ginnell

[Aaron E. Drews]

on 11/4/00 3:55 PM, Mark_Mandel at DRAGONSYS.COM wrote:

> On another list I subscribe to, most of whose members are in the UK,
> discussion
> arose on the word "twitten", referring among other things to a passage
> connecting adjoining houses. In subsequent discussion someone mentioned the
> potential synonym "back passage", which however had to be avoid because of,
> um,
> anatomical connotations. The following is my reply to a reply to that. I've
> deleted identifying information, since I haven't requested permission to
> repost.
>
>>>>>
> #Hmm.   I see your point :-)   Well, there is a less innuendish (if you see
> #what I mean) term you could use - 'ginnell'.   That's the Yorkshire (or at
> #least, Leeds) term (I checked with me dad, and he confirms it).
>
> And how does himself pronounce it? Stress on the inn or the ell? Hard g or
> soft?

ginnel ['gInl, 'g^nl] (the vowel is probably epsilon-umlaut - ad.). n, in pl
1. the gills (of a fish) (19th-20th centuries)
2. (_transf_) the cheeks (19th to early 20th)
vt catch (a fish) by the gills, (19th to 20th)

_Concise Scots Dictionary_




>
> Have I actually hit on an English regionalism here that's not in the OED, or
> was
> I just overlooking late at night something that would be totally obvious if I
> were awake?

The CSD concurs with the OED on this.  I don't know any Yorkshire-folk nor
have any English regional dictionaries, but I'll ask one or two northerners
when I'm back on my feet.

--Aaron


________________________________________________________________________
Aaron E. Drews                               The University of Edinburgh
http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~aaron      Departments of English Language and
aaron at ling.ed.ac.uk                    Theoretical & Applied Linguistics

 "MERE ACCUMULATION OF OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE IS NOT PROOF"
  --Death