One weird topic again...

Your British tv series often feature phrases like "jolly good" or "jolly roger", however I don't see you write jolly here, so what an earth is a jolly and is it language nobody really does not use in UK anymore ?

I know of Jelly or Jello as some say, but Jolly is not quite like that according to my observations or then British tv serie persons have some sick fixation to jelly?

Yeah, carry one, nothing to see here jolly good

Well old bean what progs are you watching on the Liza Minnelli then, the very best of the 60's

A "Jolly" would be a spiffing good time, simple as that really

magnumpi wrote:Well old bean what progs are you watching on the Liza Minnelli then, the very best of the 60's

A "Jolly" would be a spiffing good time, simple as that really

I take it spiffing is not related to spitting, even it's auntie is spilling?

jtbo wrote:

magnumpi wrote:Well old bean what progs are you watching on the Liza Minnelli then, the very best of the 60's

A "Jolly" would be a spiffing good time, simple as that really

I take it spiffing is not related to spitting, even it's auntie is spilling?

Again, spiffing along with jolly, is just an old English term used for "good/excellent", nope not related to spitting at all. Not 100% sure what your Auntie comment is refering to though sorry.
Although as you've rightly pointed out you'd be hard pressed to hear either of these terms used in any day to day conversation.

magnumpi wrote: Again, spiffing along with jolly, is just an old English term used for "good/excellent", nope not related to spitting at all. Not 100% sure what your Auntie comment is refering to though sorry.
Although as you've rightly pointed out you'd be hard pressed to hear either of these terms used in any day to day conversation.

It is still rather interesting, even though fast evolving world of language has surpassed those valleys quite some time ago.

Auntie, well, if you think about there are words which have aunts and uncles, words meaning closely to same thing or similar thing.

Spitting is letting something out as is spilling, too far to be brothers or sisters as synonyms are, so maybe aunts and uncles then?

In verbal world one can of course spit and spill verbally too instead of more common saliva spitting and liquid spilling.

Somehow it is amusing too

At school we were taught English that nobody did use really, I believe such language was common at 60's and maybe before, but during 80's it was taught here as proper English and how we should talk in London if we ever would be visiting there.

Far more formal than Hyacinth talks

This might help!

Origin of JOLLY

Middle English joli, from Anglo-French jolif, from jol-, probably from Old Norse jōl midwinter festival — more at yule
First Known Use: 14th century

Examples of JOLLY

1. Our boss was a very jolly man, always laughing.
2. She had a jolly time at the party.

From the Chambers Harrap dictionary:

jolly adj (jollier, jolliest) 1 good-humoured; cheerful. 2 happy; enjoyable; convivial. adverb, Brit colloq very • jolly good. verb (jollies, jollied, jollying) only in phrases below. jolliness noun. jolly well Brit colloq used for emphasis: certainly • You jolly well deserved it.
ETYMOLOGY: 14c: from French jolif pretty or merry.

jolly someone along to keep them cheerful and co-operative.

jolly someone into or out of something to coax or cajole them into or out of it.

jolly someone up to make them more cheerful.

I can't think of many times I'd use the word.

Maybe in the colloquial use for emphasis such as "he's jolly well taking the piss", or perhaps as in the phrase "going on a jolly boys' outing" or "going on a jolly" (which I'd associate also with one of the definition of junket - a trip made by a government official, businessman, academic, etc which they do not pay for themselves. - "Those politicians were on a jolly (boys' outing)"). I might sing, "For he's a jolly good fellow". The other use I can think of is "He's off to get his jollies" for a man to go off and have a sexy time with a woman

It is amazing how quickly language changes over time. In the 80s, newsreaders were still speaking a certain kind of English (BBC English? Queen's English? Whatever ...) if you had any trace of a regional accent, you didn't have a hope of getting a job reading the news. Now it's almost the other way around

I saw some early Top Gear a while back, when Jeremy Clarkson first came on the programme (or the "show" as it's now called). The way he spoke in the early 90's: completely different to how he speaks now.

German pronounciation has change massively over the last 60 years too. If you hear some archived recordings of a 1950s politician, or newsreader, they all sound like Adolf Hitler. All shouting, and screaming, and waving their hands about. None of that anymore today, and a jolly good thing that is too, what?

Tom

I've always figured jolly has dropped out along with the class system, it's what I'd expect a posh person to say. As Magnum say's though, it's only used now when we are taking the mickey out of posh people. It's the sort of thing me, Rupert and Foggy would use when we slip into a taking the mickey out of beardies from the VOC session (which we do often though very much tongue in cheek, last time we met up with the beardies the 3 of us were talking about trim revisions with the beardies taking the p*ss out of us )

Whaaat!!!? UK has no class system no more?

No wonder James Bond sucks these days

I thought that there still would be remains of class system, but it took quite a while that to disappear, must have happened at mid 80's to early 90's?

I think reading about that conservatives got into power there recently again, UK has been quite traditional country if I remember what I have been told at school correctly, but must be that UK 30 years ago is nothing like UK today.

It is only natural that language changes a lot from such change in society, where tight guarded borders are opened.

I imagine in Germany there has also been huge changes to society, east and west were brought together which must have affected a lot to society and language there.

We here have had strongly different dialects between different parts of country, 20 years ago you could hear what part of Finland you happen to be, but today it is pretty much same all around, I can speak fluently Karjala, Lappi, Savo and Pohjanmaa dialects, with tiny bit of Helsinki (stadi) dialect and I'm bit sad to see that variety being lost at front of my eyes.

I think we should preserve old ways of talking too, it is to remember where we are from?

jtbo wrote: No wonder James Bond sucks these days

Why, because hes stopped being a tool and has become a badass?

He is just a common guy with gadgets.

Yeah, I find myself rolling off buildings and shooting people all the time

And there is a class system too. It's split into unemployed lazy bastards at the bottom, annoying audi driving cunt businessmen at the top and everyone else in between

Speedy88 wrote:Yeah, I find myself rolling off buildings and shooting people all the time

And im often beaten in the gonads with rope.......

volvosneverdie wrote: And im often beaten in the gonads with rope.......

Pervert