borassic

[Harrison Hill]

A new word to aue: "borassic" - rhyming slang for "skint" I am told by
the online dictionaries - has been part of my Middle Class, Middle
England vocabulary since the sixties.

"I'm completely borassic" = "I am totally skint".

[Iain Archer]

Harrison Hill wrote on Sat, 16 Feb 2013

"Boracic"? Rhyming slang from "boracic lint."
--
Iain Archer

[Ian Jackson]

In message
<0ef272a1-cfab-4ec7...@r13g2000yqg.googlegroups.com>,
Harrison Hill <harrison...@gmail.com> writes

Indeed. Wikipedia explains all:
Boracic lint was a type of medical dressing made from surgical lint that
was soaked in a hot, saturated solution of boracic acid and glycerine
and then left to dry.

It has been in use since at least the 19th century, but is now less
commonly used.

The term boracic lint, or often just "boracic", pronounced "brassic", is
also used as Cockney rhyming slang for having no money - "boracic lint"
? "skint."

[I'm not sure if it's true about Cockneys pronouncing it "brassic".]
--
Ian

[Harrison Hill]

On Feb 16, 8:58 pm, Ian Jackson
<ianREMOVETHISjack...@g3ohx.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> In message
> <0ef272a1-cfab-4ec7-8b1c-c16864aea...@r13g2000yqg.googlegroups.com>,
> Harrison Hill <harrisonhill2...@gmail.com> writes

>
> >A new word to aue: "borassic" - rhyming slang for "skint" I am told by
> >the online dictionaries - has been part of my Middle Class, Middle
> >England vocabulary since the sixties.
>
> >"I'm completely borassic" = "I am totally skint".
>
> Indeed. Wikipedia explains all:
> Boracic lint was a type of medical dressing made from surgical lint that
> was soaked in a hot, saturated solution of boracic acid and glycerine
> and then left to dry.
>
> It has been in use since at least the 19th century, but is now less
> commonly used.
>
> The term boracic lint, or often just "boracic", pronounced "brassic", is
> also used as Cockney rhyming slang for having no money - "boracic lint"
> ? "skint."
>
> [I'm not sure if it's true about Cockneys pronouncing it "brassic".]
> --
> Ian

Meanwhile, I guess I am just wrong again and "boracic" = "of borax" is
the O'Level Chemistry explanation.

[Irwell]

On Sat, 16 Feb 2013 20:58:26 +0000, Ian Jackson wrote:

> In message
> <0ef272a1-cfab-4ec7...@r13g2000yqg.googlegroups.com>,
> Harrison Hill <harrison...@gmail.com> writes
>>A new word to aue: "borassic" - rhyming slang for "skint" I am told by
>>the online dictionaries - has been part of my Middle Class, Middle
>>England vocabulary since the sixties.
>>
>>"I'm completely borassic" = "I am totally skint".
>
> Indeed. Wikipedia explains all:
> Boracic lint was a type of medical dressing made from surgical lint that
> was soaked in a hot, saturated solution of boracic acid and glycerine
> and then left to dry.
>
> It has been in use since at least the 19th century, but is now less
> commonly used.
>

I can still feel the "ouch" when my mother removed the lint
from our scabbed over knees!

[Peter Moylan]

That makes more sense than my guess. I was thinking of the film "Boracic
Park".

--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.

[Guy Barry]

"Harrison Hill" wrote in message
news:0ef272a1-cfab-4ec7...@r13g2000yqg.googlegroups.com...

As others have mentioned, correctly spelt "boracic" (though often pronounced
"brassic"). I'm rather amused by the following response on the Guardian's
Notes and Queries page to someone asking about "brassic lint":

http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,,-185191,00.html

' The Term is "Borassic Lint". Putting the correct spelling into Google
will bring up hundreds of references. '

I also rather like the idea that "brassic" might mean "just having the brass
coins left".

--
Guy Barry

[Django Cat]

Harrison Hill wrote:

> A new word to aue: "borassic" -

Not to this member it isn't..

> rhyming slang for "skint" I am told by
> the online dictionaries - has been part of my Middle Class, Middle
> England vocabulary since the sixties.
>

Yup, that'll be about when I first heard it.

DC

--

[Guy Barry]

"Django Cat" wrote in message news:yc2Us.98290$8a5....@fx23.fr7...

>
>Harrison Hill wrote:
>
>> A new word to aue: "borassic" -
>
>Not to this member it isn't..

Harrison is absolutely right. The word "borassic", so spelt, has never
appeared here before this thread.

"Boracic", of course, has appeared several times - usually when correcting
someone else's spelling of "brassic". (Or, on one occasion, "borasic".)

--
Guy Barry

[Jerry Friedman]

On Feb 17, 12:46 am, "Guy Barry" <guy.ba...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> "Harrison Hill"  wrote in message
>
> news:0ef272a1-cfab-4ec7...@r13g2000yqg.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> >A new word to aue: "borassic" - rhyming slang for "skint" I am told by
> >the online dictionaries - has been part of my Middle Class, Middle
> >England vocabulary since the sixties.
>
> >"I'm completely borassic" = "I am totally skint".
>
> As others have mentioned, correctly spelt "boracic" (though often pronounced
> "brassic").   I'm rather amused by the following response on the Guardian's
> Notes and Queries page to someone asking about "brassic lint":
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,,-185191,00.html
>
> ' The Term is "Borassic Lint".  Putting the correct spelling into Google
> will bring up hundreds of references. '

:-)

> I also rather like the idea that "brassic" might mean "just having the brass
> coins left".

Specifically the farthings?

And how many people think it means "reduced to eating cabbage and
turnips"?

--
Jerry Friedman

[BCD]

***Mirabile dictu, the first thing I thought of was indeed the
Brassicaceae...

Best Wishes,

--BCD