric examples of the Scots tongue long consigned to history.

Adam Jacot de Boinod, who describes himself as a "hunter of perfect and obscure bon mots," has turned his attention to the "wonderfully diverse" English language.

The collection, The Wonder of Whiffling, includes scores of Scots words. Among his favourites are "yule-hole", a phrase dating from 1911 that describes the last hole to which a Scotsman can stretch his belt after a hearty Christmas dinner.

Others include: "camstroudgeous", a Fife word which refers to something wild, unmanageable, obstinate, or perverse; "cod-heads", Glasgow slang from the 1930s for shoes that have worn out at the toe; and "blackadder", modern playground slang in the west of Scotland meaning to allow a bike to continue its journey without a rider.

Many of the defunct Scots terms are less than flattering. In Banffshire, the word "flodge" described an overweight, awkward person. "Gedging", first mentioned in 1733, means talking idly with a stupid gravity. And a "maulifuff" is a young woman who makes much fuss yet accomplishes little.

Many of the expressions, Mr de Boinod said, had been "beautifully recorded" by Victorian lexicographers between 1840 and 1870, and show regional variations across Scotland.

The book, which is published today, also looks at phrases from Anglo Saxon right through to "trailer-park slang" and contemporary jargon used in offices.

The examples include a Yorkshire term for someone who has prematurely aged through alcohol ("crambazzled") and a Sussex word which described loud feminine laughter ("goistering").

There are numerous words, too, from other English-speaking nations. "Zoo daddy", for example, is US slang for a divorced father who rarely sees his children, taking them to the zoo when exercising his visiting rights.

Having trawled numerous dictionaries and reference books as part of his research, Mr de Boinod is mindful of the way the English language has developed down the centuries.

The meaning of certain dictionary entries, he found, has changed over time. "Racket" was originally used to describe the palm of the hand, while "constipate" described people crowding together in a narrow room.

He is, however, less enamoured of recent linguistic developments spawned by the likes of social networking website Twitter. New technology, he said, may produce new words, but they are often "a bit full".

"Genuinely speaking, they're not that inventive. My remit is to amuse, excite, and educate people. Although I like the term, 'ham', for e-mails that aren't spam."

Mr de Boinod, the author of The Meaning of Tingo and Toujours Tingo, also bemoaned the impending closure of Edinburgh's Chambers Dictionary office as a "great shame".