[Lexicog] Pejorative suffixes (more-ish)

[John Roberts]

On 30/03/2005 14:09, Nick Miller wrote:

>>I mentioned 'bully' in the sense of hockey as the Czechs used to say (and
>>still do informally) 'buly' for this. Nowadays they say 'vhazovani' - lit.
>>'throwing in'. The same thing happens in a scrum basically.

Peter Kirk wrote:

> I also thought of the phrase "Bully for you". And searching for this I
> came across
> http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/20/messages/1090.html, which
> sheds some extra light on the subject.


In the NODE "bully for" is listed as an expression of admiration or approval
under "bully"2, an adjective (mainly N. American) meaning 'very good,
first-rate'. ORIGIN late 16th cent. (originally used of a person meaning
'admirable, gallant, jolly') from "bully"1. The current sense dates from the
mid 19th cent.

I believe all the "bully"s have now been accounted for and we still haven't
found the bull.

John Roberts








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