A recent
temporary teacher (or
don) at
Winchester College has commented on the similarity of the construction of
Wykehamists'
slang phrases to that of
Yiddish - with reference to
double negatives, the use of several simpler words instead of one complex one, and the way it sounds so
weird (to him).
<\br>As has been said above, the common slang language is constantly evolving. Some recent gems include:
- turst, burst ----- cigarette (eg. Anyone for a turst?)
- fish ----- stuff (eg. What about all that Second World War fish that we have to write for toyetime?)
- ooth ----- a corruption of 'yes' (from yeth) i.e. meaning 'no'.
- Feesh, Neesh, Guiche----- all variations on 'no' from varying pronunciation of 'ooth'.
- meats, pats, TFC (Thanks For Coming), thunkth, chunkth ----- all equivalent ejaculations said by those who have heard a particularly pointless, convoluted or just generally stupid comment, and usually directed at the speaker of said comment. Also said when somebody embarasses themselves (eg. by tripping over, dropping a plate of food, etc.). Meats is from 'mates', so I'm told, and thunkth and chunkth come from 'thanks'. 'Neesh' etc. come from slurred pronunciation of 'nat', a corruption of 'not' used to illustrate a positive (eg. that Swithunite is nat fit = she is attractive).
Thankfully I have now left the aforementioned college and can no longer comment on its continually-evolving auxiliary language.