Definition of a Rum Lot

Example: He couldn`t look at documents without thinking something was wrong. I nodded, but I could only think of what batch of rum they must be when they couldn`t hear a boy say his opinion without thinking that everyone shabby was coming to an end. First of all, a precision, “rum-lot” means a “strange lot”, as in strange. This is a British usage applicable here due to the highly superstitious tendencies of seafarers. No, that means they couldn`t think x if they didn`t think about y. One necessarily implies the other. It could be, and this is speculation, that “rum” has migrated from the simple “good” and has become too “good to be bad”. From there, it`s a short path to “unsavory” and “strange.” Rum Bubber – a person capable of stealing silver jugs from Innsrum Fun – a smart Swindlerum diver – an experienced pickpocket mizzler – a thief, adapt to Escapingrum Padder – a street thief of the upper class A Books say that Rum Do is an old-fashioned piece of British slang. I would agree with that, except that no one seems to have told the British journalist who uses it over and over again.

This, for example, appeared earlier in the month I write in the Times on February 6, 2008: “However, it seems that this is a rum that women have to wait for a cavalry of progressive male CEOs to come to the rescue.” It would be possible to name many others. However, it is now mainly used as a deliberately old-fashioned or humorous term. Without thinking = they automatically thought bad things when someone said certain words (like “sink”). Around 1800, the word completely changed its meaning from positive to negative and began to mean something strange, strange or special. A rum book was curious or strange, a rum customer was a strange man or one who might offend, a rum phiz was a strange face, and so on. The OED suspects (I think it`s fair to say) that this happened through one of these slang expressions, perhaps Rum Cove, originally an excellent or first-rate villain, but in which rum was mistakenly considered pejorative by those who did not know criminal slang. Other terms also changed meaning over time: in the late nineteenth century, the English dialect dictionary noted that Rum Duke was “a strange and irresponsible person,” a significant change in meaning from the original. There were once dozens of slang terms that included rum in one direction or another, all now outdated. There is also rummy, from the same source and with the same meaning of something strange or special. It is by mutiny on the bounty of John Boyne. A Frenchman gentleman sent the narrator to Bounty. He warned the boy that the sailors were a lot of rum, that is, very superstitious, and told the boy never to say the words “sink.” To put it simply (albeit a little late): “You can`t do X without doing Y” means “Every time they do X, they automatically do Y”.

“Rum” is “strange”, “unusual”, whatever, but here is “rum” about them that they are superstitious. The world had to end so they could hear the boy talking. “Rum” in “rum do” is an adjective that means “strange” or “strange” and has nothing to do with drinking rum. The rum came to us on a winding path. In the 16th century, the adjectival meaning was almost exactly the opposite of today`s meaning – it then meant “excellent” or “great”. In A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, Eric Partridge lists no less than 93 “rum” phrases, many of which use this earlier meaning. For example: These terms have now completely disappeared from everyday language. Exceptionally, the phrases with these sentences with the opposite meaning were all used at the same time as those mentioned above: Q By Alastair Chapman, Suffolk: Can you please help with the origins of the expression rum do, which I understand as an unacceptable event? Thank you, Patricia.Je am quite clear with the sentences. The first half has nothing to do with the drink whose name appeared about a century later than our word. It began as what the Oxford English Dictionary described as a canting term, that is, as one of the criminal worlds. In the beginning, it was positive, that is, differently good, fine, excellent or great.

So rum alcohol was a fine or excellent drink, a rum pull was a handsome man, and a rum dab was a skillful thief (swabs are fingers). TCTerms is here to find answers to questions. Each entry should only have to do with this goal. Anything that does not serve this purpose will be removed. If a message contains a judgment about a peer, a criticism or defense of that peer`s competence, judgment remarks, that message will be deleted. If there is this judgment in the body of a communication, this part will be deleted. The rebuttal of a response should be based only on the response or its resources. Rum Customer – a dangerous Fellowrum Do (or `Rum Go`) – a strange Eventrum Phiz – a strange face or Countenancerum Gagger – a narrator of Tall Talesrum Touch – a strange or eccentric guy Xilin, “a crowd of rummen” means strange, strange, queer, but not superstitious. (Although they were.) Turnstile thought it was strange or strange because he was simply expressing his hope that the ship would not sink, but the sailors were so superstitious that they couldn`t bear to hear someone talking about the sinking ship. When they heard it, they thought that “every shabby world is coming to an end” because they were not very rational thinkers! Wonderful interpretations and wonderful examples.

It really helps. Thank you, Jane. As for the sentence, it means, “What a strange bunch of men they were, when they couldn`t even hear a boy say his opinion without assuming that all the terrible world was coming to an end.” Where it comes from is controversial. Some suggest that it may have been borrowed from Rome, the city of glory and grandeur, as a term of great approval (there is some slight evidence that the word could be written in its early days Rome); others refer to Roma Rome, a man. A third group, to which the OED and I belong, admits that we have absolutely no idea. It is not clear why the meaning of “rum” has been changed. Many of the expressions that used the previous “good” meaning may have applied to people who were good at breaking laws or engaging in unsavory behaviour; For example, they couldn`t hear a boy talking if they didn`t believe the world was going to end. There must be much more to it than those on Partridge`s list, as “rum” could be used to precede almost anything, but the only ones that survive have the meaning “strange, confusing”; For example, “Rum Do” and “Rum Customer”. I do not quite understand the relevance of the “without thinking” part.

Does that mean they were a lot of rum because they knew that everyone shabby was coming to an end, but didn`t allow a boy to say it? The second half is quite easy to explain. It refers to an event or event, especially an organized event such as a conversation or party (as in Madeline Kerr`s 1958 People of Ship Street about life in a Liverpool slum, “Your family has a `Thu` every year on the anniversary of the death of their mother`s father.”) He usually appears in sentences like “We have a big problem for Mark`s eighteenth birthday next week” or “Joes changes jobs and we arrange a goodbye for him.” .