Obscure British References on ILM: Classic or Dud ?

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"chiz chiz" is indeed a swiz and a swindle, short for "chisel", originating from the days before coins had milling round the edge and dishonest types could chisel bits off the edges of their gold and silver coins to melt down into more coins. There, didn't you want to know that?

I can't remember if I've posted that before or if I just nearly did and then decided you didn't actually want to know that. Either way, I apologise.

(Molesworthisms on ILM = CLASSIC. I have always wanted to be able to say "grate" and stuff and not worry that people would become confused or assume I just can't spell. The Molesworthesque IHM on the Cocteau Twins is hilarious, too.)

― Rebecca, Wednesday, 7 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

o wow, wot a GRATE fakt!

― m jemmeson, Wednesday, 7 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I R recalling that in the U.S. at some point a decision was made to use the ridges/chisellings as part of the coin's actual design from the get-go, even though silver quarters, dimes etc are a thing of the ancient past -- because people were simply used to having them there. So nickel edges = smooth because nickel was never worth enough to chizel!

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 7 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"Interweb" I nicked offa my pal The Chocolate - defintely not an MJH/PopEx fing.

My American friends thought "chiz" = "cheers". Oops!

― Sarah, Thursday, 8 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

In my delight at mjemmeson and rebecca's explanation i didn't notice i was being CHIZELED of the troof. you lot don't use those words to say what you say they mean. it seems to me that you use "chiz chiz" to mean "fnar fnar"...

― Tracer Hand, Saturday, 10 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"oh i'm proud of myself for figuring that one out without any help and i'm pretty sure it expresses crowd cheers, i.e. 'ethan R going to appear on the scene (chiz chiz)'."
Ethan in self-abuse shocker!

― DG, Saturday, 10 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

two months pass...

does "chessy" mean something?

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

if it doesn't have a meaning, i'm going to suggest one: "rich" as in "that's a bit chessy". etym - "chess pie", which is like pecan pie but without the pecans and is therefore quite rich. "chessy" also has extra connotation of "too perfect", the way chess pie is like a smooth distillation of pecan pie, without the bumps and interesting textures.

i know pecan pie isn't british.

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I asked my mother-in-law how chess pie got its name. She replied, "Because it's just pie," in a heavy Southern accent. Cue huge groans from the audience.

― Dan Perry, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I've heard that chess pie explanation (chess pie=just pie) from a few Southern cooks -- I think it's on the real.

― Mark, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"Can I have some molasses?"

"How can you have mo lasses when you ain't had no lasses at all??"

* scampers away *

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

eleven months pass...

Aw. This was a great thread.

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 17 January 2003 03:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

pash still means what mark said it did, but i've come across it more commonly as meaning to snog, ie "have a pash behind the bike sheds ooer". a sad casualty in the war against brazen youth!

"do brits have more slang than us MURKINS, i think so"

hahahaha (ok slightly misspelt but-) hahahaha!!!

yeah, this thread is nang

― zemko (bob), Friday, 17 January 2003 11:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

I like these old threads, because some of us had different names back then.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 17 January 2003 11:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

ten months pass...

On the bus yesterday I heard two girls talking about a fight and there was some stuff I didn't get -

"bare" - "he was kickin bare heads"

"squashed" - "he called me up and said 'it's squashed'" "yeah? who squashed it?"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 22 November 2003 16:45 (twenty years ago) link

"bare ugly ting"

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Saturday, 22 November 2003 19:48 (twenty years ago) link

"bare" - "he was kickin bare heads"

'bare' in this context is widely used and means 'lots of'/'nothing but'.

― David (David), Saturday, 22 November 2003 20:58 (twenty years ago) link

The original meaning is almost reversed. 'Bare' was previously used to describe the complete absence of something ('bare-headed' = no hat), but in this usage it implies complete coverage (eg 'bare feds up west last night' = the west end of London was swarming with police).

― David (David), Saturday, 22 November 2003 21:12 (twenty years ago) link

Maybe "bare" because it's like there's so many of (x) that there's no hiding it? In any case that's awesome, David, thank you! Strange, though, that one would say "feds" in the absence of a federal structure of government.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 22 November 2003 21:21 (twenty years ago) link

I always assumed that 'fed' was some kind of aspirational-American thing by black kids here. Like it came from American rap lyrics or something. Am I right on that?

― David (David), Saturday, 22 November 2003 21:28 (twenty years ago) link

Of course..(just realised)..it must come from the F in FBI. Perhaps it's widely used in America in that way (not just hip hop/black)?

― David (David), Saturday, 22 November 2003 21:32 (twenty years ago) link

i thought it was bearheads?

― charltonlido (gareth), Saturday, 22 November 2003 21:32 (twenty years ago) link

What was?

― David (David), Saturday, 22 November 2003 21:34 (twenty years ago) link

as in bearheads, not bare heads

― charltonlido (gareth), Saturday, 22 November 2003 21:36 (twenty years ago) link

You heard the exchange as well?

