puzzles
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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) mander a) one who haunts good tables, a greedy sponger b) a salesman c) to order about in dictatorial fashion
2) purler
3) quiff a) diagonally across from something b) the number five in shepherds’ counting c) a knack, a trick
a) a shapeless, confused mass b) a blockhead, an idiot c) the last sheep to be sheared
BETTING TERMS Down by the track there’s little that passes the bookies by with this wonderful vocabulary: Tic-tac (1905) the system of telegraphy used by bookmakers communicating a change in the odds to outside bookmakers Pencil-fever (c1872) the laying of odds against a horse certain to lose Springer (UK slang 1922) a horse on which the odds suddenly shorten Skinner (Australian slang 1891) a horse which wins at long odds
Stickout (US slang 1937) a racehorse that seems a certain winner Nap (bookies’ jargon) a racing tipster’s best bet of the day To kiss the parson’s wife (late 18C) to be lucky in the choosing of or betting on horses (from the belief that those who wish for such luck must ‘kiss the parson’s wife’) To the pros, there’s slang for any bet you care to make: macaroni - odds of 20/1 carpet - odds of 3/1 elef a vier - odds of 11/4 bottle - odds of 2/1 shoulder - odds of 7/4 ear’ole - odds of 6/4 up the arm - odds of 11/8 wrist - odds of 5/4
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ANSWERS 1C, 2A, 3C, 4A
a) a knock-down blow, a heavy fall b) a large playing marble c) a lean deer not fit to hunt
4) mummock
