Hi, Sean.
Anything for a fellow Ken McLeod admirer.
The "gibberish" thing really is a hot-button issue with me. The OED entry is one of their more extreme cock-ups, not just that they miss an obvious antedating, but it gets worse as it goes on.
Hey, in the background of sniping at Kent -- and I really did win that one, ages ago, not that Kent will ever admit it -- I drafted a take-down of the entry on pedlar's French/gibberish in Jonathan Green's now-online Green's Dictionary of Slang.
I'm not sure whether that was just before or just after I leapt to your defence, but it was already bouncing around my head.
Sometimes I can be nice, other times ... I was once, somewhat to my bemusement, called "a typical list-fascist".
Moi? Harmless little moi?
But no way am I again going to get sucked into the weird Oxfordian echo-chamber that Kent inhabits when he climbs onto that particular hobby-horse.
Still disagree with you over Dylan, but.
:-)
Best,
Robin
On 17 October 2016 at 00:21 Sean Carey <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Thanks Robinindeed an honour & wishing you wellSeanTurn that frown upside downOn Sunday, 16 October 2016, Robin Hamilton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
On 16 October 2016 at 22:00 Sean Carey <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
To each their own & clearly "gibberish" is a real tribute. Well used to snide comments & at least you did read the contributions. I prefer those who are honest rather than the silent majority on here.Not only that, Sean, but it's the first term applied in English to characterise the language of thieves and vagabonds (by Palsgrave, translating or glossing French "jargon", which he describes as "pedlar's French or gibberish", in 1530). Later, it's applied to English Argot.
So you're in excellent company, along with Piers Egan, W.E.Henley, and David "the Switcher" Haggart -- and of course Thomas Dekker. To name but a few.
Thought you might like to know that.
:-)
Robin
(In the unlikely event that someone is tempted to look up the OED to check me out, and as a result, point out that The Bible doesn't say that, all I can do is quote Dirty Harry -- make my day, silly person. :-))) R.)