PLEASE DON'T SAY THAT

25 phrases you do not want to hear:

1 We need to talk
2 Can you spare a minute or two?
3 There's been an accident
4 And now, a few of my own songs
5 Step into the office for a moment
6 It's not you, it's me
7 I'm phoning on behalf of...
8 Maybe you should sit down
9 Close your eyes and open your mouth
10 I like you, just not in that way
11 I want to talk to you about Jesus*
12 Please don't get angry, but...
13 Just pop your clothes on that chair
14 About last night...
15 Do you mind if I join you?
16 What's that on your shoe?
17 ... and you can't miss it
18 You'll have to suck the poison out
19 I'm from the News of the World
20 Of course he doesn't bite
21 Mum, I can't hold it in any longer
22 Go on, have a bite, it tastes a bit like chicken
23 I'm doing a sponsored walk...
24 So I think you should have a test too, just in case
25 I had this weird dream last night
26 No, be honest, do I look fat?
27 It's all about this man who...
28 Can you watch these two for me whilst I nip out
29 My next poem is a long one and was inspired by the death of my mother / birth of my first child / my holiday in Tuscany...

Compare the even more ominous 'Jesus told a joke once...'

Source: by RcL, plus thanks to Jo, Chloe and Jonathan. Please send more... thanks To Rebecca Sabin for 28

 
SAY WHAT? Part 27

More common mistakes:

1 to all intensive purposes - okay, it makes sense in a way , okay it may even be mildly poetic in a way, but it should be to all intents and purposes, a snippet of rather old-fashioned sub-legalese which it's strange to still hear on the zephyr of quotidian parlance (so to speak).

2 bog standard - meaning run of the mill, everyday, average standard. Presumably, this mistake derives from the idea of 'bog' being low and unpleasant, or connects to the slang 'bogging' meaning shoddy. Should be box standard, as in a standard, boxed manufactured product.

3 fine tooth-comb - meaning a figurative device for close inspection. Should be fine-toothed comb. After all, when did you last comb your teeth, laddie?

4 Reubenesque - meaning full-figured, voluptuous or, to use that excellent German word zaftig. Please stop saying this as of today, since it should be Rubensesque (after the painter Rubens who often painted women this way).

Source: by RcL

 
INITIALS BB

28 'BB' stereotpyes:

1 bovver boy - a thuggish young male, especially wearing skinhead fashion including bovver boots. UK early 1970s
2 brown breader - someone given over, superficially at least, to 'healthy eating'. By extension, any hippie or liberal
3 beach bum - someone who lives the surfing or sand hobo lifestyle
4 Busby babe - one of the Manchester United soccer team of the late 1950s, managed by Matt Busby, many of whom were killed in a tragic air crash in West Germany
5 brain box - nickname for a child of high intelligence
6 big brother - an imposing head of state or any organisation; from Orwell's 1984
7 Baron Bung - an old expression for the host of a drinking party
8 bunny boiler - a woman who becomes obsessive and behaves irrationally or violently during a relationship, especially an adulterous one; from the sleazy thriller Fatal Attraction
9 bathing belle - a contestant in a seaside beauty competition, particularly circa 1930s
10 bridled bear - a young nobleman who was chaperoned by a tutor
11 buttered bun - a sexual partner who has recently had intercourse with someone else
12 blonde bombshell - a glamorous blonde haired woman especially a model or movie-star of yesteryear; now used mostly ironically for any gender
13 Bungalow Bill - a man who has 'little up top'; a rugged but unintelligent companion of a glamorous woman (from one of Liz Taylor's lovers who was so nicknamed)
14 barrow boy - one who sells goods, especially fruit and veg, from a stall in a market; any loud, loquacious or uncouth man
15 bible basher - a fundamentalist or evangelical Christian, especially one who is over-enthused with Biblical moralising
16 backroom boy - a scientist, theorist or technician who makes things happen 'backstage' or away from the politicians or generals
17 boot black - one who shines shoes for a living
18 blue bottle - an old name for a beadle or a police constable
19 back bencher - a member of the British parliament who is not part of the cabinet
20 bachelor boy - a young unmarried man; by extension, one who is such by reasons of homosexuality
21 Blair babe - one of the many younger female MPs brought into UK government by Tony Blair's late 90s New Labour
22 brown bagger - one who bring their own booze, or carries it out of the shop in a brown bag; one who drinks alcohol in public from a brown bag due to by-laws
23 best boy - the electrical assistant on a film set
24 Billy Bunter - any greedy person, foodwise; from a British schoolboy character of that name
25 Billy boy - an Irish or Scots Protestant, from their historical support for King William (Billy); a football supporter of Protestant teams such as Glasgow Rangers
26 blue bonnet - an old name for any Scotsman, from a regiment which wore them
27 ball breaker - a slang name for a tough, manipulative or man-hating woman
28 baby boomer - one who was born in the post-war baby boom; broadly, those who were young in the 60s and early 70s and who adhere to the social and cultural mores of that era

