Georgette Heyer Fans discussion

Post here when you come across a word that makes you smile or brings history to life.

I've always kind of liked the epithet gape seed

The term Macaroni always makes me smile :)

Damerel's other aunt was a "squeeze-crab". I think I know her...

Great thread. I can't think of any off-hand but I'm enjoying the ones mentioned so far

Love "idiotish."
Kay

These are all fabulous! I have a perfect picture in my mind of a squeeze-crab aunt. I will have to look for a photo to match and post it here. Or snaps of Macaroni :)

I always like "bang up to the mark" and "draw someone's cork." :)

Ooh I come across them all the time reading her work but of course now can't think of them! I'll be on the lookout now. ;)

I'm having similar amnesia at the moment. These are such fun!

How about "make a cake of oneself"?

You can't miss with a hen-witted woman who makes a cake of herself!

I like "Dang me if I ever met such a cursed rum touch!" (The Corinthian).

Oh, Hj, I'm going to use that one today!

Animalia wrote: "I always like "bang up to the mark" and "draw someone's cork." :)"

I love the image of "draw one's cork" as if a punch in the nose withdraws a cork to let the blood flow.

Leslie wrote: "Animalia wrote: "I always like "bang up to the mark" and "draw someone's cork." :)"

I love the image of "draw one's cork" as if a punch in the nose withdraws a cork to let the blood flow."

Very graphic, isn't it? And doesn't she call blood "claret", too? I have to admit that I've never read or listened to the description of the "mill" in Regency Buck. I hate fighting.

Hj wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Animalia wrote: "I always like "bang up to the mark" and "draw someone's cork." :)"

I love the image of "draw one's cork" as if a punch in the nose withdraws a cork to let the blood..."

I thought that too, about calling blood claret, but wasn't sure so left it out. I don't like fighting either but actually found the cockpit scene harder to stomach.

I think there are several places where making "the claret flow" is "discussed". (not for the appreciation of the ladies)
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I'm trying to remember what the kerchief that laborers wore was called. I keep thinking it was a "belcherchief", but that's not right. Seems like The Toll Gate had reference to them. Anyhow, it's a great word!

Oh the thieves' cant is also full of great words and phrases! Such as "belly cheat" in Friday's Child meaning apron :)

I love "belly cheats"! I'm wearing one now!

I'm not a hundred percent sure if Heyer used this dictionary "A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue" as a resource or not, but I found tons of the words she uses in her novels from this dictionary, such as coxcomb, etc. Different editions of this dictionary are online, there is a 1785 version on (couldn't find the 1811 version) on google books: http://books.google.com/books?id=4HoS...

I love the word "Hugotontheonbiquiffinarians" though, I believe Heyer never mentioned it. ;)

Leslie wrote: "I thought that too, about calling blood claret, but wasn't sure so left it out. I don't like fighting either but actually found the cockpit scene harder to stomach. ..."

I blanked that scene out altogether!! Oh yes, it's where Perry's accused of cheating, isn't it? I sort of squint my way through it, looking for speech marks to pick up the dialogue and ignore the action (yuk).

Animalia wrote: "I'm not a hundred percent sure if Heyer used this dictionary "A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue" as a resource or not, but I found tons of the words she uses in her novels from this dicti..."

If not this one, then one very similar. She was spot on with her thieves cant - milling a ken, the nubbin cheat, gentry mort, etc.. I was just checking the spelling of "nubbing cheat" (since I listen to her books more than read them these days) and found this: http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/20...

Karlyne wrote: "I'm trying to remember what the kerchief that laborers wore was called. I keep thinking it was a "belcherchief", but that's not right. Seems like The Toll Gate had reference to them. Anyhow, it's a great word! ..."

I think it was just called a belcher, or Belcher (named after Jem Belcher, a bare-knuckler fighter - I think he taught Lord Worth to fight?).

I might have to read The Toll Gate next, so I'll keep my lights peeled for Belcher.... And I love nubbin cheat, too.

"farrago" -- just rolls off the tongue!

toad-eater is a good one.

Ellen wrote: "toad-eater is a good one."

Yes, much better than the contemporary equivalent 'brown-noser'! Plus it can be turned into a verb - to toady or to toad-eat...

And of course , good old "gudgeon". Just don't say it in front of young Master Rayne.

Barbara wrote: "And of course , good old "gudgeon". Just don't say it in front of young Master Rayne."

:) and avoid 'ridiculous' as well!

I like 'Unmentionables' - the word itself is nothing special but the idea that women would not be able to mention men's pantaloons or britches or trousers is funny to me!

