[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: British vs. US spelling/phrases (SPOILER)
Shaun Hately
drednort at alphalink.com.au
Tue Jul 1 00:31:44 UTC 2003
On 1 Jul 2003 at 10:21, Shaun Hately wrote:
> >From there the word moved into common language.
>
> I'm unclear as to whether the word was made up as a generic insult, or simply gained
> prominence in this way.
Addendum - doing some checking.
Toerag appears to have been a word in common use meaning 'beggar' around 1900. It
referred to the practice among the poor of wrapping their feet in rags because they
couldn't afford stockings. Over time it evolved into basically a generic way of insulting a
person. There's a similar insult - toeragger - from about the same period, which was
used by Pacific region sailors and appears to have been derived from the Maori (New
Zealand indigenous people) term tua-rika-rika which is apparently one of the worst
insults available in the Maori tongue - means slave literally.
But it grew into prominence as a result of the BBC word list (-8.
Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately |webpage: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ) |email: drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They
don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit
the views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the
facts that need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia
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