Source: various, by RcL (bawdy bard)

 
EQUATORIAL

The Equator passes through only 10 countries:

1 Ecuador
2 Colombia
3 Brazil
4 Gabon
5 Republic of the Congo
6 Democratic Republic of the Congo*
7 Uganda
8 Kenya
9 Somalia
10 Indonesia

*formerly Zaire

 
10,000 MANIA

The VitQ counter just went past 10,000 hits since it was added in late February. Here's some 10k trivia to celebrate:

1 The 10,000th prime number is 104,279.
2 The band 10,000 Maniacs adapted their name from the B-movie 2,000 Maniacs. Their best album is The Wishing Chair, though In My Tribe is good too. And Blind Man's Zoo contains 'Headstrong', perhaps their best song.
3 10,000 is the name of both a card game and a dice game.
4 Alaska contains the volcanic area known as the Valley of 10,000 Smokes while, down South, Florida has the 10,000 Islands, mangrove islets in the Everglades region.
5 'One picture is worth ten thousand words' wrote mathematician Frederick Barnard in the 1920s (paraphrasing a Chinese proverb - the Chinese are keen on images including ten thousand). The exchange rate of this expression has decreased by 90% over time.
6 The Italian film 10,000 Dollars Blood Money is set in America. The American film Ten Thousand Bedrooms is set in Italy.
7 £10,000 is the average student debt of a British graduate
8 In 'A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall', Bob Dylan 'saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken' and much later he recorded a song called '10,000 Men'.
9 A popular number with musicians, there are also songs called '10,000 Cattle' (Slim Critchlow'), '10,000 Sheep' (Sorma), '10,000 Dogs' (Jacques) and '10,000 Horses' (Candlebox). French noodleurs Air made a record called 10,000 MHz Legend.
10 Basketball star Kobe Bryant, 24, became the youngest player to reach 10,000 career points earlier this year.
11 The Danish scientist and philosopher Piet Hein, known for many inventions and theories, also wrote ten thousand short, pithy poems, which he called 'grooks'.
12 Do you need a name for your rock'n'roll band? Here is a list of 10,000 computer generated ones for you to choose from. Inevitably, the computer has chosen some that are already taken, such as Pulp, Hole and Palace, but how about Stairwell Chili, Braes Hedgehog, Snake Pong, Beret Quiz and my favourite, Reservoir Near Goal.

Source: various

 
A SPELL ON YOU

On Walter, Chicago and Britney...

There are over 70 variants of the spelling of the surname of the Elizabethan adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh, including Rawleyghe, Raylygh, Rawley, Wrawly and so on. It seems to have been pronounced to rhyme with Dolly rather than Sally. Walter himself used Ralegh, which historians are latterly coming round to using. He also gave his name, indirectly, to the uncommon term 'switter-swatter' meaning hanky-panky. It is said that the knight was pleasuring a young lady against a tree when, in her rising passion, she began to repeat the words 'Sweet Sir Walter!' with increasing speed until they became 'switter-swatter, switter-swatter'.

When it comes to the spelling of the place name Chicago, there may be over a hundred early variants. Because the name was based on a hard-to-pronounce Algonquin Indian word meaning 'place of onions', there were many French and English attempts at phonetic spelling, leading to all those unusual variants...

...which is how it still is today with Miss Britney Spears. This list compiled by Google shows misspelled versions of the vedette's name over a period of just a few months. Of course, soon, we will all be spelling her name W-H-O-?, which will be easier.

