Taybha
Whalewhine
Whoever put this latest price tag on this bloke should be Tarred and Nailed.
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[Albion] Diego Gomez
- Thread starter Tiger Barb
- Start date
Green Cross Code Man
Wunt be druv
- Jun 20, 2021
- 3,878
- Nov 15, 2006
- 4,276
I had never heard of spitting feathers meaning being thirsty until I read the above, has always meant angry and pissed off to me
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um bongo molongo
Well-known member
This is from a year ago but the last line is interesting - was already touting him to us as a Mac Allister replacement (which we desperately need imo). Strength and a bit of pace as well as passing ability. I’m IN https://targetscouting.com/2023/06/25/diego-gomez-club-libertad-scout-report/
For those still interested in the origins of Spitting feathers.
What's the origin of the phrase 'Spitting feathers'?
Many people, especially those under 50 years of age, are clear what ‘spitting feathers’ means to them, that is, ‘angry, or agitated’. Some also attempt to explain the derivation of that meaning as arising from the imagery of someone foaming at the mouth when angry, or even of losing feathers like an agitated bird in a cockfight.
Others, predominantly from the older generation, are just as clear in their understanding that ‘spitting feathers’ means ‘extremely thirsty’. The imagery there is a little more intuitive and matches the American expression ‘having a mouthful of feathers’ and ‘spitting cotton’, and the Australian ‘spitting chips’ (of wood), which all mean extremely thirsty. That interpretation seems to be especially commonplace in the northern English counties, although it isn’t limited to there. I can recall my father using it with that meaning, in the UK’s Black Country region in the 1950s and, as anyone from there will be very ready to point out, the Black Country isn’t in the north. In more recent years it has crept south and, in 1997, it cropped up in the BBC comedy series that was undoubtedly southern, The Fast Show:
“All joking aside, love, I’m spitting feathers here, let’s have a nice cuppa.”
How then do there come to be two meanings, with no apparent connection between them, for the same phrase? The ‘thirsty’ meaning has certainly had had the longer life. ‘Spitting feathers’ appears to derive from the earlier term ‘spitting white’ (to eject frothy-white sputum from a dry mouth). Shakespeare uses the latter in Henry IV, Part 2, 1597:
The invaluable Notes and Queries (A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men and General Readers), for January 1865, makes a link between the two terms:
“Surely Falstaff’s spitting white is what, in Lancashire low life, is called ‘spitting feathers’. A man, who has been drinking is feverish, his mouth is dry, and his saliva white.”
The ‘angry’ meaning of the term doesn’t make an appearance until the 1970s; for example, this piece from Davidyne Mayleas’s novel Rewedded Bliss, 1977:
“Sometimes I could spit feathers. Tom and I have been married three years and he will still sometimes call me Tina. That’s the name of his former wife.”
The ‘angry’ interpretation of ‘spitting feathers’ is likely to have originated from another expression for angry – ‘spitting blood’. Anyone who knew the latter term and heard ‘spitting feathers’ for the first time might very well assume that the two expression meant the same thing.
What's the origin of the phrase 'Spitting feathers'?
Many people, especially those under 50 years of age, are clear what ‘spitting feathers’ means to them, that is, ‘angry, or agitated’. Some also attempt to explain the derivation of that meaning as arising from the imagery of someone foaming at the mouth when angry, or even of losing feathers like an agitated bird in a cockfight.
Others, predominantly from the older generation, are just as clear in their understanding that ‘spitting feathers’ means ‘extremely thirsty’. The imagery there is a little more intuitive and matches the American expression ‘having a mouthful of feathers’ and ‘spitting cotton’, and the Australian ‘spitting chips’ (of wood), which all mean extremely thirsty. That interpretation seems to be especially commonplace in the northern English counties, although it isn’t limited to there. I can recall my father using it with that meaning, in the UK’s Black Country region in the 1950s and, as anyone from there will be very ready to point out, the Black Country isn’t in the north. In more recent years it has crept south and, in 1997, it cropped up in the BBC comedy series that was undoubtedly southern, The Fast Show:
“All joking aside, love, I’m spitting feathers here, let’s have a nice cuppa.”
How then do there come to be two meanings, with no apparent connection between them, for the same phrase? The ‘thirsty’ meaning has certainly had had the longer life. ‘Spitting feathers’ appears to derive from the earlier term ‘spitting white’ (to eject frothy-white sputum from a dry mouth). Shakespeare uses the latter in Henry IV, Part 2, 1597:
The invaluable Notes and Queries (A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men and General Readers), for January 1865, makes a link between the two terms:
“Surely Falstaff’s spitting white is what, in Lancashire low life, is called ‘spitting feathers’. A man, who has been drinking is feverish, his mouth is dry, and his saliva white.”
The ‘angry’ meaning of the term doesn’t make an appearance until the 1970s; for example, this piece from Davidyne Mayleas’s novel Rewedded Bliss, 1977:
“Sometimes I could spit feathers. Tom and I have been married three years and he will still sometimes call me Tina. That’s the name of his former wife.”
The ‘angry’ interpretation of ‘spitting feathers’ is likely to have originated from another expression for angry – ‘spitting blood’. Anyone who knew the latter term and heard ‘spitting feathers’ for the first time might very well assume that the two expression meant the same thing.
Change at Barnham
Well-known member
Where's the latest highlights reel?
Change at Barnham
Well-known member
Comrade Sam
Comrade Sam
Looks great, but I couldn't take any more of that feck awful music. Is it obligatory to put appalling tracks over showreels?
The mute button is there for this reason.
severnside gull
Well-known member
Promising
JetsetJimbo
Well-known member
- Jun 13, 2011
- 1,167
This always annoys me too. I'd much rather hear the crowd noise and commentary, even if the latter isn't in English (in fact, now that I think about it, especially if the latter isn't in English).
Even if I liked the music, I'd prefer not to have it on these videos. But it just so happens that the people who put them together seem to have the world's worst musical tastes.
Machiavelli
Well-known member
It's what the mute button was designed for.
severnside gull
Well-known member
Spitting feathers = thirsty.
Period
RandyWanger
Je suis rôti de boeuf
A girl came into work today wearing an Inter Miami shirt. I will take this as a sign that he is coming
Machiavelli
Well-known member
He looks like he's got the lot and, on that basis, get him in Tony.
dejavuatbtn
Well-known member
Sold a lot of dummies to a lot of dummies. Would do well against Palace.
I've been around a lot longer than 50 years, and 50+ years ago I was living 'oop north' too. Never heard spitting feathers used as anything other than raging mad, not once, ever.
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