LL-L "Idiomatica" 2004.07.06 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 06.JUL.2004 (06) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: "Idiomatica" [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Idiomatica
>
> With regard to words for "hill" and "mountain" we have been discussing
under
> "Lexicon" and "Etymology" I ought to mention that in many Lowlands Saxon
> (Low German) dialects, certainly those in the Northern range, _barg_
[ba:x]
> 'hill/mountain' is frequently used to denote 'many' or 'much', much like
> English 'a bunch of'.  This is not necessarily used with nouns that denote
> items that can be heaped up.

In Scots a "bing" is a slag heap, ie the hills of slag left after many years
of mining operations. It's used copiously in Scots, usually in the plural:

bings o beuks: 'many books'*
bings o fowk: 'lots of people'
bings o 'hings: 'lots of things'
bings o claes: 'lots of clothes'
bings o langages: 'many languages'
bings o wark: 'loads of work'

but:

a heap o nonsense: 'a bunch of nonsense'

I think the reason you wouldn't use "bings" with "nonsense" is that "bings"
is used to express an abundance and so wouldn't be used with something
negative like "nonsense".

It does work with uncountable nouns:

bings o sugar: 'a lot of sugar'
bings o sand: 'a lot of sand'

However, I think it does apply only to uncountable nouns that could actually
be heaped up, so not "*bings o watter".

I think large quantities of time are most commonly expressed by saying that
they follow one after the other:

years on end: 'many years'
months on end: 'many months'
weeks on end: 'many weeks'
days on end: 'many days'
oors on end: 'many hours'

but not for units smaller than this (it might raise a laugh to say, "He can
sit thare an read for meenits on end"  :)

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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