Definitions by klidenengro
gazump
Also gesumph or gesumpf, said to have come into the British property business from the second-hand car trade in the 1970s. originally means to swindle, cheat or steal, now means to outbid (peculiar to the English and Welsh housing market). Ultimately derived from a German word meaning to put into a swamp or, in the modern idiom, to dump in the shit. first recorded in English in 1928
the bastards gazumped me
gazump by klidenengro January 30, 2004
spiel
well rehearsed patter of salesperson or advocate of particular cause (1896), to gamble (1882), to play music (1870) also Spieler meaning a gambling club
don't give me that spiel
spiel by klidenengro January 30, 2004
kit
Clothes, something that is removed when someone gets their kit off. Originally Kittel, a white cotton or linen robe worn by orthodox Jews on certain holy days (also used as a shroud), overall, smock. Yiddish from MHG ultimately from Arabic source, cogn. with ‘cotton’
kit by klidenengro January 30, 2004
gesamtkunstwerk
‘complete-art-work’. London Review of Books, Vol 24, No. 6, 21st March 2002, page 16 col 3 by Hal Foster, ‘Andy Paperbag’. “And these devices became central to his persona, which is sometimes seen as his ultimate work: Warhol as the spectral centre of a flashy scene, a kind of blank Gesamtkunstwerk–in-person”.
gesamtkunstwerk by klidenengro January 30, 2004
strasse
Area of specific interest. Heard recently on BBC Radio 5, ‘Right up your Strasse’. Clearly calqued from ‘right up your street’ but with a tone of contempt. Does the rhyme and association with ‘up your arse’ have anything to do with it?
Right up your Strasse
strasse by klidenengro January 30, 2004