LL-L "Etymology" 2009.01.28 (01) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 28 January 2009 - Volume 01
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From: Wesley Parish <wes.parish at paradise.net.nz>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica" [E] - "taking a dekko"

"taking a dekko at something" is an expression I'd only met previously in
various late-era post Twentieth C--European Civil War (c. 1014-1945) English
penny-dreadfuls and only thought it could exist in that context.  I heard it
recently on the radio in relation to a messy traffic jam in Auckland City.

I assume it's Hindi/Urdu-derived?  Through (Sanskrit) drsht - to see?
 (Though
I have also considered it might be Romany-derived.  I have no real idea.)

Anyone got any better ideas?

Wesley Parish
--
Clinersterton beademung, with all of love - RIP James Blish
-----
Gaul is quartered into three halves.  Things which are
impossible are equal to each other.  Guerrilla
warfare means up to their monkey tricks.
Extracts from "Schoolboy Howlers" - the collective wisdom
of the foolish.
-----
Mau e ki, he aha te mea nui?
You ask, what is the most important thing?
Maku e ki, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
I reply, it is people, it is people, it is people.

•

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