10 ipper words

1. Dipper as in on the Big Dipper
2. Whipper as in whipper snapper
3. Ripper as in Jack the Ripper
4. Nipper as in our nipper likes to tease
5. Flipper as in Flipper the dolphin
6. Tipper as in she's a good tipper or that tipper truck is full
7. Kipper as in that kipper taste nice at breakfast and all too day
8. Quipper as in he's a fast and funny quipper
9. Slipper as in he hit me with his slipper
10. Zipper as in zip that zipper up

10 Moon words

1. Moonshine - originally a slang term for high-proof distilled spirits usually produced illicitly, without government authorisation.

2. Moonstruck - unable to think or act normally, especially as a result of being in love.

3. Mooncalf - a foolish person

4. Moonbeam - a ray of moonlight

5. Moon blindness - a recurrent inflammation of the eye of the horse, also called periodic ophthalmia
6. Moonmilk - a white, creamy substance found inside limestone caves. It is a precipitate from limestone comprising aggregates of fine crystals of varying composition usually made of carbonates such as calcite, aragonite, hydromagnesite and/or monohydrocalcite.

7. Moon knife - a crescent-shaped knife with a handle across the center used in leather finishing

8. Moon letter - an Arabic consonant to which the l of a preceding definite article al is not assimilated in pronunciation

9. Moon buggy - Lunar roving behicle as used in the Apollo mission

10. Mooncake - A rich thick filling usually made from red bean or lotus seed paste surrounded by a thin, (2 or 3 mm) crust. It can contain yolks from salted duck eggs. They are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by tea.

Having a reputation for being a Christian does not prove regeneration

"You may have a conscience that agrees that you are a Christian. You may have a tender heart, a hatred of sin and a love for God’s Word. These are excellent things but again they cannot prove regeneration. Having a reputation for being a Christian is not the same as being born again. No amount of zeal, persecution or patience under trial can prove anything. Even strong hopes of heaven and willingness to die for Christ are inconclusive. In Matthew 7:22, 23 Jesus speaks these sobering words
Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!
There is such a thing as a mere form of godliness (2 Tim 3:5)."

From my book What the Bible teaches about being born again, p 120

We must know if we are regenerate

"We are going to be judged one day and as everything hangs on the hinge of new birth we must be absolutely clear about whether we have been born again or not."

From my book What the Bible teaches about being born again, p 117

Regeneration - the knowledge factor

"This fact must not be abused, but out of ignorance a person may live contrary to certain Christian teachings and practices and may appear not to be born again when in fact he is. Of course, if he is genuinely reborn that will show itself when his errors are pointed out.
Far from arguing against religious instruction and faithful teaching prior to conversion, this observation argues rather in its favour. The better instructed people are, the better they will be able to discern their standing before God and benefit from being reborn."

From my book What the Bible teaches about being born again, p 110, 111

Born again - date unknown

"On occasions, I have met people who cannot tell you accurately when they were born. I remember a Vietnamese fellow who was picked up on the streets of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) as an orphaned toddler, and was eventually brought up in the UK. He only knew more or less how old he was. Many abandoned children share the same sort of ignorance. In certain parts of rural Nigeria, it is common not to know the exact day you were born as records are not kept too strictly. In a similar way, many Christians do not know exactly when they were born again. As Archibald Alexander points out, even those who claim that they do know may well be wrong. ... 
A characteristic of regeneration is that it is mysterious and secret so we should not be surprised that it can be difficult to know exactly when it has occurred."

From my book What the Bible teaches about being born again, p 103, 104

NB  There are apparently some 51 million people  wordwide with no birth certificate [63% of them in SubSaharan Africa].

Vɑːz, veɪz or vɔːz

My grandfather would never simply say vase. He was aware of the different pronunciations and so always said vɑːz, veɪz or vɔːz (ie vaas, vaze or vause). My dad would often do it too.

The Century dictionary says

According to the French pron. (väz), and to the time when the word vase appears to have been taken into English (between 1660 and 1700), the reg. E. pron. would be vāz, with a tendency to make it conform to the apparent analogy of base, case, etc. - that is, to pronounce it vās. At the same time, the recency of the word, and its association with art, have tended to encourage the attempts to pronounce it as F., namely väz, in the 18th century absurdly rendered also as vâs, the word being found accordingly in the spelling vause.
If you check this clip on Youtube you will hear Tom Hanks make a referneece tO this about a minute and a half in - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmNmFpJM3qQ

See'd 'em

My grandfather was boorn in Bilston and spent most of his adult life after the Great War working in Lysaght's Steelworks in Newport, South Wales. A tall man with bright blue eyes he was not good at withstanding the heat but thankfully as a checker he was not too near the furnace. My father told me that after he had checked sheets of steal he would mark the top one with chalk - See'd 'em (not quite sure on the spelling, the point is that he had seen them).

George Carlin- "Everyday Expressions"

George Carlin - Euphemisms

Square round

As I was growing up my mother would use a weird phrase to encourage us to tidy the house up. She would say (quite oblivious to the phrase's oxymoronic nature) to square round.

