BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation

Subject: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 12:26 PM

I'm in the mood for a bit of festive fun and games, and my idea is a variation of the Uxbridge English Dictionary, but based on confusing words. For example the difference between Plebeian and Plebiscite.

Plebeian of course originally referred to that class of Roman Citizen who, according to the census and the nature of their trade did not have the staus of patrician whereas Plebiscite is another word for a police station.

Any more confusing words?

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Mrrzy
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 01:25 PM

Luxuriousness and Uxoriousness? If you have the latter, you don't have the former?

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 01:49 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 01:53 PM

Sorry,hit the wrong thing.
Flammable ,inflammable, non inflammable. I can never sort them out.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 03:15 PM

Colonoscopy and endoscopy. Unfortunately, I am a nurse.

Sorry about that.

It gets washed and decontaminated, honest.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,Rahere
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 04:31 PM

But are perceptably different sizes. You try shoving a colonoscope down somebody's nose!

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 06:20 PM

Cooperator, you got "Plebiscite" wrong. I went to an
online dictionary, and here's what it tells me:

pleb·i·scite
ˈplebəˌsīt/
noun
noun: plebiscite; plural noun: plebiscites

    the direct vote of all the members of an electorate on an      
    important public question such as a change in the constitution.
    synonyms:        vote, referendum, ballot, poll
    "a plebiscite for the approval of constitutional reforms"
       Roman History
       a law enacted by the plebeians' assembly.

No reference to a police station.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 06:32 PM

A lot of people get confused and use "epicenter" to
be the same as "center".   It's not so.

"Epicenter" is made up of two parts:
"epi" means above.
"center", of course, means the center. (Surprise!)

So "epicenter" is a technical term in seismology, and
means that spot on the surface of the earth directly
above the center of an earthquake. The center of the
earthquake is likely to be miles down in the subterranean
rocks, but definitely not on the surface.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 07:43 PM

I think I should have elaborated more....

Uxbridge English Dictionary is a game played on the BBC radio 4 programme 'I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue' whereby the panelists give new, humorous definitions to existing words. The game is introduced by the chairman who defines two similar sounding or similar meaning words, and give the real definition of the first, and a humorous new definition to the second. Thus my example - for non UK readers the humour is a satire based upon an MP who got into trouble for calling a policeman a pleb.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 03:56 AM

I have noticed that some people get confused about the words rhizome and tuber.
A rhizome is a swollen modified underground stem of a plant whereas a tuber is brass section musical instrument.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,CrazyEddie
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 04:03 AM

Immoral means something that is improper or wrong.
Illegal, on the other hand, is a large sick bird-of-prey.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 04:43 AM

Try epicentre rather than epicenter eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 07:22 AM

Stephen Fry defined 'countryside' as killing Piers Morgan - it wasn't broadcast.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 07:33 AM

Talking about Stephen Fry, did you know that Uxbridge is an anagram of big durex?

I'll get me coat...

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Musket
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 08:54 AM

Oh well in that case

Cuttlefish bone and Polyfilla.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 11:40 AM

Dave, I didn't get it either, at first. But while I was typing the real definition, the "site" ending percolated through, and I guessed they must call cops plebs.
Who was it defined hors-de-camp as camp followers?

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 11:55 AM

Not exactly an example; but related. I once read a pair of definitions as follows [from memory] --
.,,.,.

UNESCO -- a much respected cultural institution based in Paris

Ionesco -- ditto

,..,.,

Has anyone else come across this esprit, and can recollect its provenance?

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,Rahere
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 01:21 PM

Elicit, to draw out or coax. Illicit, the same undertaken by the Member for Rotherham.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 11:43 PM

Communism: the exploitation of man by man.
Socialism: The reverse.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 09:33 AM

Monogamy - Having just one wife.

Monotony - Roughly the same.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,Troubadour
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 09:35 AM

Bigamy - Having one wife too many

Monogamy - Ditto

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,Troubadour
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 09:39 AM

Illuminate - To shed light upon

elucidate - An evening out with Xena the Warrior Princess

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 11:35 AM

My pet peeve: those who mean 'contingent' and say 'contingency'. Very common in American military usage.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 12:36 PM

From:GUEST,Troubadour - PM
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 09:39 AM

Illuminate - To shed light upon

elucidate - An evening out with Xena the Warrior Princess
Surely "e-lucy-date" should be an online assignation with Xena.

From:Pete Jennings - PM
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 07:33 AM

Talking about Stephen Fry, did you know that Uxbridge is an anagram of big durex?
Just for those still wondering, 'Durex' is a popular brand of prophylactic. (except in Australia where it's a brand of sticky tape (according to Jasper Carrot)

Leading to:
Condom: something that houses a prick
Condo: similar, but in US

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Musket
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 01:07 PM

Septic tank - Full of shit.

Septic tank - Can't pronounce aluminium. And full of shit.

Sorry, been a long day.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 06:22 PM

Palisade: charity set up to help pay for the maintenance of royal residences.