Source: by RcL

 
FLOAT ON

When I mentioned a floater here recently, my friend Vera in Melbourne asked what it was. I meant the first in this list, but this is a versatile little word; here are 28 meanings it can have:

1 a delicacy from Adelaide - a meat pie and ketchup served in pea soup
2 a type of scented candle
3 a serve in volleyball
4 a person who is unsure who to vote for in an election
5 a general term for those who boat or canoe on rivers
6 a type of glider
7 a song by Bob Dylan (from Love and Theft)
8 a person who drifts between casual jobs
9 a person who does skilled temporary work, ie a locum
10 a type of golf ball
11 a complex component of a racing car
12 a blunder or cock-up
13 a member of The Floaters, famous for their big hit 'Float On'
14 something nasty which won't flush away
15 a flaw or speck in the eye
16 a slang term for a carcase at sea or on a river
17 a term in investment, erm, something to do with a short term rate
18 a person employed in espionage, but only on an occasional basis
19 a type of all-weather coat
20 a specific move in surfing
21 an aerator for keeping bait fish alive
22 an infuriating text frame which moves as you do on an internet page
23 a device used in stetching a canvas / picture framing
24 a buoyancy aid to help meditation or wading
25 a form of insurance policy for moveable property
26 a sort of large American mussel
27 a crumb in a bottled drink
28 a short, high golf shot

Source: various

 
SMELL OF THE PAST

In the 1982 Book of Lists cash-in Bigger Book of British Lists, the editors chose 'The football teams followed by 20 famous people'. The list (shorn of the teams) is more now interesting as a snapshot of those who were considered 'famous' in the late 70s/ early 80s Britain.

1 David Hamilton (homely DJ)
2 Pete Murray (homely DJ)
3 Hylda Baker (comic actress)*
4 Eric Morecambe (TV comedian)*
5 Bernie Winters (comedian / presenter)*
6 Peter Cook (comedian / writer)*
7 Ted Rogers (comic / game show host)*
8 Lance Percival (comic actor)
9 Eric Morley (Miss World organiser)*
10 Jimmy Hill (irritant / sports presenter)
11 Lorraine Chase (comic actress)
12 Jasper Carrott (comedian)
13 Elton John (pop duchess)
14 Brian Moore (sports commentator)*
15 Mike Yarwood (impressionist)
16 Ed Stewart (excitable DJ)
17 Tim Brooke-Taylor (comic actor)
18 Eddie Large (half of comic double act)**
19 Arthur Mullard (comic actor)*
20 Trevor Nunn (theatre director)

* means 'now deceased'
** Eddie, who lives near here, had a heart transplant this week

 
YOU THE READER part 87

An occasional trawl through odd search engine queries which have led to this site:

1 London slosh dance
2 horse enlarged herb balls
3 draw barymore
4 clishmaclaver lyrics
5 ballet term 'it gives me the willies'
6 Mrs Pilchard
7 daving*
8 pakee girls
9 religious sayings about the stars
10 poetaster cartons**
11 Guatemalan calico***
12 Denis Bowel + reggae****
13 Hank Marvin Perth shop address*****
14 Borange in Ireland******

* what foul vice is this? Sounds filthy
** presumably for shipping them to poetry prison?
*** great CD title for Enya, I reckon
**** think that might be Dennis Bovell
***** has Hank been reduced to running an opticians in the Fair City?
****** no, it's Blorenge in Wales! We've been through that whole 'what rhymes with orange?' business before here.

Source: the tracker

 
ON TOP

22 garnishes to add to soup:

1 pastina (tiny pasta shapes)
2 dumplings (eg herb, liver or semolina)
3 kneidlech (matzo balls)
4 croutons (fried bread squares)
5 crostini (similar to above)
6 chiffonades (ribbons of herbs and greens)
7 wasabi and daikon (Japanese vegetables)
8 haystacks (deep fried leek strips)
9 lockshen (vermicelli noodles)
10 sippets (large herb croutons)
11 egg balls (pieces of cooked yolk)
12 kreplach (filled doughballs)
13 rivels (small pieces of dough)
14 mandeln (similar to above)
15 cream swirls
16 custard cut-outs (baked custard shapes)
17 crisped bacon
18 garlic crisps (deep fried slices)
19 tofu pieces and spring onions
20 gnocchi (semolina dough balls)
21 printanier (snips of eg turnip and carrot)
22 smetana (high-fat sour cream)

This is a taster for a forthcoming VitQ soup special!

Source: various

 
SNEAK PREVIEW

No need to read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Exclusively, here at Vitamin Q, we offer a summary of the plot of the new jockbuster:

1 Harry becomes a quillionaire after discovering a secret recipé for chogglit biskicks.
2 Dumbledore gets stuck in a chimney. Harrumph!
3 Harry and chums triumph over the Skonks at the frooble tournament.
4 Draco appears on the TV show Big Wizard.
5 Voldemort is revealed as Harry's real father. Hankies out!
6 Hermione catches the mimbles after mainlining armadillo bile and balti jelly beans.
7 Harry orders phoenix (hence the title) and fries at KFC (Kentucky Fried Cryptids). It's finger-lickin' good, but doesn't it taste a bit like owl? Hmm.
8 Aunt Marge is eaten by dogs while visiting Sock Shop, Skegness branch.
9 The whole story is revealed to exist only in the mind of a bored hobby-boutique owning trophy wife in Bruntsfield.
10 Old Rowley the physick's wife buys Glamis Castle. And Upper Volta.

