[Corpora-List] Numpties and bennies

[Ramesh Krishnamurthy]

>>I guess this demonstrates the power of the internet over the BNC as 
>>a corpus.....

For rare events, events post-1994, and events beyond British English, 
perhaps...
There's still the problem of reliability...

At 12:21 06/12/2006, Diana Maynard wrote:
>Hi Harry
>
>My first thought was that it either meant "going on a bender" ie 
>going out and getting drunk, or having a big strop. The latter is 
>confirmed by good old Wikipedia:
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_(slang)
>
>/In England, the term is used as a pejorative slang term to describe 
>anyone of apparent mental slowness, especially by children (derived 
>from the character of the same name, played by Paul Henry 
><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Henry_%28actor%29> in the soap 
>opera <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_opera> //Crossroads 
><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossroads_%28TV_series%29>). It is 
>also used to describe a person in a fit of rage or having a tantrum 
>as in "He's having a benny"./
>
>A google search for "having a benny" reveals this and many similar examples.
>
>The urban dictionary also reveals a number of other meanings
>
>http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=benny
>
>I guess this demonstrates the power of the internet over the BNC as 
>a corpus.....
>
>Incidentally, there's no wikipedia entry for "numpty".
>I must admit I would consider numpty to be on the fringe of the 
>nonPC terms, but then you can say the same about pretty much any of 
>its synonyms......
>
>Diana
>
>
>Harold Somers wrote:
>>A colleague has just emailed me suggesting that the word "numpty" has
>>become non-PC because of its association with Downs syndrome. I've never
>>made that association ... Has anyone else?
>>
>>A trawl of the standard "references" suggests that numpty is a Scottish
>>slang word (meaning 'idiot' or 'incompetent person') and is being
>>considered fro inclusion in the next edition of the OED; but
>>interestingly its total absence from the BNC suggests either that it has
>>only recently entered the language, and/or that Scottish English is
>>under-represented in the BNC.
>>Would I be right in thinking that the word is entirely unknown in AmE?
>>
>>On a similar theme, I was thinking about the word "benny", a slang term
>>which had a brief life in BrE. With the same meaning as numpty, its
>>etymology is a character in a soap (Crossroads I think) called Benny who
>>was "intellectually challenged". I seem to remember a news article
>>during the Falklands War in which soldiers were being admonished because
>>their slang word for Falkland Islanders was "bennies".
>>
>>"A benny" occurs twice in the BNC, both times in the same source (KCE -
>>a conversation recorded by `Helena' (PS0EB)) as follows:
>>
>>KCE 7007 so she had a bit of a benny it was KCE 7260 I hadn't had a 
>>benny for a few days actually
>>Helena also talks about "bennies":
>>KCE 7258 Not that I ever have major bennies or anything
>>
>>I'm guessing that here she means a "benzedrine" tablet, though that
>>interpretation doesn't really fit the syntax (a bit of a benny, major
>>bennies). Anyone any idea what a benny is in this context? (Perhaps the
>>surrounding text can help - what is the topic of the conversation?).
>>
>>There's one other occurrence of "bennies" in the BNC, from "Skinhead" by
>>Nick Knight, the meaning of which I think is "Ben Sherman shirts"
>>ARP 213 Most skinhead girls, sometimes called rennes, would wear
>>bennies, button-fly red tags, white socks and penny loafers or monkey
>>boots.
>>
>>
>>Harold Somers
>>
>>
>

Ramesh Krishnamurthy

Lecturer in English Studies, School of Languages and Social Sciences, 
Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
[Room NX08, North Wing of Main Building] ; Tel: +44 (0)121-204-3812 ; 
Fax: +44 (0)121-204-3766
http://www.aston.ac.uk/lss/staff/krishnamurthyr.jsp

Project Leader, ACORN (Aston Corpus Network): http://corpus.aston.ac.uk/