Dreadlocks: morbid fear of holidays on canals.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 06:24 PM

Bill D
That's because most military budgets contain a sizeable chunk for contingencies. The military almost by definition have to cope with the unexpected, whereas the budgeting concept presumes that you're only going to do the expected. As a result, it's an attractive objective for the dumb ambitious to target.

Army Officer: the buck stops here
Police officer: your bucks start here

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,Frogprince, in Guadeloupe
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 06:34 PM

locution: oratory

circumlocution: talking one's foreskin off.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw apologetic
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 07:04 PM

Homogeneous: incredibly clever gay man


Mascarpone: to conceal your daughter's small horse


Increment: chronic constipation (think about it...)

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 07:35 PM

Everything: as defined by Oscar Wilde, to be tried once
Morris Dancing: for those who dispute the matter, the step before incest.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Mrrzy
Date: 06 Dec 14 - 01:21 PM

Slightly off topic:

In the rest of the world, a Yankee is an American.
In the States, a Yankee is a Northerner.
In the North, a Yankee is a New Englander.
In New England, a Yankee is from Vermont.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is someone who doesn't like cheddar cheese on their apple pie. (Apple pie without the cheese / Is like a kiss without the squeeze.)

The things one learns in college...

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 06 Dec 14 - 03:34 PM

Re the 'try everything once' quote -- A belief appears to have grown up that it was Oscar Wilde who said "Except Morris dancing and incest". Where is he supposed to have said it? And wasn't it a bit early, he being somewhat before the rise of the Morris movement with Kimber, Sharp et al [Wilde d 1900]?

Googling gives eg "Try everything once. Except incest and folk dancing" - Sir Thomas Beecham. He seems a far more likely candidate, and "folk dancing" perhaps the more likely prohibition.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Dec 14 - 04:38 PM

Ah, we know what the next step for those who dispute the matter is now, don't we?

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 07 Dec 14 - 07:51 AM

On Wilde/Beecham etc., here is a quote from a previous thread:
Bainbo - 25 August 07 - 2.29

"I think the confusion comes becuase there's no name recorded for the guy who said it. As terrier's link (corrected by Richard) confirms, the quote is recorded in Arnold Bax's autobiography Farewell, My Youth. But he, in turn, is quoting "a sympathetic Scotsman". That's as much identification as we get."

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: HuwG
Date: 07 Dec 14 - 10:41 AM

re Bill D's post:

Contingency: thing dependent on an uncertain event

Contingent: male person with well-regulated digestive system

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 Dec 14 - 03:33 PM

Scrabble: A family word game.
Squabble: To play a family word game.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,Rahere
Date: 08 Dec 14 - 06:47 AM

Oxbridge: The home of academic high flighers
Uxbridge: The home of the RAF

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Dec 14 - 10:43 AM

Buffalo: large grazing animal with horns
Bison: place where an Australian washes his face

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 08 Dec 14 - 12:09 PM

Kipper Tie, London: 1960s necktie.
Kipper Tie, Birmingham: Yes please, two sugars.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 08 Dec 14 - 01:59 PM

Re Guest above: yet another opportunity to post ---

That shiny white animal with silver horns -- is it a water buffalo?

No, it's a wash bison.

≈M≈

... which in fact fits this thread OK at that...

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 08 Dec 14 - 02:05 PM

Saxaphone...............Musical Instrument
Saxaphone...............Birth control device, During saxaphone will ring.






I'll get me hat

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,CrazyEddie
Date: 09 Dec 14 - 06:39 AM

Muttering: Speaking quietly and indistinctly.

Mumbling: Garish Jewellery worn by one's mother.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: bubblyrat
Date: 09 Dec 14 - 08:22 AM

Sayonara ; Goodbye in Japanese

Cyanide ; Goodbye in any language

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Dec 14 - 08:36 AM

Heheh, mumbling. There was one on Clue last night: "tumbling - belly button stud."

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,Owl Glass
Date: 09 Dec 14 - 08:39 AM

Hate street theater?

Go for the juggler!!

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,Hilo
Date: 09 Dec 14 - 08:52 AM

Naval destroyer.....hula hoop with nail in it!

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: Mo the caller
Date: 09 Dec 14 - 09:04 AM

"
Slightly off topic:

In the rest of the world, a Yankee is an American.
In the States, a Yankee is a Northerner.
In the North, a Yankee is a New Englander.
In New England, a Yankee is from Vermont.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is someone who doesn't like cheddar cheese on their apple pie. (Apple pie without the cheese / Is like a kiss without the squeeze.)"

But to my MIL a Yankee was a bet.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Dec 14 - 09:21 AM

And here's me thinking that a yankee was someone who had been yanked by a yanker.

Subject: RE: BS: Uxbridge English Dictionary Variation
From: GUEST,Rahere
Date: 09 Dec 14 - 12:11 PM

CAA: High-flying security
CIA: Deeply-disturbed insecurity