Tag: Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Flying Pasty

The dictionary is certainly keeping its vulgarness here, this phrase is defined as “sirreverence wrapped in paper and thrown over a neighbour’s wall”. ‘Sirreverence’ is a word no longer in usage, meaning ‘save any reverence’, or a vulgar term, which in this instance is meant to mean defecation. What a wonderful place eighteenth-century Britain must have been……

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Fly-by-Night

I’m not entirely sure that I’ve given this phrase much thought, but I think I assumed it meant someone who just did a flit overnight to avoid their responsibilities. But, logically, there’s an obvious meaning to this phrase and I suspect many others would have worked it out. The dictionary’s definition makes it entirely clear:

“You old fly-by-night; an ancient term of reproach to an old woman, signifying that she was a witch, and alluding to the nocturnal excursions attributed to witches, who were supposed to fly abroad to their meetings, mounted on brooms”.

And, of course, it was abuse or indeed a challenge, to old women by suggesting that they were witches and would go on their broomsticks at night. The meaning today is wider, meaning someone fraudulent and dishonest, but its original meaning is quite captivating.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Flummery

You learn something new every day and I thought this word meant meaningless or insincere. The dictionary definition though is “oatmeal and water boiled to a jelly; also compliments, neither of which are over-nourishing”. Somehow now flummery has evolved into a sweet dish that is made of beaten eggs, milk and sugar. This sounds much more delicious than oatmeal and water boiled to a jelly. This new version of the word comes from Australia in the mid-twentieth century and it’s likely that the only thing it has in common with the old ‘recipe’ is its texture and consistency.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Flip

Back to food and drink definitions, this is a “small beer, brandy and sugar: this mixture, with the addition of a lemon, was [used] by sailors, formerly called Sir Cloudsly, in memory of Sir Cloudsly Shovel, who used frequently to regale himself with it”.

Cloudesley Shovell (1650-1707), as his name is spelled today at least, was the Admiral of the Fleet between 1705 and 1707 and he also found time to be a Member of Parliament for Rochester. As an aside, he was involved with the Scilly naval disaster of 1707, one of the worst maritime disasters for the British navy, with perhaps as many as 2,000 sailors losing their lives.

The flip is still a cocktail today and it appears to have originated in the late seventeenth century, so the Shovell link is perhaps possible. Wikipedia notes that:

“It’s a mixture of beer, rum, and sugar, heated with a red-hot iron (“Thus we live at sea; eat biscuit, and drink flip”). The iron caused the drink to froth, and this frothing (or “flipping”) engendered the name. Over time, eggs were added and the proportion of sugar increased, the beer was eliminated, and the drink ceased to be served hot.”

I’m very slightly amused (it doesn’t take much) that over time the drink bears nearly no resemblance to the original drink and there’s a bit of Trigger’s broom about this……

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Fire Shovel

This charming phrase is defined by the dictionary as “he or she when young, was fed with a fire shovel; a saying of persons with wide mouths”. I can’t find much evidence of this phrase being in common usage, but I still like it, an elegant way of describing a coarse person.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Finger Post

This is one of the dictionary’s wry observations on life, with particular reference to the church at the time. The definition is “a parson: so called, because he points out a way to others which he never goes himself. Like the finger post, he points out a way he has never been, and probably will never go, ie, the way to heaven”. There’s not much to be added to this definition, probably reflecting Grose’s views to a degree, although there were questions about the morality of church officials at this time.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Fiddle Faddle

I’ve decided that I very much like this phrase, which is defined as “trifling discourse, nonsense. A mere fiddle faddle fellow; a trifier”. I think that ‘trifier’ is a mis-spelling for ‘trifler’, but ignoring that, I suspect that many people could guess what this phrase might mean even without the definition.

In the United States, the phrase is probably better known for different reasons, namely that it’s a brand of popcorn that was introduced in 1967. The original phrase dates back to around the sixteenth century, and it’s just the present tense of fiddle and the past-tense of fiddle, which was then ‘faddle’.

And we can see the sad evidence of this charming little phrase going out of usage…… Having written that, I’m sure there are some people who still use the phrase. But not enough, I shall make an effort to use this more on the blog.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Field Lane Duck

This sounds delicious, it’s defined by the dictionary as “a baked sheep’s head”. Field Lane was a street in London, near to where Saffron Hill is today near to Holborn, where stolen goods were commonly sold. That area gained a reputation for deceit, thieves and stolen products, so anything related to Field Lane would be known as something just a little fraudulent. The phrase was primarily a late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century one, becoming less commonly used when Field Lane disappeared in the mid-nineteenth century. So anyone buying meat that they thought was something a little decadent might well have been considerably disappointed.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Feague

Not the most elegant of things to think about, the dictionary defines this as “to feague a horse; to put ginger up a horse’s fundament, and formerly, as it is said, a live eel, to make him lively and carry his tail well; it is said, a forfeit is incurred by any horse-dealer’s servant, who shall shew a horse without first feaguing him. Feague is used, figuratively, for encouraging or spirting one up”.

I’m not entirely sure of the practicalities about achieving this aim with a live eel, but the ginger solution remains a problem today for those buying horses. Today, the phrase is better known as gingering, as this is now the most common usage, and is of course seen as an animal rights abuse.

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Fam Lay

Apparently (it says on Google), in 2020, Fam Lay is a famous rapper, but over 200 years ago, the dictionary defined this as “going into a goldsmith’s shop, under pretence of buying a wedding ring, and palming one or two, by daubing the hand with some viscous matter”. The term was used by the criminal fraternity and it seems quite a precise definition, probably never in common usage. The word ‘fam’ could mean the hand, and ‘lay’ in this instance is just a shortened version of layer, so it’s effectively a sleight of hand.