۱۴۰۲ فروردین ۷, دوشنبه

such a sog! such a sogger!

English translation: what a heavy one!

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	such a sog! such a sogger!
Selected answer:	what a heavy one!
Entered by:	Charles Davis

12:21 Jun 9, 2012

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters

English term or phrase: such a sog! such a sogger!

"Oh! see the suds he makes!" cried Flask, dancing up and down—"What a hump—Oh, DO pile on the beef—lays like a log! Oh! my lads, DO spring—slap-jacks and quahogs for supper, you know, my lads—baked clams and muffins—oh, DO, DO, spring,—he's a hundred barreller—don't lose him now—don't oh, DON'T!—see that Yarman—Oh, won't ye pull for your duff, my lads—such a sog! such a sogger! Don't ye love sperm? There goes three thousand dollars, men!—a bank!—a whole bank! The bank of England!—Oh, DO, DO, DO!—What's that Yarman about now?"

Thank you!

Michael Kislov
Russian Federation

what a heavy one!

Explanation:
"Sogger" is found with this meaning in some dialect dictionaries. I have also found "sog", with the variant "sogger", as a dialect word for a blow, but I think the meaning of something heavy fits the context better.

"Sog" (sb1) is defined as "1. A mass of earth; any solid bulk" and as "3. A blow", and "Sogger" as "1. Anything large and heavy, a large lump" and "2. A heavy blow, a thump". "Sogger" is ascribed to Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Shropshire"; "sog" is found more widely.
Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, Being the Complete Vocabulary of All Dialect Words Still in Use, or Known to Have Been in Use during the Last Two Hundred Years (1898), vol. V
http://archive.org/stream/englishdialectdi05wrig#page/608/mo...

Selected response from:

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 22:19

Grading comment

4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

4 +2

3 +1

Discussion entries: 1

Answers

43 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

a fish

Explanation:
Such a big fish!

Apparently the language used in Nantucket to describe a fish

"Viewed from a distance, the practised eye of the sailor only could decide, that the moving mass, which constituted this enormous animal, was not a white cloud sailing along the horizon. On the spermaceti whale, barnacles are rarely discovered; but upon the head of this lusus naturae, they had clustered, until it became absolutely rugged with the shells. In short, regard him as you would, he was a most extraordinary fish ; or, in the vernacular of Nantucket, 'a genuine old sog,' of the first water. "
http://history1800s.about.com/od/whaling/f/realmobydick.htm

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Note added at 50 mins (2012-06-09 13:11:37 GMT)
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The Penguin edition of 'Moby Dick' gives this explanation:
"From 'hog', 'log', 'quohog', dog' to 'dogger', 'sog' to 'sogger: such a large whale (Dictionary of American English),
such a 'lump'! (Wright, English Dialect Dictionary)

katsy
Local time: 22:19
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 112

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Jack Doughty

9 mins

-> thanks Jack :-)

agree

Charles Davis: "What a large whale" is right. I was working through Wright and didn't get to the Dictionary of American English!

13 mins

-> Thanks Charles! Must admit that I only have the quote from the Penguin ed. of MD, as I say, and am having difficulty finding the original dictionary entry... :-)

disagree

airmailrpl: whales are not fish ... see above

27 mins

-> I absolutely agree that whales are not fish.... I should have adjusted the quote above, which describes the "real" Moby Dick. And maybe should have just suggested "what a whopper". Tx for your remark :-)

neutral

B D Finch: Mammals they may be, but I don't think this is a text with pretentions to zoological correctness. Nonetheless, "what a whopper" seems better than "what a fish".

4 hrs

-> Tx for your remark BD :-)It's sometimes hard to find a balance between explaining what it means, and giving a good synonym; "what a whopper" is a better synonym I agree!

52 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

what a heavy one!

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 22:19
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 572

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