Billingsgate

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Billingsgate

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Oct 31, 2014 9:14 pm

• billingsgate •

Pronunciation: bi-lingz-gayt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. Abusive language, scathing profanity applied with a vengeance. 2. An impudent woman who uses scathing profanity with a vengeance.

Notes: The Billingsgate Fish Market in London is the only fish market I know of that is the eponym of an English word. Historically, Billingsgate has been known as much for the salty language of its fishwives as for its scaly wares. Today it is located in a modern new building where most of the sales staff speak a more palatable idiom. Still, billingsgate is a word that ties us vividly to our history. It is no longer capitalized when used in the sense above.

In Play: You, my dear reader, of course, would never indulge in billingsgate, but the word does provide an ear-catching, homespun alternative to such words as cursing and profanity: "If I ever hear that kind of billingsgate emerge from your mouth again, you will be grounded for life!" (Apparently a family that rules out the death penalty.) If billingsgate is anything, it is an attention-grabber: "I'd love to watch football with you guys Saturday, but three hours of billingsgate from Constance Waring is more than I can take."

Word History: Billingsgate originally referred to one of the two water-gates from the Thames into London. It is located just below London Bridge. Elizabeth I declared it "an open place for the landing and bringing in of any fish, corn, salt stores, victuals and fruit . . . ." In Vanity Fair, Thackeray wrote "Mr. Osborne . . . cursed Billingsgate with an emphasis worthy of the place." By 1799 even Thomas Jefferson was writing: "We disapprove the constant billingsgate poured on them officially." Your turn.
• The Good Dr. Goodword

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Billingsgate

Postby Slava » Fri Oct 31, 2014 10:42 pm

Well, for my part, I do appreciate, and most heartily, Constance Waring. A truly wonderful name, and one that fits well with some people I know. She most definitely warrants a :D .
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

LukeJavan8
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 4423
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
Location: Land of the Flat Water

Re: Billingsgate

Postby LukeJavan8 » Sat Nov 01, 2014 11:52 am

For a time years back, I live across from a vacant space
where every Saturday a 'horde' of young men, middle
teens to middle twenties, played football all afternoon.
The most foul of billingsgate spewed from them the
entire afternoon. I suppose the space, situation and time
gave permission for it: they needed to vent.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Billingsgate

Postby Slava » Sat Nov 01, 2014 12:08 pm

By the by, I wonder how Bill Gates feels about billingsgate.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

LukeJavan8
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 4423
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
Location: Land of the Flat Water

Re: Billingsgate

Postby LukeJavan8 » Sat Nov 01, 2014 12:42 pm

.....and all the other "-gates": Monicagate, etc. (I had a
couple others in mind, but 'senior moment').
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Billingsgate

Postby Slava » Sat Nov 01, 2014 12:50 pm

In this sense, you managed to forget the mother of them all, Watergate.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

LukeJavan8
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 4423
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
Location: Land of the Flat Water

Re: Billingsgate

Postby LukeJavan8 » Sat Nov 01, 2014 12:59 pm

Oh, yeah! I like to say it's not alls-heimers, but certainly
some-timers, part-timers, or half-timers !

It's like all the political appointees nowadays are 'czars',
ebola-czar, e.g., makes me wonder what the surgeon-general
is for. They get hooked on a term or phrase and very soon
it's all over.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

jthompson7483
Junior Lexiterian
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu May 22, 2014 11:08 pm

Re: Billingsgate

Postby jthompson7483 » Sat Nov 01, 2014 1:16 pm

The date given for Elizabeth I should be 1599, not 1699...

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Billingsgate

Postby Slava » Sat Nov 01, 2014 1:55 pm

The date given for Elizabeth I should be 1599, not 1699...
Good catch and welcome to the Agora.

It looks like it is the person who is wrong though, not the date. The King in 1699 was Billy the Three. According to my encyclopedia, 1699 is the date.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Perry Lassiter
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 3333
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:41 pm
Location: RUSTON, LA
Contact:

Re: Billingsgate

Postby Perry Lassiter » Sat Nov 01, 2014 8:47 pm

Thought a billingsgate was one of those little toll booths on toll roads,
pl

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Billingsgate

Postby Slava » Sat Nov 01, 2014 10:06 pm

Thought a billingsgate was one of those little toll booths on toll roads,
Nay. You may have to pay a bill, but they are after all merely tolling for you.

Ask not for whom the road tolls, that is to say.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Perry Lassiter
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 3333
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:41 pm
Location: RUSTON, LA
Contact:

Re: Billingsgate

Postby Perry Lassiter » Sun Nov 02, 2014 10:19 pm

Well put!
pl


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot] and 40 guests