There's a really good book called the Meaning of Liff, by Douglas Adams. In Liff there are many hundreds of common experiences, feelings, situations and even objects which we all know and recognize, but for which no words exist.
On the other hand, the world is littered with thousands of spare words which spend their time doing nothing but loafing about on signposts pointing at places.
Liff is a dictionary which manages to get these words down off the signposts and into our vocabulary, where as Douglas Adams puts it "they can start earning their keep in everyday conversations and make a more positive contribution to society". In other words Liff is a "dictionary of things that there aren't any words for yet"; all the words listed are places, and describe common feelings and objects for which there is no current word.
My favourite examples are Motuspur which is the fourth wheel of a supermarket trolley which looks identical to the other three but renders the trolley completely uncontrollable.
and Melton Constable (n) A patent anti-wrinkle cream which policemen wear to keep themselves looking young.
So why am I telling you all this? I've taken to describing our activity at our new house in Brinsley as "Brinsleying" Brinsley (v) therefore is the act of hard physical labour while seemingly achieving nothing at all.
Jackie
I'll explain more Brinsleyisms as they happen
On the other hand, the world is littered with thousands of spare words which spend their time doing nothing but loafing about on signposts pointing at places.
Liff is a dictionary which manages to get these words down off the signposts and into our vocabulary, where as Douglas Adams puts it "they can start earning their keep in everyday conversations and make a more positive contribution to society". In other words Liff is a "dictionary of things that there aren't any words for yet"; all the words listed are places, and describe common feelings and objects for which there is no current word.
My favourite examples are Motuspur which is the fourth wheel of a supermarket trolley which looks identical to the other three but renders the trolley completely uncontrollable.
and Melton Constable (n) A patent anti-wrinkle cream which policemen wear to keep themselves looking young.
So why am I telling you all this? I've taken to describing our activity at our new house in Brinsley as "Brinsleying" Brinsley (v) therefore is the act of hard physical labour while seemingly achieving nothing at all.
Jackie
I'll explain more Brinsleyisms as they happen
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