Re: confession: roots
| From: | Rik Roots <rikroots@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, May 7, 2001, 19:10 |
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> Muke Tever wrote:
> > And there's a question for the list, which I forgot if I've asked already. Is
> > there a simple active verb in English meaning 'to be born' ?
>
> Not that I know of, but I have heard constructions like "borning cry" to
> mean "a child's first cry after being born", essentially treating "born"
> as an active verb, but I don't know if that's an exception or a
> preservation of an archaic verb.
>
In polite society, people tend to "have" babies in hospitals.
More colloquially, mothers will "sprog" when the time comes.
"sprog" also acts as a euphamism for "kid", but is less pleasant.
This is an east Kent usage, but was probably borrowed (like "grockle"
for stranger) from further west along the south coast of England (ie
blame them from Sussex whenever possible, coz it *is* always their
fault).
Rik
> --
> Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon
> A nation without a language is a nation without a heart - Welsh proverb
> ICQ: 18656696
> AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42
>
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