The Onion on U.K. slang

[Lynne Murphy]

'Handbags' is a reference to an argument...aka 'handbags at 10 paces' or
'handbags at dawn'.  I discussed this a bit back here:

<http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/09/purses-and-bags.html>

So, a fortnight-old handbags = a two-week-old argument.

Lynne

--On Monday, November 19, 2007 3:45 pm -0500 "Joel S. Berson"
<Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:

> Heartfelt thanks to Michael Quinion.  Perhaps:
>
> handbags = old ladies, derogatorily applied to the members of
> Lords?  Medical slang has "Handbag positive - confused patient
> (usually elderly lady) lying on hospital bed clutching handbag".
>
> But I don't know how "fortnight-old" fits (= immature and
> ignorant?  or = old and stale?). I find via Googling with "slang" a
> hint of Australian slang origin or use:
>
> http://www.nfsa.afc.gov.au/docs/photoplayartiste_reel5.pdf, from
> 1919: "N.S.W. He was only a fortnight old when he. made his first
> appearance."  (If he is a stage performer, he surely can't be
> literally 14 days old.  But I haven't tried to pull out the context
> from the PDF.)
>
> Joel
>
> At 11/19/2007 02:38 PM, you wrote:
>> > Would someone on the other side of the pond be so kind as to translate
>> > the slang terms in the item below.
>>
>> Gordon Bennett, squire, that's a tough 'un! There's a bit of a mixture of
>> slang there, not all British and I don't recognise all of it.
>>
>> > LONDON-The nightly Ten O'Clock News program on Great Britain's BBC One
>> > channel upgraded a minor flap in Parliament's House of Lords to an
>> > all-out row Tuesday after Conservative Party leader Thomas Galbraith,
>> > 2nd Baron Strathclyde, told the Lord Speaker to sod off. "The
>> > fortnight-old handbags suddenly exploded into a proper barney when
>> > Lord Strathclyde had an eppy and called Baroness Hayman a 'dozy slag'
>> > and then buggered off for a Jack Dash in the bog," BBC political
>> > correspondent Basil Islington said. "Needless to say, the other
>> > geezers went chicken oriental." The BBC said if the tossers don't jam
>> > their tarts by late afto, they will be forced to classify the bull and
>> > cow as a paddy, though they haven't ruled out the possibility of a
>> > total fucking pagger.
>>
>> sod off = please go away (but more strongly expressed)
>> handbag = no idea
>> barney = a noisy quarrel
>> eppy = episode
>> dozy = sluggish and stupid
>> slag = a promiscuous woman
>> buggered off = went away
>> Jack Dash = I assume rhyming slang -> slash -> urination
>> bog = toilet, loo, bathroom, restroom ...
>> geezers = men
>> chicken oriental = no idea
>> tosser = masturbator
>> jam their tarts = Australian slang for fart (I think)
>> afto = Australian slang for afternoon (I think)
>> bull and cow = row
>> paddy =  a fit of temper (from paddywhack)
>> pagger = Scots slang for a fight
>>
>>
>> --
>> Michael Quinion
>> Editor, World Wide Words
>> E-mail: wordseditor at worldwidewords.org
>> Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



Dr M Lynne Murphy
Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and English Language
Arts B135
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QN

phone: +44-(0)1273-678844
http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org