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Author Topic: Help please with missing word: a rather ---- edition of Omar Khayyam  (Read 2575 times)

Offline BrazilianBombshell

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Help please with missing word: a rather ---- edition of Omar Khayyam
« on: Thursday 16 June 16 23:41 BST (UK) »
I need your help.  This is an entry into a my Mother's 1942 war time diary.  The word eluding me is on the 4th line after 'rather'.  I have tried for the last 5 years (I know I'm sad!) to work out what it could be.   Can anyone help me with this mystery? ???

Davies - Brazil
Pooley - London
Preston- Lincoln
Martyn - Lincoln
Cannon - Lincoln
Griffin - Dorset
Poore - Dorset
Dickinson - Leicester & Dorset

Offline GR2

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Re: Help please with missing word: a rather ---- edition of Omar Khayyam
« Reply #1 on: Thursday 16 June 16 23:55 BST (UK) »
Could it be "wiz", short for "wizard", in the sense of "delightful"? Chambers dictionary says it is an "old colloquial" usage. "...... he really is a wiz of a wiz ......." as several Munchkins have said.

Offline Isabel H

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Re: Help please with missing word: a rather ---- edition of Omar Khayyam
« Reply #2 on: Friday 17 June 16 00:00 BST (UK) »
 I agree with wiz(ard).


GRAY - Inveresk; Lanarkshire
LINDSAY - Lanarkshire
PURDIE - Lanarkshire; W. Lothian
POZZI - Elgin; Lancashire
MACKENZIE, MORISON - Stornoway
ARCHIBALD, HAY, HUNTER, SNADDON - Clackmannanshire
COXON, HALL, JACKSON, SHOTTON - Northumberland

Offline BrazilianBombshell

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Re: Help please with missing word: a rather ---- edition of Omar Khayyam
« Reply #3 on: Friday 17 June 16 00:02 BST (UK) »
Thank you very much GR2 and Isabel!  It makes sense now.  This one is now put to bed....  like me.  Thank you so.
Davies - Brazil
Pooley - London
Preston- Lincoln
Martyn - Lincoln
Cannon - Lincoln
Griffin - Dorset
Poore - Dorset
Dickinson - Leicester & Dorset

Offline Greensleeves

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Re: Help please with missing word: a rather ---- edition of Omar Khayyam
« Reply #4 on: Friday 17 June 16 21:22 BST (UK) »
I agree with 'wiz' (wizard) too; and the letter reminds me of the small edition of Omar Khayyam which my father used to carry about with him.  I think it was popular during WW2:  "Awake for morning in the bowl of night, Has flung the stones that put the stars to flight...."
Suffolk: Pearl(e),  Garnham, Southgate, Blo(o)mfield,Grimwood/Grimwade,Josselyn/Gosling
Durham/Yorkshire: Sedgwick/Sidgwick, Shadforth
Ireland: Davis
Norway: Torreson/Torsen/Torrison
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Offline Viktoria

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Re: Help please with missing word: a rather ---- edition of Omar Khayyam
« Reply #5 on: Friday 17 June 16 23:42 BST (UK) »
I have a small copy, about two and a half inches by three and a half.
Sadly the back and front are missing but it has a lovely illustration.
Gosh I`ts a long time since I read that.
Wasn`t it Richard Burton ( the explorer) who actually wrote it or am I getting mixed up?
                                                                            Viktoria.

Offline Powerhouse

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Re: Help please with missing word: a rather ---- edition of Omar Khayyam
« Reply #6 on: Saturday 18 June 16 20:12 BST (UK) »
Could the word  be wizened  edition of  . . . . .

Online Erato

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Re: Help please with missing word: a rather ---- edition of Omar Khayyam
« Reply #7 on: Saturday 18 June 16 20:15 BST (UK) »
Wizard?  In that context what would it mean?  Why would anyone abbreviate it?
Wiltshire:  Banks, Taylor
Somerset:  Duddridge, Richards, Barnard, Pillinger
Gloucestershire:  Barnard, Marsh, Crossman
Bristol:  Banks, Duddridge, Barnard
Down:  Ennis, McGee
Wicklow:  Chapman, Pepper
Wigtownshire:  Logan, Conning
Wisconsin:  Ennis, Chapman, Logan, Ware
Maine:  Ware, Mitchell, Tarr, Davis

Offline groom

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Re: Help please with missing word: a rather ---- edition of Omar Khayyam
« Reply #8 on: Saturday 18 June 16 22:05 BST (UK) »
Quote from: Erato on Saturday 18 June 16 20:15 BST (UK)
Wizard?  In that context what would it mean?  Why would anyone abbreviate it?

It was British slang used around the 1940s - wiz or whiz meaning superb; excellent; wonderful.
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