HARRY POTTER - THE WONDER YEARS

Those teenage Potter sagas, coming soon:

1 Harry Potter and the Onset of Puberty
2 Harry Potter and the Poster of Avril
3 Harry Potter and the Faceful of Pimples
4 Harry Potter and the Screech of Nu-metal
5 Harry Potter and the Slamming of Doors
6 Harry Potter and the Stash of Porn
7 Harry Potter and the Purchase of Contact Lenses
8 Harry Potter and the Sneer of Disdain
9 Harry Potter and the Litre of Cider
10 Harry Potter and the Diary of Angst

Source: by RcL

 
WORKING IN CORNERS

My 10 favourite female singer-songwriters (and some best songs):

1 Robin Holcomb (Like I Care, Electrical Storm, When I Stop Crying)
2 Kate Rusby (Sweet Bride, Who Will Sing Me Lullabies, A Rose in April)
3 Kate Bush (Night of the Swallow, This Woman's Work, Morning Fog)
4 Stina Nordenstam (Fireworks, Little Star, Another Story Girl)
5 Tori Amos (Horses, Bells for Her, Not the Red Baron)
6 Nanci Griffith (Late Night Grande Hotel, Workin' in Corners, Storms)
7 Virginia Astley (I'm Sorry, Darkness Has Reached Its End, My Smallest Friend)
8 Joni Mitchell (Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire, Come in From the Cold, A Case of You)
9 Kathryn Williams (Jasmine Hoop, 3am Phonecall, Mirrorball)
10 Mary Margaret O'Hara (Dear Darling, Help Me Lift You Up, Body's in Trouble)

 
HALCYON

The names of a few of my late teenage poems:

1 Carrick and Lalla in the Maze
2 Radio Reykjavik
3 Plummet Day, Berlin
4 Sky Blue Baby Boy Pink
5 On Skulking in the Sexual Undergrowth
6 The Gospel Appending to Mouse-Brightness
7 The Suddenness of Grocer's Clothing
8 In the Vacuumery
9 Address to the Infidel Lizard Hunters
10 A Harp in the Desert*

*My first 'good' poem. I know these sound far more interesting than what I do now, but you haven't read them. Believe me. I have just written a poem about a robot's funeral, though. Do I get let off?

 
IN STORE

Two rather different lists of recommended necessities for store cupboards:

stock cubes / instant coffee / real coffee / cooking oil / cornflour / curry powder / dried mixed herbs / flour / garlic powder / gravy granules / horseradish sauce / mustard / milk powder / orange or lemon squash / pasta / pepper / pickle / rice / salt / soya sauce / sugar / Tabasco / tea bags / tomato purée / tomato sauce / vinegar / Worcester sauce

...from 'How to Boil an Egg' by Jan Arkless (1986)

light olive oil / extra virgin olive oil / groundnut oil / walnut or hazelnut oil / sherry vinegar / cider vinegar / balsamic vinegar / tarragon mustard / grainy Dijon mustard / smooth yellow Dijon mustard / pappardelle / conchiglie / Maldon salt / black peppercorns / dried chillies / ground spices / harissa / dark and light soy / pesto / olive pastes / creamed artichoke / tinned chick peas, tomatoes and sardines / organic flour / caster sugar / cane sugar cubes

...from 'Real Fast Food' by Nigel Slater (1992)

Italics means I have them in my larder at the moment - erm, rather more from the schemie list than the bourgie one. Note to self: must try harder.

 
1970s FEVER

The best selling singles and albums in the UK in the 1970s:

1 Mull of Kintyre - Wings
2 Rivers of Babylon - Boney M
3 You're the One That I Want - Travolta / Newton John
4 Mary's Boy Child - Boney M
5 Summer Nights - Travolta / Newton John
6 Bright Eyes - Art Garfunkel
7 YMCA - Village People
8 Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
9 Heart of Glass - Blondie
10 I Love You Love Me Love - Gary Glitter

1 Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel
2 Greatest Hits - Abba
3 Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield
4 Greatest Hits - Simon and Garfunkel
5 Saturday Night Fever - soundtrack
6 The Singles - The Carpenters
7 Arrival - Abba
8 Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
9 Grease - soundtrack
10 40 Greatest Hits - Elvis Presley

 
THE DROWNERS

Some nasty water spirits from British folklore:

Rawhead or Bloody Bones - a boggart or water-goblin who lurks in water, waiting to pull in passing strangers.

