Weird Words: Knucker /'nVk@(r)/
A water demon.
The most famous knucker was said to live in a pool at Lyminster,
near Arundel in Sussex. This was one of many knucker holes in the
flat areas between the South Downs and the sea, which were held in
local folklore to be bottomless. Not the least of the odd things
about them was that they were reputed never to freeze in winter nor
to dry up in summer.
Though the Lyminster knucker lived in water, it could also fly, and
so is often classed with other British dragon legends. It's said to
have rampaged through the area, killing livestock and local people
(in the manner of such beasts in such stories, mainly maidens). One
story says it was disposed of by a wandering knight to gain the
hand of the local king's daughter (so essentially the legend of St
George and the Dragon); another that a local man, Jim Pulk, baked a
large pie laced with poison and left it on a cart by the pool.
After the knucker had eaten the pie, plus the cart and the horses,
it swiftly expired and Pulk cut its head off. Unfortunately, he
then carelessly imbibed some of the poison himself and died along
with the beast.
"Knucker" is a modern spelling of the Old English "nicor" or
"nicker" for an imaginary being that lived in water. "Nickera"
appears in the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf to refer to a lake monster.
The word is linked to similar monsters in several Scandinavian
languages and to "Nixie", a German term for a female water-elf or
water-nymph. It might also be a source for "Old Nick", one of many
names for the Devil, and for the German "Nickel" for a sort of
goblin that lived in mines and from which we get the name for the
metal. (However, "nick" in the sense of making a mark, of stealing,
being arrested, and other senses, probably comes from a different
root, but as we don't know which one, can't say for sure.)
World Wide Words is copyright (c) Michael Quinion 2003. All rights
reserved. The Words Web site is at <http://www.worldwidewords.org>.
Knever knew about knuckers. Thanks, Andy. Knessie the knucker. I guess Champ is one too.
Ever hear of tommyknockers, Roberta? Stephen King even wrote a novel with that title. I'll bet it's either a derivative of knucker or, at least, cognate in some way.
Andy, Sure I've heard of tommyknockers. And just plain knockers. Also nachas. Another questionable transliteration.
I've not heard of nachas. Roberta. Nachos only.. are they the same as titties, boobs, bristols ?
Wow, it's been a while since I've been here. My word of the day is:
Humuhumunukunukuapuaa: a small Hawaiian fish
Clary, Naches is a Yiddish expression that means joy or happiness. It's often used when parents are talking about their children. "I get such naches from that boy."
It has nothing to do with boobs. Bristols??
Cav, a small fish? Do you know what the name means, if anything?
Thanks, Roberta, my Yiddish is poor... Bristols are from the Cockney rhyming slang - Bristol Cities for titties. A bit outdated like most rhyming slang, but fun nonetheless.
I get such naches from my 3 boys - yes, I like it!
Turns of Phrase: Phishing
"Phishers" lure unsuspecting visitors to fake Web sites that look
like those of legitimate organisations. The aim is to persuade
people to give their passwords and credit-card information, which
the thief can then exploit. Among the firms to be targeted in this
year's wave of attacks was PayPal; authentic-looking e-mails were
sent out asking people to update their details at a Web site that
seemed convincing. More recently other financial institutions have
been hit. As people are getting wise to the Web-site scam, phishing
expeditions are now being conducted by virus attacks, in which
message boxes pop up asking people for private information, which
is then sent by e-mail to the attacker; often the virus also grabs
the contents of the person's address book as a source for further
attacks. The term has been known in the hacker culture since about
1996, as an obvious respelling of "fishing", but it has only hit
the headlines in the mainstream press since about July this year.
>>> From Newsday, 18 Nov. 2003: An eBay spokeswoman said the
company is focusing on its ongoing effort to educate customers to
be suspicious of any e-mail messages that ask for personal
information. The company posted warnings yesterday on its community
message boards, security center and help area about phishing scams.
>>> From The Toronto Star, 15 Nov. 2003: Most phishing scams have
been delivered by massive spam blasts, but viruses have become the
latest mechanisms because of their ability to spread far and wide.
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World Wide Words is copyright (c) Michael Quinion 2003. All rights
reserved. The Words Web site is at <http://www.worldwidewords.org>.
Thanks, Andy. This is a good word to know and know about.
I'm a day early as this word refers to a practice of Dec. 21, the Feast Day of St. Thomas. But better early than late, say I.
Weird Words: Gooding
Soliciting alms.
On the morning of the feast of St Thomas the Apostle, 21 December,
it was once the custom in parts of England for women to go from
house to house to ask for money to cheer their Christmas. This was
called "going gooding" or "goin' a-gooding", because it was the
custom for grateful recipients to wish all that is good to their
benefactors for the festive season. As a result the day was in some
places called "Gooding Day". The practice was also known as "going
a-Thomasing" or "going a-corning".
This last phrase came from another tradition of the day, that the
women would carry two-handled vessels called "gossiping pots" or
"pads" in which to get donations of wheat (which is what "corn"
often means in England, it being the usual term for the principal
cereal crop of the area). From this they would make furmenty or
frumenty (a drink of hulled wheat boiled in milk and seasoned with
cinnamon and sugar; its name comes from "frumentum", the Latin for
corn). In 1854 Anne Elizabeth Baker remarked in her Glossary of
Northamptonshire Words and Phrases that "My good old grandfather
always, on this day, gave a bowl of wheat to any of the poor in the
village who chose to come for it." She said sadly that the custom
was "going fast into disuetude".
In 1847, the Hampshire writer Charlotte M Yonge wrote in Scenes and
Characters that "St. Thomas's day was marked by the custom, called
at Beechcroft 'gooding.' Each mother of a family came to all the
principal houses in the parish to receive sixpence, towards
providing a Christmas dinner, and it was Lily's business to
dispense this dole at the New Court."
World Wide Words is copyright (c) Michael Quinion 2003. All rights
reserved. The Words Web site is at <http://www.worldwidewords.org>.
I like gooding. Gladly give a sixpence for the poor to have a dinner, especially if it replaces the £2000 a year council tax.
A propos of the solstice, the dead time of year...
PSYCHOPOMP
a guide or conductor of spirits or souls to the other world 1889
Ooooh. Psychopomp. I like that.
Nice one for today coined by Sydney Smith in 1837, sounding more modern than one would suppose:
foolometer, a standard for measuring folly, accent on the OM. Designed to be used as a test of public opinion.
Word: hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian
Definition: pertaing to extremely long words
Opinion: you don't say...
I like that one..
did you know that bankrupture is another word for bankruptcy?
Hi Sarius and welcome. Great word. I can't wait to use it in a sentence.
Clary, Nope. Never heard of bankrupture, but it makes sense.
