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 Coronavirus crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…..

With the move to a new server, I’ve got a little behind with these daily words, so there might be a little splurge of them to catch up.

Cautions

This is defined in the form of a short poem:

“The Four Cautions

1 – Beware of a woman before

2 – Beware of a horse behind

3 – Beware of a cart side-ways

4 – Beware of a priest every way”

200 years on, some people might perhaps say that this advice isn’t entirely out of place.

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

Caudge-Pawed

Definitions don’t get much shorter than this, it simply means “left-handed”. There seems nearly no mention of this phrase in the printed record and I was hoping to work out how this quirky term had evolved. That plan failed, as all I can see is that it was in use between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.

I did discover though, whilst trying to see if this derived from cats paw somehow, that cats are left or right-handed. This, I have decided, is more interesting to me than what I had set out to find. So, I have no idea how this phrase evolved, but I will now watch cats to see whether they are left-handed or right-handed.

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

Cathedral

Simple definition to this one, “cathedral” means in this context something which is “old-fashioned, such as a cathedral-bedstead”. The word itself derives from Greek, with the Latin word “cathedra” meaning seat, which became the seat of the Bishop, which is the Cathedral. But, in this context, I can’t see that this phrase was ever much used, all references to cathedral bedsteads simply lead to on-line versions of this dictionary.

But, I’ve taken a real liking to using this word. If I want to criticise something (or more likely someone) as being old-fashioned, I can refer to them as having cathedral thinking. They’ll think I mean elegant or authoritative, but I’ll actually just mean out-of-date. Marvellous.

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

Cat’s Foot

The dictionary defines this as “to live under the cat’s foot, to be under the domination of a wife, hen-pecked”. Slightly intriguing that the ‘hen-pecked’ phrase has survived, whereas ‘cat’s foot’ seems to have been lost, particularly as there’s something quite quaint about the latter option. Georgette Heyer used the phrase in her books, but otherwise it’s now becoming archaic. Incidentally, the book defines ‘cat’ as “a prostitute” or “a cross old woman”.

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

Carouse

This word remains in usage in some areas, although I’m not sure that I’ve heard it used recently. The dictionary defines it as “to drink freely or deep”, making the drinking of alcohol sound quite philosophical. The more current definition of the word is though more ‘drinks loudly’, but perhaps that’s an inevitable result of drinking freely.

The word origin is from German, the phrase ‘gar aus trinken’ means to drink heavily, which got corrupted into English as ‘garaus’, and then ‘carouse’.

And here’s the word usage over the last two centuries. Given how the country has continued to drink freely, it’s a little surprising to see the word be used less frequently.

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

Canterbury Story

Defined as “a long round-about tale”, this has an obvious source which is from the long, tedious and winding stories of the fourteenth-century Canterbury Tales. I’ve just denigrated what is perhaps one of the most important medieval books, but they are a bit long…. There’s a possibility that it didn’t derive from Chaucer’s book, but instead from pilgrims on their way to Canterbury on a pilgrimage when they told elaborate and excessively long stories. But, that’s an excusable thing to do to pass the time.

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

Cannikin

This word is described by the dictionary as a “small can”, and in the criminal fraternity, it means the plague. The word comes from the sixteenth century Dutch word ‘kanneken’ which now means cannon, but I think had a different meaning back then that was something like ‘can’ or ‘bucket’.

The above image shows in red the capitalised version of Cannikin, the blue its lower case. And, there was a surge in usage of the word in the early 1970s. This was because Project Cannikin was a large underground nuclear weapons test, given the fluffy name of Cannikin, but it was something much more explosive than a small can, quite literally. Rather than it being a little can, the test involved 400 tonnes of equipment and a shaft that was nearly 2,000 metres deep. The test was controversial because there were fears of earthquakes and tsunamis, and the concern generated by this is what led to the creation of the Greenpeace pressure group.

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

Calibogus

A slightly strange name for a drink, this word is defined by the dictionary as a “rum and spruce beer, an American beverage”. The word dates to the seventeenth century and it usually also contains molasses and it was also common in parts of Canada, where it was known as Callibogus.

For anyone who wants to make it, and I don’t think that I’ll be rushing out to get the ingredients (and where on earth would I get Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur or spruce beer from anyway?), here’s a recipe from https://kindredcocktails.com/cocktail/calibogus-smugglers-cove.

1 1⁄4 oz Añejo rum (blend of column and pot still)
3⁄4 oz Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur
3⁄4 oz Molasses syrup
1⁄4 oz Lime juice
1 dr Spruce Beer (extract)
3 oz Seltzer water

I wouldn’t say that the words are much used, but they haven’t gone out of usage entirely.

As for how the word evolved, none of the three dictionaries I looked at had any idea at all……

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

Calves Head Club

I’m not sure this is much of a definition as it’s more of an historic tale, but the dictionary notes this is “a club instituted by the Independents and Presbyterians, to commemorate the decapitation of King Charles I. Their chief fare was calves heads; and they drank their wine and ale out of calves skulls”.

The club allegedly met every 30 January, the date of the execution of the King, becoming something of a Bullingdon Club arrangement. This kept going until 1734, when they went too far at an event at the Golden Eagle pub, on Suffolk Street in London, with an account reporting:

“Thursday in the evening a disorder of a very particular nature happened in Suffolk-street: ’Tis said that several young gentlemen of distinction having met at a house there, call’d themselves the Calf’s-Head Club; and about seven o’clock a bonfire being lit up before the door, just when it was in the height, they brought a calf’s-head to the window dress’d in a napkin-cap, and after some Huzza’s, threw it into the fire: The mob were entertained with strong-beer, and for some time halloo’d as well as the best; but taking a disgust at some healths which were proposed, grew so outrageous, that they broke all the windows, forc’d themselves into the house, and would probably have pull’d it down, had not the Guards been sent for to prevent further mischief. The damage done within and without the house, is computed at some hundred pounds. The Guards were posted all night in the street, for the security of the neighbourhood.”

A little too raucous for me.