Jenny Greenteeth - Northern English water-witch who can be detected by green scum or weed on the top of deep water. Those, particularly children, getting too close will be yanked in and held under until they drown.

Nelly Long-arms - similar to the above, but with the emphasis on long rubbery arms which will envelop any over-curious child or traveller.

Peg-a-lantern - a bog sprite who uses a light to waylay night travellers, who are entranced into following the light until swallowed by the swamp.

The Hedley Kow - a Northumbrian imp, one of whose many deviant pleasures was tricking the unwary into drowning. A favourite ploy was to shape-shift into the form of two comely young women who would lure men to a wet, weedy grave.

The Water Cow - a Scottish water spirit which lowed like a cow and could change shape in order to lure the doomed into lochs.

Peg Powler - a nixie, or bad water nymph who delighted in snatching and drowning anyone who got too close to deep water or fast rivers, especially children of course.

The Doolie - this Scottish spirit, perhaps a relative of the kelpie, or ghostly water-horse, tended to wait by fords, trying to entice those crossing to take the most treacherous path across the river.

fuath - a sort of Northern Scottish equivalent of Greenteeth, with green clothes, webbed feet and bright yellow hair. But the intention was the same. Drown and drown and drown.

Source: various

 
SET OUT YOUR STALL

Some fruit and veg related sayings:

1 cool as a cucumber
2 to not have a bean
3 couch potato (also now 'mouse potato')
4 to dangle a carrot
5 like peas in a pod
6 cauliflower ear (a sports injury)
7 to know your onions
8 face as red as a beetroot
9 knitting lentils (also 'knitting yoghurt', living an 'alternative' lifestyle)
10 mushroom cloud
11 to be a total cabbage (to do nothing, aka 'to veg out')
12 pea-souper (a thick fog, nothing to do with Aussie foodstuff the 'floater')

1 to not give a fig
2 go nuts
3 play gooseberry (to be an unwelcome third party)
4 to cherry pick (to select the best bits)
5 to (talk) rhubarb (to pretend to talk in the background of a film / play)
6 plum position
7 to blow a raspberry (aka Bronx cheer)
8 sour grapes
9 to play second banana (to be a sidekick or deputy)
10 the apple of one's eye
11 to be a lemon (a disappointment or sham)
12 peaches and cream (a certain complexion)

 
DOWN FESTIVE ROAD

The 15 costumes selected by the magic shopkeeper for Mr Benn:

1 knight
2 clown
3 caveman
4 big-game hunter
5 wizard
6 cowboy
7 astronaut
8 diver
9 chef
10 zookeeper
11 pirate
12 balloonist
13 magic carpet rider
14 convict*
15 gladiator**

*this original book plot was thought unfit for kids' TV
**this in a recent book only adventure

Source: thanks to Lucy A for the idea.

 
LOAD OF BLEEMING MINCE

A list of minced oaths:

With most of these, it's clear what word is being minced (God, blood etc):

1 jings
2 crivvens (these first two very Scottish)
3 gorblimey (God blind me)
4 gosh
5 criminy
6 holy cow (etc)
7 zoonds (God's wounds)
8 cor
9 gadzooks (God's hooks, ie Christ's nails; also gadso, odso)
10 gee whizz
11 oddsbodkins (God's body)
12 crikey
13 golly
14 darn
15 heck
16 sugar
17 flip
18 jeepers creepers
19 shoot
20 lordy
21 drat
22 goodness
23 strewth (God's truth)
24 frisk
25 good grief
26 blinking
27 shucks
28 blinding
29 egad
30 jiminy (Jesu domine)
31 losh
32 bollards
33 dang
34 blooming (itself, along with others, probably a mincing of a minced oath - bloody for 'by our lady')
35 damnabbit

