8Nov2005
Filed under: Just so You Know...
Author: Kate Bartholomew
I feel the need to preface my latest Holiday Gift Suggestion (Idea #4) with some explanation. I offer, as a tasteful gift option, the “Twelve Dickies of Christmas.” This might sound just a tad licentious, but it is NOT. A “Dicky” (alternate spelling “Dickey”) is:
- NOUN
- a. A woman’s blouse front worn under a suit jacket or low-necked garment.
b. A man’s detachable shirt front.
c. A collar for a shirt.
d. A child’s bib or pinafore.
- A donkey.
- A small bird (as in “Dickey Bird”).
- a. The driver’s seat on a carriage.
b. A rear seat for servants on a carriage.
- ADJECTIVE
- (British Colloquial) faulty (as in “I have a dicky ticker”).
(Source: The Free Dictionary)
Maura
November 9th, 2005 at 9:12 am
There are advantages to being Canadian. The `Canadian Oxford Dictionary gives two more meanings for “dicky”: 1, unsound, likely to collapse, and 2. rhyming slang for “a word,” as in “I haven’t heard a dicky-bird from anyone.”
This from one who used to wear a dickey under her sweaters!
Kate
November 9th, 2005 at 11:05 pm
Thank you for those definitions; I’m especially fond of rhyming slang. And yes, I, too, wore a dicky.
I believe that there are many OTHER advantages to being Canadian, too. I’m hankering for a beaver tail right now – a Kilaloe Sunrise, I think (and that’s the least of it)!
Pam
November 10th, 2005 at 12:16 pm
When I was little (i.e., unable to fight back), and congested from a cold, my mom used to slather my neck with Vicks before I went to bed and then make we wear a dicky so that the goo wouldn’t get everywhere. Hence, dickys (dickies?) are, for me, always associated with menthol fumes. Nasty!
Pam
November 10th, 2005 at 12:17 pm
P.S. It was always a WOOL dicky.
Kate
November 10th, 2005 at 5:09 pm
Oh, Pam. Why doesn’t that surprise me?
Did you have to drink garlic juice while wearing this ensemble?
Pam
November 15th, 2005 at 9:51 pm
Oh, the JUICE! The garlic juice! I had nearly forgotten the wretched juice. I had nearly purged the hateful memory from my mind, but you had to remind me.
The horror…
The horror…