Wisenheimer

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Stargzer
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Wisenheimer

Postby Stargzer » Mon Aug 14, 2006 1:21 am

Wisenheimer (also, Weisenheimer)

PRONUNCIATION: wī' zən-hī' mər

NOUN: Informal A smart aleck.
ETYMOLOGY: wise[sup]1[/sup] + German -enheimer (in such surnames as Oppenheimer).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000

Online Etymology Dictionary entry for wise:
. . . Wise guy is attested from 1896, Amer.Eng.; wisecrack is from 1924. Wisenheimer, with mock Ger. or Yiddish surname suffix, first recorded 1904.
In Play: Use this less-insulting, somewhat humorous word when Smart-ass is too strong and Wise-guy isn't quite strong enough.
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

Perry
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Postby Perry » Mon Aug 14, 2006 7:39 am

I had no idea that it went back to 1904. If I would have been responsible for inserting Weisenheimer into the new Generational Slang Checkup, I would have pegged this expression for the 40's. Shows what I know. (Or should I say, shows what I don't know? :oops: )
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous

Huny
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Re: Wisenheimer

Postby Huny » Mon Aug 14, 2006 7:59 pm

Wisenheimer (also, Weisenheimer)

PRONUNCIATION: wī' zən-hī' mər

NOUN: Informal A smart aleck.
ETYMOLOGY: wise[sup]1[/sup] + German -enheimer (in such surnames as Oppenheimer).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000

Online Etymology Dictionary entry for wise:
. . . Wise guy is attested from 1896, Amer.Eng.; wisecrack is from 1924. Wisenheimer, with mock Ger. or Yiddish surname suffix, first recorded 1904.
In Play: Use this less-insulting, somewhat humorous word when Smart-ass is too strong and Wise-guy isn't quite strong enough.
Okay, everyone. I am going to plead the fifth on this one while I still have control over my pie-hole. :twisted:

BTW: Geezer, good one!! Love it!!
"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compaired to what lies inside us." R.W.E.

Palewriter
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Postby Palewriter » Mon Aug 14, 2006 10:03 pm

Like Perry, I would probably have pegged Wisenheimer either to the 30s or the 40s. I can't seem to find the first reference to "wisea$$", which is a shame, since it's an epithet that's been slung my way a time or two. Be nice to know whence it....you know.

On a tan gent, I recall a so-called riddle, apparently from the 19th Century, over which my grandfather culled much pleasure:

"YYUR,YYUB
ICURYY4me."

Folks back then had such simple amusements, didn't they?

-- PW
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!!! What a ride!"

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:48 pm

. . .
On a tan gent, I recall a so-called riddle, apparently from the 19th Century, over which my grandfather culled much pleasure:

"YYUR,YYUB
ICURYY4me."

Folks back then had such simple amusements, didn't they?

-- PW
Probably written by that old country singer, Rebus MacEntire . . .
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

Bailey
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Postby Bailey » Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:53 pm


"YYUR,YYUB
ICURYY4me."



-- PW
ok give it up

mark inquiring-minds-well -you-know-me Bailey

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









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gailr
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Postby gailr » Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:57 pm

ICU've never been to parochial grade school, Bailey.

Read aloud thusly: ["YY"] = ["2 Ys"] = ["Too wise"]
and I think you'll get it...

-gailr

2Qt
2B
4got10

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Tue Aug 15, 2006 12:01 am

I sent him a PM to prolong the suspense for others . . .
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

Palewriter
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Postby Palewriter » Tue Aug 15, 2006 12:34 am

I sent him a PM to prolong the suspense for others . . .
Well, if you did, Larry, I never got it. Not to worry, gailr cracked it. My Grandpa would've been proud. :-)

He had another one (which I thought was sillier and somewhat more difficult):

"If the BMT put more:"

Any takers?


-- PW
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!!! What a ride!"

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Thu Aug 17, 2006 2:43 pm

I sent him a PM to prolong the suspense for others . . .
Well, if you did, Larry, I never got it. Not to worry, gailr cracked it. My Grandpa would've been proud. :-)

He had another one (which I thought was sillier and somewhat more difficult):

"If the BMT put more:"

Any takers?


-- PW
No, I sent it to Bailey, who said "give it up." Obviously you knew the answer!
"If the BMT put more:"
Ooh. Something to do with "empty" is all I can make out at the moment.

Tippity-tap-Tippity-tap-tap-tap . . .
(Stargzer does his best Grant imitation)

Yahooing the web I find at WendyCarlos.com:
Sign over the fireplace in an old
coutry Inn located in New Hampshire:

If the BMT put more :
If the B . putting :
Never put more : over a - der
You'd be an * it
So now it seems to have something to do with "put more coal on" and "stop putting more coal on."

That's as far as I can go at the moment.
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

Palewriter
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Postby Palewriter » Fri Aug 18, 2006 10:37 am

I sent him a PM to prolong the suspense for others . . .
Well, if you did, Larry, I never got it. Not to worry, gailr cracked it. My Grandpa would've been proud. :-)

He had another one (which I thought was sillier and somewhat more difficult):

"If the BMT put more:"

Any takers?


