Story behind your username?

Scepticalscribe said:
Agreed, that the way language evolves and changes over time is absolutely fascinating.

Reading children's books (and not just Enid Blyton) from the early to mid twentieth century with their enthusiastic cries of "Smashing" (smashing?), "Ripping" (again, ripping, really?) and "Topping" seem to summon forth faint echoes of another - and increasingly distant - time.

Nevertheless, "Brexit" still exists, and will return, as the talks are bubbling away beneath the surface, masked - for now - by the more immediate concerns and challenges of dealing with Covid-19.

However, for an expression once found frequently in political vocabulary, that is no longer - at all - heard, but was once not just used, but actually used to define - with an exquisitely precisely refined calibration - factions, groups and sections within the Conservative Party, I'll refer you to Mrs Thatcher's preferred adjective (intended as an insult, meaning something insipid, something weak and feeble, and was a word which she used to scrawl on margins in the files and notes she received in her 'red boxes' when disapproving of, disagreeing with, or dismissing something) "wet".

As a woman, and as the daughter of a Methodist minister, more robust expressions of disdain would not have been permitted to her, growing up; so, she didn't use them. Yet, nevertheless, when she needed a term to crisply express extreme disagreement - "wet" was what she used, and because of her position - the term gained currency and became a part of the very vocabulary of politics in the years she held office.

Thus, a whole vast and very sophisticated political vocabulary grew out of that one term, one which described her opponents within the party as "wets", perhaps someone who was "dripping wet", "sopping wet", "slightly damp", or, - on the other hand, her supporters, were referred to as not just "dry", but, sometimes, expressions such as "bone dry", or, "absolutely arid", were used to describe those who supported her most enthusiastically, passionately and fervently.
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Ripping and smashing I think are cool distinct words associated with UK English, of an energized nature to express approval or excitement.

Regarding wet, it was discussed in the idiom-phraseology thread, I forget our exact discussion about it, in the context of politics besides all wet (mistaken), wet behind the ears (inexperienced), wet blanket (no fun, stop being a wet blanket) might also equate to an emotion, being overly emotional like crying?
 
Huntn said:
Ripping and smashing I think are cool distinct words associated with UK English, of an energized nature to express approval or excitement.
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Agreed, - and that was how they were used - and were meant, and how I understood them - in the books I read, but I must admit that when I read Enid Blyton as a child, the actual root meaning of those words had never occurred to me.
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Huntn said:
Regarding wet, it was discussed in the idiom-phraseology thread, I forget our exact discussion about it, in the context of politics besides all wet (mistaken), wet behind the ears (inexperienced), wet blanket (no fun, stop being a wet blanket) might also equate to an emotion, being overly emotional like crying?
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The sense of the expressions, "wet behind the ears" and "stop being such a wet blanket" are still understood to mean pretty much exactly what you have written, but I thought the political use of the adjective "wet" extremely interesting, given that it arose (and evolved) and was used in a specific context, one is no longer contemporary, or carries currency, as Mrs Thatcher has not held office for thirty years.
 
MultiFinder17.

MultiFinder: the multitasking Finder for System 5-9. It was a fun bit of software that brought me a lot of joy to learn the idiosyncrasies of; I still love delving deep into its inner workings.

17: 17 years of the Classic Mac OS (1984-2001).
 
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I used to use the alias "DJ Silence" when I very occasionally spun records. Then I watched a few 50's–60's Italian realists films where children were misbehaving in the classroom and the teacher would lyrically intone, "Silencio! Silencio!", and the Italian version of the word really grabbed me.

Then, of course, Mulholland Drive came out...
 
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