That’s interesting

puzzles THAT’S INTERESTING...

Each month ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD, former researcher from ‘QI’ and author of The Meaning of Tingo, poses a vocabulary quiz from our local Wiltshire dialect.

CAN YOU GUESS THE CORRECT DEFINITION? 1. RANNEL

a) a pathway up to a steep hill b) ravenously hungry c) the froth on top of a glass of beer 2. POUNCEFUL

a) masterful, self-willed b) careless, reckless, happy-go-lucky c) vigorously; with might and main 3. QUILT

a) a turnstile b) wool taken from a dead sheep c) to swallow 4. POOK

a) a small cock of hay b) the youngest of a litter of pigs c) unsettled weather UNIVERSITY LINGO

Local slang was adopted at many universities. At Oxford, your battles (Tudor-Stuart) were (and still are) your college bills; if you didn’t get to an exam you ploughed (1853) it; and academic nudity (b1909) was the appearance in public without a cap or gown. At Cambridge, in Victorian times, a brute (19C) was one who had not matriculated and a sophister (1574) was an undergraduate in his second or third year. In both places a whiffler (c1785) was one who examined candidates for degrees, while at Dublin a sizar (1588) was one who got a college allowance. At Aberdeen, from the 18th century on, you were a bajan in your first year, a semi in your second, a tertian in your third, and a magistrand (1721) if staying for a fourth year to sit an M.A. Much more recently, a new slang has grown up to describe the various kinds of degrees that one may hope to get. The much-prized First has been known as a Geoff (Hurst), a Damien or a Pattie (Hirst), a raging (thirst) or a James (the First). A 2:1 is known as an Attila (the Hun) or a Made-In (Taiwan). A 2:2 is known as a Desmond (Tutu) and a 3rd as a Douglas (Hurd), a Thora (Hird), or even a Gentleman's Degree, though who would admit to having one of those these days?