― David (David), Saturday, 22 November 2003 21:40 (twenty years ago) link

squashed is workoutable surely, like 'locked off' to have been stopped. they were probably discussing the groceries though, perhaps some berries or other

― prima fassy (bob), Saturday, 22 November 2003 21:50 (twenty years ago) link

I quizzed charlton and stevem about it last night at the swimmer. No idea on the spelling. It wasn't just heads though, they said it for a lot of stuff - "they were throwing bare/bear chairs around" etc.

"Fed" is misleading since it implies Scotland Yard rather than the Met

yes yes you FASSY MAN

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 22 November 2003 21:57 (twenty years ago) link

Where I work: 'lock off your computer' means shut it down. It's more about finishing and closing down than stopping (stopping could just be a temporary interruption).

― David (David), Saturday, 22 November 2003 21:57 (twenty years ago) link

I thought Gareth was joking. No it's 'bare' because it's widely used in the way I described ('bear' wouldn't make any sense). Not that the spelling matters because it's hardly ever used in print. I suppose you could spell it 'bear' if you wanted to but I'm in no doubt of the derivation.

Scotland Yard vs Met (or actually C.I.D. vs Met?) is too sophisticated. As far as I'm aware it's just a blanket term for police (here I mean, not in the US).

― David (David), Saturday, 22 November 2003 22:03 (twenty years ago) link

yes David and raises the hackles of my cartoonish pedantry! (haha next thing you know I'll be insisting that "5-0" only be used to refer to Hawaiian polis)

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 22 November 2003 22:10 (twenty years ago) link

ive heard feds and 5-0 on the buses. and yes, there is no distinction between police forces or whatever. its a blanket reference

― charltonlido (gareth), Saturday, 22 November 2003 23:06 (twenty years ago) link

It's weird when people say "bare nuff", though, that's a tortology, surely? "There was bare nuff fit girls dere"

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 23 November 2003 01:35 (twenty years ago) link

pash still means what mark said it did, but i've come across it more commonly as meaning to snog

It only ever meant snog where I come from. "Wanna pash?" etc. Never heard it used in the crush sense at all! Maybe it depends where one's from?

I'm also amused when I read as I have several times here that spunk=hott person seems weird to everyone (cept Aussies obv). Tis very 80s bogan (ie white trash yob) usage, you'd only see it now in shows like "Kath n Kim" which by the way is shite and should be blown up, but hey, this is a UKian ref thread so I'll shoosh now.

― Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 23 November 2003 02:02 (twenty years ago) link

tracey look at moy!!

― the surface noise (electricsound), Sunday, 23 November 2003 02:48 (twenty years ago) link

Used to be, "bare" meant 'none' in North london and 'loads' in the Saarf. Cue hilarious misunderstandings.

― cis (cis), Sunday, 23 November 2003 11:10 (twenty years ago) link

so Barenaked Ladies are in fact from Sydenham I figure

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 24 November 2003 10:40 (twenty years ago) link

wait, i mean....oh never mind, hmph

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 24 November 2003 10:41 (twenty years ago) link

we had a classic one on the bus the other week. two rather loud-mouthed young "ladies" were abusing other passengers by saying they were "brock". the abusee said "what on earth does that mean?" and apparently it means ugly, but no derivation was offered. she also said the guy had "a cauliflower dick" which is entirely un-comeback-able despite being gibberish...

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Monday, 24 November 2003 12:21 (twenty years ago) link

Brock - a reference to the Pokemon character? He doesn't look particularly ugly to me though (although poss. nerdy..would that fit you and your friends?). The other obvious thing would be a badger (and badgers are ugly, arguably) but that seems far too old fashioned.

― David (David), Monday, 24 November 2003 12:43 (twenty years ago) link

'brock' means 'broken' or 'to break out' - possibly 'spread out' or 'wide' - i'm guessing here

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 24 November 2003 12:45 (twenty years ago) link

To brock or bruck someone up is to beat them up, so I'd go for it possibly meaning 'horrifically disfigured' as well.

― cis (cis), Monday, 24 November 2003 12:53 (twenty years ago) link

yeah, we thought it was fairly unlikely to be bager-related. shame, really. i'm assuming brock/bruck comes from break/broke, show your workings steve/cis ;)

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Monday, 24 November 2003 12:59 (twenty years ago) link

Slightly related (to being broken): 'busted' ('cuz, those vocals sound busted'..the word busted said with feeling, explosively) lame, feeble (makes Busted's choice of name a bit unfortunate).

― David (David), Monday, 24 November 2003 13:01 (twenty years ago) link

show you my workings? how dare you sir

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 24 November 2003 13:04 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...

havent heard squashed for 3 yrs or so, i really like that one!

these kids i used to work with were alwyas going "work? squash that, man" with the most awesome scorn ever. no one else seems to have heard it tho.

― ambrose (ambrose), Monday, 11 April 2005 17:56 (nineteen years ago) link

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