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Re: Suggestive nonsense (was: K-Rad)

From:Matt Pearson <pearson@...>
Date:Friday, June 22, 2001, 1:20
Eric Christopherson wrote:

> I think you meant to say that <toves> is a Noun-PL. Also, I'd always thouht > of <brillig> as an adjective, but I've read that Carroll later said it was a > noun meaning some part of the day (teatime, was it?)
Because of the "'twas" in front of it, "brillig" always struck me as either a noun referring to a period of time, or a weather-denoting adjective (cf. "'twas hot today"). It is in fact a noun referring to a time of day, specifically the time right before supper when people begin broiling things ("brillig" is a mock-Anglo-Saxon derivative of "broil"). Matt.