LL-L "Beliefs" 2007.04.29 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  28 April 2007 - Volume 05

=========================================================================

From: Jonny Meibohm <altkehdinger at freenet.de>
Subject: LL-L "Beliefs" 2007.04.28 (04) [E]

Beste Lowlanners,

under the header 'Beliefs', though a bit off-topic, I should like to add
something (I only know from hearsay!) about the natural, realistic
background of all these phenomenons.

An old doctor of medicine once told me that all of this warts' coming and
going partly has to do with the
pH-value of the skin.
This value might change with the age or living circumstances of a person but
also can be influenced by incidents of psychic relevance. He told me about
any studies at any university that proved that it is possible to quantify
this alteration, for example, if you impress a person deeply or even horrify
it/him/her.
So, if you have got any basical beliefe in 'charming' these magic actions of
any mysterious old woman or man could impress your mind so deeply that your
skin will react. Perhaps this way the warts will be withdrawed their basic
life resources and they'll die.

Just worth a halfpenny and even less for those who believe in these
things...

I've personly had warts for several times in my live, and they came and went
during the times without any believe or magic, but without any medical
treatment, too.

Allerbest!

Jonny Meibohm

----------

From: "heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk" <heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Beliefs" 2007.04.28 (04) [E]

Reinhard/Ron wrote re evil eye
German: *böser Blick
*Dutch: *boze oog *
**
 I had never made the connection before! If someone has a squint, we used to
call it  bos-eyed. I used the word only a couple of days ago and vaguely
wondered about its origin. Hey presto! you come up with the answer!Thanks.

Heather

PS isn't squinting meant to be beauty enhancing in some cultures?
Or is it a remnant of old power?

----------

From: "Margaret Tarbet <oneko at att.net>" <oneko at att.net>
Subject: LL-L "Beliefs"

Jonny writes:

> Thanks!

Niets to danken! (If that's how one says it...I might be getting my
languages mixed up)

...and Heather asks:

> Does anyone have any old rhymes for charming?

Here's a pair of scots ones that we put a lot of faith in as weans:

To escape being made to help with laundry:
Rain, rain, cam doon dashin / Pit me mammy in a passion!

And to make rain stop so we could go out:
Rain, rain, frae us gae / Come agin on washin day!

Perhaps Sussex had corresponding ones?

Margaret

----------

From: Elsie Zinsser <ezinsser at icon.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Language maintenance" 2007.04.27 (08) [E]

Hi all!

And of course, Margaret, these magical wart removing sessions 'worked'!
I had a wart on my right hand, a loathing embarrassment when I have to do
piano exams and ultimately when the first boy held my hand. So my
grandmother
symbolically bound a piece of white sewing thread over it and I had to walk
down
her backyard towards the rhubarb bush and chuck the thread over my shoulder.
It worked like a charm; the virus antibodies kicked in the Thing fell off
soon after.
Nobody called her a witch though! :-)

Regards,

Elsie Zinsser

The verb in standard English would be 'charm', I think, though there are
several regional dialects in which the verb 'hex' would also be okay.
 Phrases would be 'she charmed off/away the wart', or 'she can hex away
warts', and sometimes 'she's a wart doctor' (an encoded way of saying she's
a witch/wise-woman).
Margaret
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lowlands-l/attachments/20070429/023c1b70/attachment.htm>