what does "nicens" mean?

[miss...@gmail.com]

I read this sentence :

"this moocow met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo..."

what does the word "nicens " mean? I can't find the explaination of
it in any dictionary ? Can anyone help me?

[Joanne Marinelli]

<miss...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:ea9011e7-6444-4265...@n20g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...

Try looking up the phrase "typographical error".

[Alan Jones]

"Joanne Marinelli" <joz...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:dYHjj.142288$MJ6....@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...

It's not an error, but an imitation of how a very young child speaks, or
perhaps of how an adult imitates baby-speak when entertaining a very young
child. The extract comes from the opening of James Joyce's "Portrait of the
Artist as a Young Man".

Alan Jones

[mm]

You'll have to ask a two-year old.

Perhaps there should be a newsgroup alt.english.usage.twoyearold.

If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)

[Bob Cunningham]

Yeah, do that, but then note that Googling with the string

"nicens little boy" "James Joyce" "artist as a young man"

gets "about 2,310" hits. It's typical of the strange things
James Joyce liked to do with the English language. It's not
a typo.

[Joanne Marinelli]

"Bob Cunningham" <exw...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:4flvo3hic8cvos8pr...@4ax.com...

The OP didn't post that she was reading Joyce, and it is only in the early
chapters that the approximation of babble is used.

I don't know about you but I have little patience with being put upon.

[Ron Knight]

On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:35:21 GMT, "Joanne Marinelli"

<joz...@yahoo.com> wrote:

I don't think this is a typographical error. From the presence of
"moocow" and the general tone of the excerpt, this seems to be an
adult talking babytalk to a child. I think "nicens" can be read
simply as "nice" in this context.

Take it easy,
Ron "in the modern diluted sense, of course" Knight

[Peter Young]

On 9 Aug 2017 khlou...@gmail.com wrote:

> Same question

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man?

I always thought it was an Irish childish version of "nice".

Peter.

--
Peter Young, (BrE, RP), Consultant Anaesthetist, 1975-2004.
(US equivalent: Certified Anesthesiologist)
Cheltenham and Gloucester, UK. Now happily retired.
http://pnyoung.orpheusweb.co.uk

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Wed, 9 Aug 2017 05:59:07 -0700 (PDT), khlou...@gmail.com wrote:

>Same question

"nicen" is not a word in general use. Only two online dictionaries have
it: the Urban Dictionary and Wiktionary.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nicen

Verb

"nicen" (third-person singular simple present "nicens", present
participle "nicening", simple past and past participle "nicened")

1. To become nicer.
2. To make nicer.

It is formed in the same way as "harden(s)", "soften(s)", "weaken(s)",
"blacken(s)", from "hard", "soft", "weak", "black".

Because "nice" ends in an "e" and the suffix "en" starts with an "e" the
two "e"s are merged into one as also happens in "worsen" from "worse"
with the suffix "en".

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

[sspa...@telus.net]

There's no right answer it seems, but one exploration of its possible meaning led me down a very interesting interpretive path:

Look up The Nicene Creed which came out of the First Council of Nicaea. Most important it seems to me is the notion of the consubstantiality of God the Father and God the Son, a dogma maintained by the Catholic church and responsible for many of Christianity's schisms. I've developed my own interpretation regarding this potentially potent allusion which I won't freely give here, but see what you can come up with if it does anything for you. I will say that I see this is a prime example of Joyce's peculiar use of free indirect discourse -- where he winks at you through the text with an allusion which neither the father or the son (or Father and Son) in the actual novel could appreciate the full symbolic value of.

[sspa...@telus.net]

To give a simpler answer to the question: I think that "nicens," in the context of the novel, means to designate the boy as a Catholic by referencing one of the foundational differences between Catholics and certain Protestant sects--consubtantiality. A page or so later in the novel the boy (Stephen) gets in trouble for violating the hard social line set up by this differentiation by proposing that he, a Catholic, will grow up and marry Eileen who (unbeknownst to him) is a Protestant.

[Hen Hanna]

----- hey, thtanks. interesting stuff.

"nicens" may be a P counterpart of D's

words ‘paralysis’, ‘gnomen’ and ‘simony’ HH

[aarmag...@gmail.com]

Thanks, it helps.

[jackha...@gmail.com]

Perhaps it is an allusion to the Ancient Greek province of Nicaea, of which the people were known as nicene. The book you’re reading has a continuous string of connections to the Ancient Greek tale of the Minotaur and of Icarus through the figure Daedalus of which the main character is named from. Maybe it’s reading far too much into it but I feel willing to the idea that the opening of this novel is establishing that connection - through ‘moocows’ - Minotaur, ‘nicene’ - Nicaea, hairy father - bull, the nice smelling mother - Pasiphaë (representing purity to be spoiled, daughter of Helios the sun). This coupled with the playful use of child speak seems like an appropriate opening the a work by Joyce. It also could just be child speak.