[HPforGrownups] Re:Little Whinging & the Knobbly Stick

[GulPlum]

No: HPFGUIDX 53738

Steve replied to my previous musings with:

>Out of curiousity, is "whinge" a contemporary word? Would I find it in
>the Oxford Dictionary? Doesn't matter; just curious.

Yes, and yes. Very much so. It cropped up several times in a group email 
correspondence I've been having with two of my sisters today (regarding 
buying a present for a third). :-)

It's also in the American Heritage Dictionary (listed as "chiefly 
British"). See this entry from the US-based dictionary.com: 
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=whinge

Something which came back to me when replying to an private email on this 
subject a moment ago is that we Brits are (apparently) referred to by 
Australians as "Whinging Poms". :-) (at least that's what Brits say Aussies 
call us, IYSWIM)

<big snip>

>Can't remember what the movie stick looked like, but if it was
>actually a stick with a knob, it would be called a knobbed stick, not
>a knobbly stick which implies many knobs.

Not *necessarily*, but I take your point.

<snip>

>The main knob or handle would be the point where the branch attached
>to the main tree trunk, which would then be rough rounded and
>polished. The 'knobblies' would be where the minor branches attached
>to the main branch (walking stick). The 'branch' canes or walking
>sticks are usually a little crooked since your are stuck with the
>natural shape of the tree branch.

On reflection, that sounds like a pretty fair description, although I still 
maintain that the stick has a metal knob on one end. :-)

Quite (if not *extremely*) probably, my own imagination was coloured by the 
movie "If...." which has been my personal bible of what life must be like 
in British Public schools (not having attended one myself...), which 
featured a stick with a knob. :-)

--
GulPlum AKA Richard, who finds it strange that If....'s impact on his 
imagining of the canon Smeltings Stick is stronger than TMTSNBN's.