See, I can "do" kids! Nia sent me this photo this morning...thank god little George is more photogenic than I am.The weather has taken a turn for the worse, so after a particularly wet dog walk I have baked bread,tied up my allotment onions for drying, made a cottage pie, cleaned the cottage and fanny-arsed around tidying drawers and cupboards.
I have cleaned out the shed too in a hopeful readiness for potential turkey chicks which are now due in three weeks time. My friend Eirlys has two young turkeys and hopefully we could do a swap of stags or hens if either of us are short.
I am off out to see Les quatre cents coups (400 Blows) tonight with Hazel. I remember studying this 1959 French New Wave film when I started my Film Studies degree in Sheffield, and found it a little hard going even then.......well I am a little older and wiser now, so perhaps I will understand it a little more...who knows?
Fanny-arsed? LOL
ReplyDeleteit is a Northern British saying....
ReplyDeleteit means "pottering around without actually doing anything"
Hi JG. You know I can't resist these.
ReplyDelete‘Fanny-arse’ is an interesting one. There are several interpretations of this expression flying around the internet, none of which seems satisfactory to me. I agree with the contemporary meaning, “busy doing nothing”, “time-wasting” or procrastination, but the etymology is interesting.
The full compound word, ‘fanny-about’, meaning “to mess around, waste time; to act in an unproductive, ineffectual, or dithering manner”, doesn’t appear in the OED until 1971. ‘Arsing about’, in contrast, makes an entrance in the mid-17th century (OED), meaning ‘to mess around’ or ‘fool about’; contemporary meanings are associated with labour or ‘effort’ (or a lack of).
Given its popularity in Northern England, and its near-absence in the South, perhaps there is an industrial explanation. And indeed, dismissing the obvious (and later) anatomical references (which vary between UK/US anyway), the noun ‘fanny’ appears in the late 19th century, meaning “a local term, a corruption of fanner or fanblower...a rotating shaft enclosed in a case or chamber to create a blast of air” (OED).
Hence my interpretation will be that to be a ‘fanny-arse’, or to act in a ‘fanny-arsed’ way, is to waste time (‘not arsed’) whilst doing nothing (i.e. wastefully blowing air).
Of course I could be entirely wrong, too. Now, back to proper work...
I just KNEW , you would comment on this one Nige!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteas soon as I typed fanny-arsed.....I could almost hear your breathy excitement!!!!!!!!!!!
"Breathy excitement"????
ReplyDeleteYUK!! The thought makes me feel queasy. Nx
OK, I'm going to issue you a challenge. Please describe to me the etymology (and I require details) of the vernacular expression "The Wreck of the Hesperus". My mom used to use this all the time when I was growing up in the 70s. Answer required when we next speak. Nx
ReplyDeleteNige that is easy...
ReplyDeleteas I recall it is an old poem about a scooner which is wrecked with the captain and his daughter aboard.
The daughter is lashed to the mast and is disfigured by the storm by salt ....
hence someone with poor looks resembles the wreck of the hesperus
wow Nigel must be deadly at scrabble - holy crap he is a wordie, awesome dude! - you sure do keep yourself busy John, and what a good father you'd make - peace
ReplyDelete@Ruralrose:
ReplyDeleteI wish! I'm simply terrible at scrabble and crosswords! I don't think I have the patience. I do like reading about the history of our language, especially "local" words. Take care Nx
Ruth,
ReplyDeletedon't be fooled he has a brain the size of a small planet!!!
hey Nigel do you know about "shananagins"? my mom always used to say she had enough of mine, bet no one reads this late entry - peace anyways, always hoping for peace
ReplyDelete@Rural Rose:
ReplyDeleteHmm. A bit of a challenge, this one. There appears to be a lot of debate about this, with some (none too reliable) internet sources citing Spanish and German etymologies for the word. The OED, however, lists it as ‘Origin obscure’, and notes the first written entry to be in the early 1860s in San Francisco. All early written references in the OED are American, incidentally.
Some folk have noted a phonetic relationship with the Irish word sionnach, meaning ‘fox’, hence the association with ‘fooling around’. Given mid-19th century Irish emigration to the US, this seems a possibility. However I’m not totally convinced that it’s that simple.
McBain’s Gaelic dictionary notes that the Irish word sionnsar (meaning bagpipe chanter) is derived from the English chanter (presumably French/Latin). According to the OED, the English word chanter has several meanings, including the obvious music-related ones (bagpipes, pipes, singing, chanting, etc.).
However, more intriguing are the archaic or obscure uses of the word. One late 13th century meaning was an ‘enchanter’ (hence -chanter) or ‘magician’. In the 19th century, Dicken’s uses the word horse-chanter to describe someone who sells horses fraudulently.
So perhaps there is an Irish association with the ‘fox’. But, for me, the English derivation makes more sense: if a chanter is someone who might orchestrate tricks, fraud and general tomfoolery, then it’s quite possible that we might describe his actions as shenanigans. But, of course, nobody really knows...
wow, Nigel, how fantastic and fabulous you answered my query - i love information and your reply was like a beautiful song i had never heard before, thank you
ReplyDeleteand John thanks for sending it to me, although I have been checking everyday - am i impolite, is this wrong to hang out at strangers blog, i watch for yours with anticapation
p.s. john "course" should be "coarse" of course, lol