They're as self-centered as we are!

[Wilson Gray]

I didn't realize that the spelling was wrong. But spelling isn't a
strong point among people who write to Web sites, even after the
probability, or even the mere possibility, of a typo is taken into
consideration.

-Wilson

On Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 5:35 PM, Robin Hamilton
<robin.hamilton2 at btinternet.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Robin Hamilton <robin.hamilton2 at BTINTERNET.COM>
> Subject:      Re: They're as self-centered as we are!
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>> From a Britspeak letter to the editor of ZDNet:
>>
>> ... " 'borrow' (some would say _'knick'_)" ...
>>
>> -Wilson
>
> Shame he didn't get the spelling right -- it's usually "nick".  Not the
> earliest recorded use, but a rather gorgeous book-title nonetheless:
>
>        The Nicker Nicked, or, The Cheats of Gaming Discovered. London:
> [s.n.], 1669.
>
> It's also slang ("the Nick") for a police station.  There's a somewhat
> sexist joke invovlving a bunco squad detective [or is that term too
> parochially American?] and an hysterical woman.
>
> Robin Hamilton
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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