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"demic"
15 Answers
Has anyone come across the use of this word and the meaning of it?
Maybe some kind of northern colloquial word?
Thanks for any help.
Maybe some kind of northern colloquial word?
Thanks for any help.
Answers
Best Answer
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.The Oxford English Dictionary refers to it as a nonce-word (i.e. coined for just one occasion), meaning 'belonging to or characteristic of the people', and cites the source as 'The angler in Wales; or, Days and nights of sportsmen' by Thomas Medwin, 1834. ("Perhaps beauty is demic or epidemic here").
Whether your hearing of it is related to the origin and meaning is, of course, unsure. There might be a similar dialect word (with a completely different meaning) that has, as yet, escaped the attention of the OED's compilers.
Whether your hearing of it is related to the origin and meaning is, of course, unsure. There might be a similar dialect word (with a completely different meaning) that has, as yet, escaped the attention of the OED's compilers.
Tt is also in the urban dictionary as: Not fit for purpose. Applies to both people and objects.
http:// www.urb andicti onary.c om/defi ne.php? term=de mic
http://
A bit of googling shows 'demic' (in the sense referred to by the northerners above) used in Stockport:
http:// www.bbc .co.uk/ manches ter/hav e_your_ say/200 2/11/06 /manc_w ords_3. shtml
and in Barnsley:
http:// stevewe therill .com/ca tegory/ yorkshi re-slan g/
(which is odd because I lived just a few miles from Barnsley for many years, yet I don't recall hearing it!)
I suspect that whoever registered the name 'Demic Limited' with Companies House (for a Leeds-based business) was probably not aware of the image it would portray to many people in the area ;-)
http://
and in Barnsley:
http://
(which is odd because I lived just a few miles from Barnsley for many years, yet I don't recall hearing it!)
I suspect that whoever registered the name 'Demic Limited' with Companies House (for a Leeds-based business) was probably not aware of the image it would portray to many people in the area ;-)
I 1st heard the word demic 40yrs ago when i was 13 and had a part time job in Castleford West Yorkshire working for a man who sold carpets and toys in different shops. . It was used when referring to goods that were what we would call seconds these days, Often the boss would refer to carpets that the print/pattern/colour had gone askew on during the manufacturing process as demics. Same with toys that were nt up to scratch too. Hope that helps a little foks.
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