Very pleased to hear it! I used to spend hours reading Patrick's three-volume set of your dictionary whenever I stayed over at Siston Common. Delighted to help augment this excellent online version.
I am now going to betray gross ignorance: Patrick Hanks? I must assume so. I must also confess that trying to link him and Siston brought me to announcements of his death earlier this year. And the fact that his last years were bedevilled by Alzheimer's and Vascular Dementia. Having reached that zone, in age but not yet affliction, and having friends who are similarly suffering, I am too well aware of that evil illness. I had written to him over the last few years but never received a reply. Now I know why.
It is the first I have heard and please believe that I am very deeply saddened. (I must search out his obituaries.) My first thought was to write some form of tribute here. You may have seen that I thank him in the print copy of GDoS. But I don't know enough really - I am a lexicographer not a linguist, let alone one of his importane, and of course he was a lexicographer too - beyond that fact that he is one of those without whom GDoS would not have existed. I would also like to feel that we were friends. We certainly had some jolly times.
Yes, Patrick Hanks, my old boss when I worked on the Family Names project at UWE. Sorry not to have been clearer, and to have inadvertently broken the sad news. That disease was a very cruel end to such a brilliant mind, robbing him of, of all things, his command of words. I learned a great deal from him (“We’ll make a lexicographer of you yet!” - well, he tried), and much enjoyed his hospitality whenever I was staying over. He could be a demanding boss, but was extraordinarily kind and generous with his time, and fun to be around. A quick pint at the local could turn into a spontaneous Finnegans Wake reading group. He certainly valued you as a fine friend - his delight was schoolboyish whenever there was a chance to see you!
Coney Island, named for its former rabbit population, gave birth to the Coney dog after Nathan's hot dog stand became famous. But it never turned "Coney" into phallic slang...
Thank you. Red one's new to me. And in it shall go. otoh GDoS does have a 'black joke': https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/efw4jgy
The whole of ‘Mad Tom’s Garland’ was v. useful; sliced out a few citations. Many thanks.
Very pleased to hear it! I used to spend hours reading Patrick's three-volume set of your dictionary whenever I stayed over at Siston Common. Delighted to help augment this excellent online version.
I am now going to betray gross ignorance: Patrick Hanks? I must assume so. I must also confess that trying to link him and Siston brought me to announcements of his death earlier this year. And the fact that his last years were bedevilled by Alzheimer's and Vascular Dementia. Having reached that zone, in age but not yet affliction, and having friends who are similarly suffering, I am too well aware of that evil illness. I had written to him over the last few years but never received a reply. Now I know why.
It is the first I have heard and please believe that I am very deeply saddened. (I must search out his obituaries.) My first thought was to write some form of tribute here. You may have seen that I thank him in the print copy of GDoS. But I don't know enough really - I am a lexicographer not a linguist, let alone one of his importane, and of course he was a lexicographer too - beyond that fact that he is one of those without whom GDoS would not have existed. I would also like to feel that we were friends. We certainly had some jolly times.
Yes, Patrick Hanks, my old boss when I worked on the Family Names project at UWE. Sorry not to have been clearer, and to have inadvertently broken the sad news. That disease was a very cruel end to such a brilliant mind, robbing him of, of all things, his command of words. I learned a great deal from him (“We’ll make a lexicographer of you yet!” - well, he tried), and much enjoyed his hospitality whenever I was staying over. He could be a demanding boss, but was extraordinarily kind and generous with his time, and fun to be around. A quick pint at the local could turn into a spontaneous Finnegans Wake reading group. He certainly valued you as a fine friend - his delight was schoolboyish whenever there was a chance to see you!
Slang's adoption is just a wee bit older: https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/wubl2wy.
Crackin stuff. Which reminds me to send you this rather nice joke - a red one, just above a white knee, from 1775. https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_mad-toms-garland-compo_1775/page/n7/mode/2up?view=theater
Coney Island, named for its former rabbit population, gave birth to the Coney dog after Nathan's hot dog stand became famous. But it never turned "Coney" into phallic slang...