HAPPY HOGMANAY ALL!

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Dr. Goodword
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HAPPY HOGMANAY ALL!

Postby Dr. Goodword » Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:23 am

• Hogmanay •

Pronunciation: hahg-mê-nayHear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, proper

Meaning: Hogmanay is not a pig resort but a Scottish festivity celebrated on the last day of the year. Children traditionally stroll about the neighborhood on this day asking for presents. Today's Good Word also refers to the gifts given or received on Hogmanay. More recently it has become a raucous New Year's Eve party in many Scottish cities at which revelers sometimes do behave a bit swinishly.

Notes: The traditional Hogmanay includes "first footing," the welcoming of a tall, dark stranger at the stroke of midnight. First-footers bring good luck but should also bring a gift such as uisge beatha "water of life" (where Gaelic uisge is the source of English whiskey). If the uisge is all sold out, a lump of coal or an oat cake called a 'bannock' will suffice. This tradition reaches back to the Viking era, when the blond, blue-eyed Vikings brought only bad luck to whomever they visited. Whichever party you join this year, look out for the accent on the final syllable of today's Good Word.

In Play: If you would like to add a bit of innovation to your end-of-the-year greetings, try "Merry Christmas and a Happy Hogmanay!" for a change. If you go to the Hogmanay street party in Edinburgh or Glasgow, though, it is unlikely that anyone will be able to hear you.

Word History: The sense of Hogmanay corresponds to that of Old French aguillanneuf, from the phrase au gui l'an neuf! "under the New Year's mistletoe", which refers to the last day of the year or the gift given at that time. In modern French dialects it survives as aiguilan, guilané, and guilanneau, but in Normandy it is hoguinané, the most probable source of the Scottish English term. Others have speculated that hogmanay itself comes either from the Anglo-Saxon haleg monath "holy month" or Gaelic oge maidne "new morning". These sources seem highly unlikely, however.
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sluggo
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Postby sluggo » Tue Feb 02, 2010 8:20 pm

Surfing on the holiday theme--

Back to Slava's (I think) point about recycling previously posted words, another drawback is they don't carry over the various commentary from previous incarnations and in effect start all over again. This also deprives those seeing it for the first time.

Hogmanay, for instance, had threads hereand here. Would that there be some way to corral them under one roof, to mix a meta4.
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Slava
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Postby Slava » Tue Feb 02, 2010 9:08 pm

Would that there be some way to corral them under one roof, to mix a meta4.
A pox upon ye! TXT language? I cry foul!
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saparris
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Postby saparris » Wed Feb 03, 2010 6:24 pm

I'm sure you've discussed texting before, since the practice seems to be a contentious topic for most word lovers. It is for me as well.

But I would give Sluggo a break. He could have been typing with the thumbs--which sends inexplicable signals through the brain's synapses and results in involuntary texting.

He likely had his fingers in a salad.
Ars longa, vita brevis

LukeJavan8
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Postby LukeJavan8 » Wed Feb 03, 2010 7:01 pm

Saparris: you just cannot let it go, poor you.

Texting drives me crazy, especially the "lol" for which
I once compiled at least 18 different meanings, my
favorite being "loser on the loose".
-----please, draw me a sheep-----


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