Source: various blinking places

 
WHEN IN ROME

Some Latin phrases and what they mean:

ad literam - to throw rubbish in a park
animo non astutia - lively, but a moron
anno domini - government by Anns (eg Widdecombe or Robinson)
bona fide - good dog!
corpus delicti - roadkill transformed into a tasty meal
de facto - factory made
deo gratias - free anti-perspirant
deus ex machina - in the days before technology
ex cathedra - (hanging out) outside church
ex post facto - an excuse involving the words 'lost in the post'
festina lente - a party held on Shrove Tuseday
fiat lux - a free-to-enter car competition
gloria patri - a father who has had a sex change
inter alia - a fight between Muhammed Ali and Monica Ali
loco citato - the area of any city where the jakies live
locus standi - to freeze and blend in as an insect does on a leaf
modus operandi - a fashion-conscious surgeon
non compos mentis - a mistake made by a conductor
non sequitur - any useless garden tool
prima facie - a cute face, probably with snub nose and freckles
pro bono publico - willing to admit to owning U2 CDs
servabo fidem - to feed the dog
sub rosa - the cook on a U boat
tempus fugit - heat rash
terra firma - the rule by fear of the Mafia
veni, vidi, vici - the Matriani triplets of Belmont, W Virginia
vice versa - obscene poetry
vox populi - any televised singing contest

Source: by RcL

 
DAVING THE LILY

Personal names which have a different meaning in old Scots dictionaries:

Ann - an extra salary payment made to a minister's widow
Barry - to thresh corn
Bella - a bonfire
Ben - a pile of empty coal containers
Bess - to sew together loosely
Bill - a bull
Billy - the golden warbler
Blair - to bleat like a sheep
Bob - a nosegay
Bobby - a grandfather
Bonnie - of a wound, healing
Boyd - a blackberry
Brad - a derogatory word used for an old man
Buck - the sound made by something dropped into water
Carl - a clown or boor
Carly - a precocious boy
Carrie - a type of wheelbarrow
Cath - to bat a ball along
Chuck - a girls' pebble game
Clair - to rake through a pile
Dale - a board for measuring a corpse
Dave - of pain, to lessen
Dee - a dairymaid
Dilly - a sandcastle
Dirk - to grope in the dark
Dolly - getting worse at poetry due to ageing
Don - an intimate acquaintance
Eve - a conger eel
Fay - near to death
Fern - gut used as violin strings
Frank - a heron
Gail - to be split by frost
Glen - a daffodil
Grant - to moan
Harry - to steal bird's eggs
Hope - a small bay
Jack - a leather drinking-cup
Jake - to waste time
Jamie - a yokel
Jessie - a wig
Jenny - a centipede
Jilly - a pubescent girl
Jimmy - an oatmeal pudding
Jo(e) - a sweetheart
Johnny - a half-glass of whisky
Jordan - a urinal or cesspool
Kate - of a cat, to be on heat
Kay - a jackdaw
Keith - a bar across a river to stop salmon
Ken - a whole season's worth of cheese
Kent - a pole used by shepherds to jump ditches
Kevin - a piece of refuse left after separating grain
Kim - a tub or ladle
Kyle - a bowling pin
Kylie - a breed of small Highland cattle; a little stick; a small haystack
Lawrie - a fox
Lee - the ashes of green weeds
Lily - thrush suffered in childhood
Luther - a heavy blow
Maggie - the guillemot
Mark - darkness
Mattie - a young or fat herring
Maud - a shepherd's plaid
Meg - a sulky, short-tempered girl
Michael - a term applied to a girl
Miles - wild spinach
Neil - the devil
Nell - to talk loudly or fluently
Nick - to drink heartily
Pam - a jack in cards, especially jack of clubs
Pan - to tie a kettle to a dog's tail
Paul - a puzzle
Penny - fancy food
Peter - to snub or irritate
Polly - a turkey
Ray - a song or poem
Rick - smoke
Rob - blackcurrant jam
Rodger - a big ugly animal
Rory - drunk and loud
Rosie - red clay marble
Shane - to break a witch's spell
Sharon - cow's dung
Sol - a window-sill
Steve - uptight, stubborn
Tim - to empty out
Tom - a horsehair fishing line
Tommy - a loaf of bread
Tyler - a masonic lodge door-keeper
Walt - a crust of cheese
Walter - confusion or an upset

Source: mainly Warrack (1911); compiled by Roddy (a track or pathway)

 
YOUR TIME IS NOW

12 variations on carpe diem:

1 grasp the nettle
2 seize the day
3 bite the bullet
4 swallow a stone*
5 strike while the iron's hot
6 go for it
7 eat the peach**
8 make hay
9 take the bull by the horns
10 go for goal
11 take the plunge
12 make your move

*Ndebele version
**popularised by TS Eliot in 'Prufrock'