-- PW
Well, the B in BMT is "great B" (I know...I did say this was old-fashioned)...

-- PW

No, I sent it to Bailey, who said "give it up." Obviously you knew the answer!
"If the BMT put more:"
Ooh. Something to do with "empty" is all I can make out at the moment.

Tippity-tap-Tippity-tap-tap-tap . . .
(Stargzer does his best Grant imitation)

Yahooing the web I find at WendyCarlos.com:
Sign over the fireplace in an old
coutry Inn located in New Hampshire:

If the BMT put more :
If the B . putting :
Never put more : over a - der
You'd be an * it
So now it seems to have something to do with "put more coal on" and "stop putting more coal on."

That's as far as I can go at the moment.
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!!! What a ride!"

tcward
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Postby tcward » Fri Aug 18, 2006 2:20 pm

Apparently this is the translation, as it were:
If the BMT put more :
If the [grate [be empty]], put more [coal on]

If the B . putting :
If the [grate [be]] [full stop] putting coal on

Never put more : over a - der
Never put more [coal on] over a [high fen]der

You'd be an * it
You'd be an [ass to risk] it.
-Tim
...edited to correct the 'grate'... since I think that is used to mean 'capital'.

Palewriter
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Postby Palewriter » Fri Aug 18, 2006 3:08 pm

Apparently this is the translation, as it were:
If the BMT put more :
If the [grate [be empty]], put more [coal on]

If the B . putting :
If the [grate [be]] [full stop] putting coal on

Never put more : over a - der
Never put more [coal on] over a [high fen]der

You'd be an * it
You'd be an [ass to risk] it.
-Tim

Brilliant. Tim wins first prize: a lifetime supply of Father Phil's Tastee Seal Blubber Eucharist Wafers (they're salty, second to nun). Stargeezer get the consolation prize: a 21-day tour of the plague pits of Western Europe (airfare + hotel not included).

-- PW










...edited to correct the 'grate'... since I think that is used to mean 'capital'.
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!!! What a ride!"

Stargzer
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Posts: 2578
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Postby Stargzer » Fri Aug 18, 2006 6:31 pm

Apparently this is the translation, as it were:
If the BMT put more :
If the [grate [be empty]], put more [coal on]

If the B . putting :
If the [grate [be]] [full stop] putting coal on

Never put more : over a - der
Never put more [coal on] over a [high fen]der

You'd be an * it
You'd be an [ass to risk] it.
-Tim
...edited to correct the 'grate'... since I think that is used to mean 'capital'.
I think I've stumbled upon something, but it's not a grate thing :-) :
RE: wood cookstoves

Posted by Maureen1953 Z4 Central NY (My Page) on Tue, Dec 7, 04 at 21:48

We have an old (85 yrs old) Capital Stewart wood cookstove made in Troy NY...It is great, we do all our cooking on it in the winter and it also does a great job of heating our house, with an additional woodstove in the Living Room for when it is REALLY cold. The firebox is is not big enough to hold enough wood to keep the fire going overnight, so if I were to do it over again, I would get a cookstove with a bigger firebox. Other than that I love it and wouldn't do without it. Good Luck with your search.
So, if the Capital-Be eMpTy . . .


Tippity-tap-tippity-tap-tippity-tap-tap-tap . . .

Philo P. Stewart:
. . . Invented the "P.P. Stewart Summer and Winter Cooking-Stove" and helped to found Oberlin College in Ohio. . . .

. . . Philo Penfield Stewart not only invented the famous stove bearing his name but was also a mechanic, teacher, missionary, founder of a college, reformer, and philanthropist. At the age of twenty-three he went to Mississippi as a missionary to the Choctaw Indians. In 1832 he went to Elyria, Ohio, and, during his residence there, founded Oberlin College. While living in New York City, enduring many privations and hardships, he invented the celebrated "P.P. Stewart Summer and Winter Cooking-Stove."

Because of Troy's excellent transportation networks and access to raw materials, Stewart decided to manufacture his stove in Troy. For years he worked on improving his own invention. In 1859 he obtained a patent for his "Large Oven and Air-Tight Cooking-Stove," which was a larger oven with an improved reservoir and "back-closet." This perfected stove was a success, and was sold across the nation—over ninety thousand stoves in thirty years.
I finally found the Patent!

(You will need a .tiff plugin such as AlternaTIFF (which is free but requires registration) if you can't see the pages.)

A fender ("Never put more [coal on] over a [high fen]der") appears to be a screen or other protective device. I could not find a fender in Stewart's 1859 patent, but that doesn't mean he didn't design another stove (e. g., the Capital referenced above)that included a fender. Patent No. 15,362 awarded to John W. Truslow of Lewisburg, VA, describes "an Improvement in Fenders or Screens for Fireplaces."
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee


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