English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

[marquis26]

Silly question, but is it capable of recognising the context in which the word has been used?

Nope.

[Bmblbzzz]

I'm not clear about the derivation of slaw in modern English. It might be a contraction of coleslaw/ cole-slaw or it might be directly from slaw (salad).

And it might differ between US English and UK English.

Wiktionary isn't great on derivation, but at least we can all see it:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slaw
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coleslaw

I'll look in the full OED later.

First recorded as cold slaw in 1794. That is a type of slaw (salad). Slaw then seems to have been more common in US English and than In UK English.

I'd guess that its recent usage in UK English comes from recent US English.

But I've no idea what "proper name" means in this instance. OED has cole-slaw rather than coleslaw.

Jonathan

It might have been written cold slaw but that's unlikely to be the origin, as almost all salads are eaten cold. Far more likely it's from the German Kohl, cabbage. Similarly, "slaw" in modern English is only used in reference to coleslaw, not any other salad, so it's reasonable to infer its modern usage is a contraction of coleslaw. The fact that its meaning in coleslaw is (cabbage or cold) salad is not directly its modern use.

[Jdsk]

If Trump wants real estate then he need not bother with small nations. Russia is truly massive and worn out by years of war in Ukraine, there would be some war damage but a USA led NATO response could sweep through Russia and ‘liberate’ it. Trump would be loathed to do it, having a bogeyman in place suits a lot of people, but it’s perfectly possible to do. Putin’s a clever man, but even clever men make the occasional slip.

Probably loath (or loth), but plenty of us loathe Trump already.

Jonathan

[Manc33]

From football as is usually the case:

"His passing accuracy is a joke."

~OR~

"His stats are a joke."

Anything with "a joke" at the end now apparently means they are good at the thing being mentioned, not bad!

Can't keep up with this stuff anymore.