Dickens: pison
Marius Hancu
"I’d ha’ been glad to pison the beer myself,” said the Jack, “or put
some rattling physic in it.”
"to pison," is that "to piss on?"
"rattling physic," is that a medicine that would make the person
ingesting it to rattle with cough? Or is "rattling" just "damn(ed)?"
---
[The Jack doesn't seem to like the putative Customs officers who
passed by]
“A four–oared galley, did you say?” said I.
“A four,” said the Jack, “and two sitters.”
“Did they come ashore here?”
“They put in with a stone two–gallon jar for some beer. I’d ha’ been
glad to pison the beer myself,” said the Jack, “or put some rattling
physic in it.”
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, p. 658
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/dickens/charles/d54ge/chapter54.html
---
--
Thanks.
Marius Hancu
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
<marius...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Hello:
>
>"I’d ha’ been glad to pison the beer myself,” said the Jack, “or put
>some rattling physic in it.”
>
>"to pison," is that "to piss on?"
>
It is a long-i as in "pie". "Pison" is a pronunciation spelling of
"poison".
>"rattling physic," is that a medicine that would make the person
>ingesting it to rattle with cough? Or is "rattling" just "damn(ed)?"
>
I'd understand it to mean "powerful".
>---
>[The Jack doesn't seem to like the putative Customs officers who
>passed by]
>
>“A four–oared galley, did you say?” said I.
>
>“A four,” said the Jack, “and two sitters.”
>
>“Did they come ashore here?”
>
>“They put in with a stone two–gallon jar for some beer. I’d ha’ been
>glad to pison the beer myself,” said the Jack, “or put some rattling
>physic in it.”
>
>Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, p. 658
>http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/dickens/charles/d54ge/chapter54.html
>---
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
sproz
> Hello:
>
> "I’d ha’ been glad to pison the beer myself,” said the Jack, “or put
> some rattling physic in it.”
>
> "to pison," is that "to piss on?"
No - to poison. He's trying to render some regional pronunciation.
Sounds very "arrr, me hearties" (i.e. mock-pirate or wizened old
sailor) to me.
> "rattling physic," is that a medicine that would make the person
> ingesting it to rattle with cough? Or is "rattling" just "damn(ed)?"
Not sure about this one. I don't think "rattling" was ever a swear-
word, though.
Mark
James Hogg
> Hello:
>
> "I’d ha’ been glad to pison the beer myself,” said the Jack, “or put
> some rattling physic in it.”
>
> "to pison," is that "to piss on?"
Poison
> "rattling physic," is that a medicine that would make the person
> ingesting it to rattle with cough? Or is "rattling" just "damn(ed)?"
>
> ---
> [The Jack doesn't seem to like the putative Customs officers who
> passed by]
>
> “A four–oared galley, did you say?” said I.
>
> “A four,” said the Jack, “and two sitters.”
>
> “Did they come ashore here?”
>
> “They put in with a stone two–gallon jar for some beer. I’d ha’ been
> glad to pison the beer myself,” said the Jack, “or put some rattling
> physic in it.”
Probably a quick-working laxative.
--
James
Cheryl P.
I thing 'rattling' used to be used as a slang word to mean 'great,
marvellous'. I thought I'd have trouble finding that meaning, but the MW
online has "2 : extraordinarily good : splendid"
--
Cheryl
sproz
Preserved in the stock phrase "a rattling good yarn".
Mark
ke...@cam.ac.uk
No, but it was used as a rather general-purpose intensifier - "a rattling good
yarn". I don't think it has any more specific role here.
Katy