(I did blog this before back in 2011 so I've deleted it)

The original post said

Square Round 1

My mother would often ask us to "square round" in the living room.

This involved "plumping up the cushions" among other things.

Always struck me as a rather oxymornonic phrase.

10 Unk words

1. Bunk - narrow bed, rubbish, play truant
2. Chunk - thick, solid piece
3. Clunk - dull sound
4. Dunk - dip into a drink
5. Funk - fear, avoid, coward
6. Flunk - fall below standard
7. Gunk - unplradant sticky, messy stuff
8. Hunk - large piece of something, handsome dude
9. Junk - old or discarded material
10. Punk - aggressive form of rock
(Prompted by nothing at all really)

Fat bread

At home we always had a fry up or mixed grill on Saturdays. Our version included egg, beans, bacon, sausage, black pudding and  - wait for it - what my mother called fried bread and what my father called fat bread. In my head fried bread is the hard version also known as fried toast and fat bread is the soft version, dipped in the bacon fat only for a few moments. That distinction did not really exist in my parents minds it was just that dad used this phrase that I have not been able to locate anywhere on the Internet in this connection.

Doughboys

My wife made some dumplings for a casserole the other day not a regular treat. My dad often made the dumplings for stew at home. He always called them doughboys.

Doughboys are boiled or possibly steamed or deep-fried dumplings.

The word can be used as a nickname for soldiers or other things.

Sheath or sheaf

I am really enjoying Bart van Es's prize winning book The cut out girl and have almost finished it. I was surprised, however, to find on page 209 what appears to be a mistake.
Half way down the page he begins anew paragraph

On the desk in my hotel room lies a second sheath of papers.

Surely that should be

On the desk in my hotel room lies a second sheaf of papers.

Professor Paul Brians of Washington State is with me on this. (If you take your knife out of its sheath (case) you can use it to cut a sheaf (bundle) of wheat to serve as a centerpiece.) It is apparently a common error and yet this is written by a Professor of English Literature at Oxford University and appears in a Penguin paperback.

Perhaps it is simply that the papers were in a sheath.

10 more Portmanteau words

1. Internet (international/network)
2. Malware (malicious/software): Computer programs that are designed to damage or disable computer systems
3. Meld (melt/weld): Blend/combine
4. Modem (modulation/demodulation): An electronic device that makes possible the transmission of data to or from a computer via telephone or other communication lines
5. Motel (motor/hotel): Overnight accommodation designed for motorists
6. Motorcade (motor/cavalcade): A procession of motor vehicles
7. Oxbridge (Oxford/Cambridge): An inclusive term that is used to describe both Oxford and Cambridge universities
8. Smog (smoke + fog): A form of air pollution that has the qualities of both smoke and fog
9. Spork (spoon/fork): A hybrid form of cutlery
10. Workaholic (work/alcoholic): An individual who works excessive hours. Cf chocoholic (chocolate + alcoholic): Someone who eats excessive amounts of chocolate

10 Portmanteau words

A portmanteau is literally a bag for carrying (porter) a coat (manteau). The term was first used by Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass:

“Well, ‘slithy’ means “lithe and slimy” and ‘mimsy’ is “flimsy and miserable”. You see it’s like a portmanteau - there are two meanings packed up into one word.” Sometimes we get so used to these words we no longer see them as blends (eg breathalyser - breath and analyser)

1. Bionic (biology/electronic): Artificial body parts that have been enhanced by technology
2. Bodacious (bold/audacious): Insolent or unrestrained, extraordinary or impressively large
3. Chortle (chuckle/snort): Laugh in a breathy, gleeful way.
4. Cyborg (cybernetic/organism): A human or fictional entity whose physiological functioning is enhanced by mechanical elements.
5. Dumbfound (dumb/confound): Greatly astonish or amaze.
6. Edutainment (education/entertainment): Games or other forms of entertainment that have an educational aspect
7. Electrocution (electricity/execution): Death by electricity
8. Flare (flame/glare): A sudden brief burst of bright flame or light
9. Ginormous (giant/enormous): Large, huge. glamping (glamour/camping): Luxury camping
10. Glitz (glamour/Ritz): Extravagant yet superficial

10 Legal doublets

Many standardised phrases are used in English legalise. They consist of two (sometimes more) words that are near synonyms. The origin of the doubling - and sometimes even tripling - often lies in the transition from use of one language for legal purposes to use of another for the same purposes, (eg Germanic([Anglo-]Saxon or Old English) to Romance Latin or Law French or, within the Romance subfamily, from Latin to French). To ensure understanding, words of Germanic origin were often paired with words having equivalent or near-equivalent meanings in Latin (reflecting the interactions between Germanic and Roman law following the decline of the Roman Empire or later, Law French (reflecting the influence of the Norman Conquest), and words of Latin origin were often paired with their Law French cognates or outright descendants.

1. Aid and abet
2. All and sundry

3. Care and attention

4. Cease and desist

5. Fit and proper

6. Goods and chattels

7. Have and hold

8. Let or hindrance

9. Null and void

10. Will and testament