Leslie wrote: "I like 'Unmentionables' - the word itself is nothing special but the idea that women would not be able to mention men's pantaloons or britches or trousers is funny to me!"

Especially as ( or perhaps because of?) the actual garments themselves seemed to leave little to the imagination.

Barbara wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I like 'Unmentionables' - the word itself is nothing special but the idea that women would not be able to mention men's pantaloons or britches or trousers is funny to me!"

Especiall..."

Yes, I was relieved when I discovered what a codpiece was :)

Tee hee! In Two Gentlemen of Verona, when Julia tells her maid/companion Lucetta that she intends to go to Mantua dressed as a boy, Lucetta asks whether she should make Julia a pair of breeches with a codpiece. The first time I taught that play, to an all-female class, I took a costume book out of the library ro make sure my students understood the joke.

Then of course there's Brueghel's "The Wedding Dance," which was bowdlerized when it appeared on the cover of an LP (I think of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony).

I wish I had a few "cackling cheats" in my back yard, but my town is run by "tallow-faced twiddle-poops", mostly "mounted on cat-sticks". What a great insult!

Karlyne wrote: "I wish I had a few "cackling cheats" in my back yard, but my town is run by "tallow-faced twiddle-poops", mostly "mounted on cat-sticks". What a great insult!"

LOL!! Thanks for giving me my first laugh of the day!

"Snirp" -another great word! (I seem to be appreciating the insults the most...)

I always smile when someone (usually female) is called a 'silly goose', since that's what my husband refers to me as.

Also: "More hair than sense"...

In The Toll Gate, Henry is referred to as a "Friday-faced" "ninny hammer", so it's nice that men get to be silly and dim, too!

Karlyne wrote: "In The Toll Gate, Henry is referred to as a "Friday-faced" "ninny hammer", so it's nice that men get to be silly and dim, too!"

Oh yes, I loved those and you brought the book rushing back to me in flashes. :D

It really is a joy!

Other wonderful descriptions in The Toll-Gate:

"a tallow-faced twiddle-poop, mounted upon a pair o' cat-sticks"

Also, "a snirp".

Do you think that "tallow-faced" refers to the colour of the complexion? The colour that comes to my mind is yellowish white, but tallow also seems greasy to me, so maybe that is what it is referring to...

Leslie wrote: "Do you think that "tallow-faced" refers to the colour of the complexion? The colour that comes to my mind is yellowish white, but tallow also seems greasy to me, so maybe that is what it is referr..."

Good question. I was thinking dirty yellow complexion, but "tallow" also makes me think of squishy and greasy (to say nothing of smelly). The chap in question went in for a lot of heavy drinking, so...

Karlyne wrote: "I'm trying to remember what the kerchief that laborers wore was called. I keep thinking it was a "belcherchief", but that's not right. Seems like The Toll Gate had reference to them. Anyhow, it's a great word! ..."

I think it was just called a belcher, or Belcher (named after Jem Belcher, a bare-knuckler fighter - I think he taught Lord Worth to fight?).

ETA - I just re-read The Toll-Gate and it was called a Belcher-tie.

I could have chosen lots of different words from The Toll-Gate because it's absolutely full of slang and thieves cant, given the involvement of a badly-brought up young boy, a highwayman, and a Bow Street Runner.

And, strangely enough, there was only one reference to the Belcher-tie in The Toll Gate! But the book is just loaded with other great words, and this time around I really noticed what a great plot it had, too.

Karlyne wrote: "And, strangely enough, there was only one reference to the Belcher-tie in The Toll Gate! But the book is just loaded with other great words, and this time around I really noticed what a great plot ..."

It does have a good plot, doesn't it? It reminds me that she wrote some quite good mysteries. But the main reason I read it is because John is so likeable.

I wonder who inherits the Stornaway estate? I don't remember that we were told who the heir was after Henry, were we?

I like "enacting a cheltham tragedy" - which it turns out she made up. And it sounds so authentic!

She cleverly interspersed her own made up idioms with actual cant and idioms of the time. She was so good at it that people copied them and she eventually sued some Romance writer for taking her made terms and using them.

It apparently irked her that she worked so hard to make things authentic with so much research and this writer thought reading Heyer was sufficient research.

ooops.

Hj wrote: "Karlyne wrote: "And, strangely enough, there was only one reference to the Belcher-tie in The Toll Gate! But the book is just loaded with other great words, and this time around I really noticed wh..."

I was wondering that, too, as I finished it. I don't think the book actually said if there was another relative that might cut Nell out. But, since John had a nice "competence", we know they didn't starve!