272 HULL SCIENTIFIC AND FIELD NATURALISTS CLUB. 



" Leeacin' van's jacket " is another little performance that none 

 of us would go through voluntarily. The "lacing - " is 

 painful and tedious, and if one cared to investigate the 

 origin of the phrase, we might find it a piece of pre- 

 historic humour, dating from the antiquity of the button- 

 less age, when men were saved from profane language 

 because they had no buttons to come off. 



The original Licking was done by the tongue, but the 

 later "licking" — figurative, sensational, painful — was, 

 and yet is, done by something that appeals to the 

 feelings even more strongly than the tongue, an appeal 

 the strength of which is proportionate to the strength of 

 the arm of the " licker." We still speak of things being 

 " licked into shape," an expression suggestive of toil and 

 trouble. 



Linen, Slinge, Swinge, Swipe, and Slipe are words of similar 

 import. In order to be carried into effect they require 

 some pliable, supple instrument, a whip for preference. 

 The word " swipe " is indeed the old Norse word for 

 " whip," and from it we obtain the word " swipple," the 

 shorter, swinging, whipping part of a flail, the part 

 which, if you use a flail carelessly, takes a malicious 

 delight in descending on your head instead of on the 

 sheaf it is intended to thresh. 



The word Lug calls up memories of the torture of childhood's 

 days, when we thought tidy hair a curse and tousled 

 locks a blessing. The pain undergone in the " reeting " 

 operation shewed what could be done to an enemy if only 

 a handful of his hair could be grasped and " lugged." It 

 could bring the doughtiest warrior to his knees suing for 

 mercy. 



The word Lump, used as a compound with " heead " and 

 "skull," forms expressive words — "lump heead," 

 " lumpskull " — and both beauty and expression are 

 enhanced if " greeat " be added thereto. To "lump" 

 the head is to beat it with sufficient violence to cause a 

 lump ; but curiously, if such lump be isolated and 

 detached, and not one of a chain or ridge, it is known as 

 a " cool." 



A Mallet is called a " mell," so "to mell " anybody is 

 to give them a " hammering." This is another of the 

 Northmen's words so common in our dialect. 



