6/5/2023 0 Comments Jibber jabber obama![]() ![]() Knickers in a twist is indeed a Britishism, derived from the British sense of knickers as (in the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition) “A short-legged (orig. My answer … wait for it … an Americanism! Hal asks: “A Britishism (or an Americanism)?” But is the new plan really as bad as some people fear it is for consumers?” Posted on JJby Ben Yagoda Posted in Uncategorized 29 Comments “Knickers in a twist (or knot)”įaithful reader Hall Hall sends a link to a article that begins “Verizon Wireless’s new family share plan has gotten lots of knickers in knots. A couple of years ago, Alex Beam wrote in a New York Times op-ed about conflicts in the Episcopal church, “The schismatics invoke endless biblical argle-bargle to defend their un-Christian bigotry.” And just last week, a commenter on the Portland (Oregon) Mercury website humorously responded to a silly season article about how breakfast is overrated: “Shame on you and all those who truck with such joy-murdering argle-bargle.”īottom line, there is life in argle-bargle (I like that version better), so I say have some fun with it. One time he criticized Attorney General Eric Holder because “he thinks this isn’t nearly enough racial argy-bargy” another, he ripped an Obama energy ad for “endless stream of intellectual jibber-jabber and nonsensical argy-bargy.”Įlsewhere, the terms appear only intermittently. One veritable fount of spottings is the right-wing National Review, especially its writer Jonah Goldberg, who prefers the argy-bargy form and uses it incessantly. Naturally, this led me to look into the investigate the popularity of argle-bargle and argy-bargy in these parts. Originally meaning a squabble, argument, or bandying of words–it rises from a Scottish variant of argue–its meaning has broadened to include meaningless talk or writing, nonsense. Today, he presents a British phrase, argle-bargle, and notes: ![]() In his always illuminating Baltimore Sun blog, “You don’t Say,” John McIntyre offers a word of the week. “Cutting-edge performance artists staged happenings and smart collectors trolled to find future art stars at jumble sale prices.” Posted on Jby Ben Yagoda Posted in Uncategorized 4 Comments The Perils of Britishisms print sources, as in this quote from an April 15, 2011, New York Times article about Los Angeles’s Chinatown: The phrase shows up here and there in U.S. Steven was also right about the Brooklyn Bike Jumble, in which used bikes and accessories are on offer, the latest edition of which is to be held September 8: But it turns out that it is indeed a Britishism, first spotted by the OED in 1898 and still in heavy rotation in the U.K., according to Google News. I confess I thought that the Friends had made the term up. I confess that the only time I had ever come across the expression was in the town I live in, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, in which the local Friends Meeting holds an annual jumble sale–that is, rummage or tag sale. (Check it out–very cool.) Naturally, the subject of not one-off Britishisms came up, and he mentioned that the Brooklyn Bike Jumble, which, he said, invoked the Britishism “jumble sale.” I was talking last night to Steven Rea, film critic of the Philadelphia Inquirer and proprietor of Rides a Bike, a Tumbler page devoted to vintage photographs of Hollywood personages riding bicycles. ![]()
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