Speaker: Mixing it up, with stats like
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"Niggardly" comes from the Old English word "niggard", which means a miser, or a stingy person.
I looked it up in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, and found this:
niggardly is the adverb form of niggard
niggard is a late Middle English word which comes from nigon
nigon is a Middle English word which comes from nig.
nig is a Middle English word, thought of be of Scandanavian origin.And, maybe I'm also too innocent, but how is "Rule of Thumb" sexist?
There's a tale that in the olden days of America, it was legal for a man to beat his wife with a stick, provided the stick was no wider than his thumb.
The Straight Dope, World Wide Words and Wikipedia say it ain't so.
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Urban Dictionary is entertaining, but not a good place to look up the meaning of an actual word.
Definitions are reader submitted. There is room for moderation, but it lets you turn your in-jokes with mates into legitimate entries. Nightball, anyone?
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You can, however, use the rule of thumb for banquets:
Plate setters, setting plates for an English Royal banquet, place the plate against the tip of the thumb while holding the arch of the thumb and first finger against the table edge.
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3410,
For the record, here's a link to a real dictionary. I use it almost every day.
the definitive definition of a snowball vs. a snowjob
You mean the sex ones?
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the Wellingtonista had a particularly lively time getting the definitive definition of a snowball vs. a snowjob one time.
That was yet another instance where it was reinforced on me that indeed, I have not seen & heard it all by any means.
Ewww
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You mean the sex ones?
We thought that a snowball was a sex thing, and a snowjob was a PR thing (I won't make any comment on the connection between PR and sex). We learnt that both could be both. And unfortunately I had to close the comments on that entry for other reasons (ie: no one was telling me about anonymous sex in laundrettes which was the original point of the post), so that's all we learnt.
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OK, now you've lost me totally, and I've been following this thread closely until now.
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Wow, I thought rule of thumb was going to be some kind of dirty measurement thing. You know, like shoe sizes.
Rob, I think the thread became a little "Friday Arvo".
Robyn, I love the way that the word "niggardly" eventually dissolves into nothing.
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Wow, I thought rule of thumb was going to be some kind of dirty measurement thing. You know, like shoe sizes.
As in the length of the imaginary hypotenuse between your index finger and the end of your thumb if you hold them at right angles? Data on the accuracy of this is inconclusive.
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You know what they say about men with big hands?
Look how small the pen is.
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merc,
It would be niggardly of me not to point out, as a rule of thumb, that so many here provide material pertinent to the discussion at hand, as is usually the case.
Best film reference to snowballing was in Chasing Amy, or was it Clerks? -
Robyn, I love the way that the word "niggardly" eventually dissolves into nothing.
I wouldn't be surprised if its origin was some Viking going "Nnnnn!" to express his displeasure at a stoopid pal.
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OK, now you've lost me totally, and I've been following this thread closely until now.
It is so Friday afternoon ...
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half the problem is that once i wrap these humungous mitts around a tumbler of whisky or two it comes hard to tell if i'm niggardly or curmudgeonly.
by three whiskies i'm thinking, "probably both"
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It would be niggardly of me not to point out, as a rule of thumb, that so many here provide material pertinent to the discussion at hand, as is usually the case.
Indeed. Members of the community are cordially invited to now come up with examples of words whose "wrong" meaning has become generally accepted through sheer currency in the language.
Or, knock off and have a drink.
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Merc it was Clerks.
And back to the original topic for a second: We now have to put up with our own SH reporters saying we've got imports
Like the All Blacks, the Portugese sport some overseas-born blow-ins.
Back to the snowballing
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maybe first out of the blocks here.
telling someone they're "a bit hoary".
works on a couple of levels.
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half the problem is that once i wrap these humungous mitts around a tumbler of whisky or two it comes hard to tell if i'm niggardly or curmudgeonly.
I'm predicting that with each measure consumed you become less niggardly and more curmudgeonly.
You may test my hypothesis, but I expect any subsequent report to be peer-reviewed.
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See, I was keeping to this post's subject in talking about stats and mixing them up in relation to thumbs and fingers. And then along comes Che bragging about the size of his hands, naturally...
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I'm predicting that with each measure consumed you become less niggardly and more curmudgeonly.
You may test my hypothesis, but I expect any subsequent report to be peer-reviewed.
We'll keep an eye on him come monday night podcasting, and report back to you there RB.
And Joanna. The guy's 6'5", if he had wee hands, he'd be as bad an aimer as all the rest.
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I always feel inadequate when there is talk of rules of thumbs involve handspans and shoe size. I mean, if I was a guy, I wouldn't have much to brag about. :(
Just as well I'm a lady and have other things to brag about.
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merc,
Yes Che's hands can be seen here, careful may not be work safe if you work for either a chicken outlet, or a medical facility,
http://objectdart.wordpress.com/2007/09/13/how-to-dress-a-duck/#comment-1760
Hoary, especially bit Hori, I think is the term. Che does not make a hash job of the duck though.
Clerks, yes of course, reference to fists was in Chasing Amy, that's all, back to work. -
Just as well I'm a lady and have other things to brag about.
Like your delicate embroidery and light-as-air sponges?
Meanwhile I wear size 11 shoes...
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Yes Che's hands can be seen here, careful may not be work safe if you work for either a chicken outlet, or a medical facility
Che's site is blocked where I work, for its pornographic content. As hard as I try though, I can't seem to get Hubris blocked.
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Our rugby blogs are really breaking the mould here, huh?
You don't get this stuff from Wynne Gray.
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