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Wim Wam
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If I asked what something was my grandparents answered "it's a wim wam for a ducks bridle". Has anyone else come across this saying, where did it originate from and what does it mean ?
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Yes, except it was for wim wom for a gooses bridle. This was the answer I was given when pestering my parents to tell me what my birthday present was going to be. I understand it as something that is totally unnecessary, but could be wrong
I have never come across is before, until now. My mother said it is just an expression she knew of without knowing the origins.
I would be very interested if anyone knows more about the expression
I have never come across is before, until now. My mother said it is just an expression she knew of without knowing the origins.
I would be very interested if anyone knows more about the expression
Click here for an expert's explanation.
it's just a nonsense answer intended to mean nothing. A New Zealand relation of mine, asked where she'd been, would answer 'Up the boo-aye shooting pukackies'. Even when she politely explained that this derived from a town called Puhoi and birds called pukekos, it was still clear that the meaning was 'ask no questions and you'll be told no lies'.
As 'whim-wham' is only known in Australia as part
of this set phrase, folk etymology has often
turned it into 'wigwam', and also to other forms,
such as the questioner's 'wing-wong', and also as
'wig-***'. And 'bridle' has sometimes been
converted to 'bridal', which adds another layer of
confusion to an already mysterious saying.
It is clear that there has been a long history of
nonsense phrases intended to silence intrusive
enquiries about what one was doing, such as
telling someone that your job was "weaving leather
aprons". Other forms of our expression that have
been recorded in Britain include "a whim-wham for
ducks to perch on", "a whim-wham for a treacle
mill", and "a whim-wham to wind the sun up".
http://lloyd.emich.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0109e& L=worldwidewords&P=97
of this set phrase, folk etymology has often
turned it into 'wigwam', and also to other forms,
such as the questioner's 'wing-wong', and also as
'wig-***'. And 'bridle' has sometimes been
converted to 'bridal', which adds another layer of
confusion to an already mysterious saying.
It is clear that there has been a long history of
nonsense phrases intended to silence intrusive
enquiries about what one was doing, such as
telling someone that your job was "weaving leather
aprons". Other forms of our expression that have
been recorded in Britain include "a whim-wham for
ducks to perch on", "a whim-wham for a treacle
mill", and "a whim-wham to wind the sun up".
http://lloyd.emich.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0109e& L=worldwidewords&P=97
It was interestingto read your 'expert's' opinion. My father, when I asked what something was, used to reply it was a wim-wom (or whim-whom), to which I obviously asked what a wim-wom was. His reply was "a machine for grinding smoke". It's a futher curious coincidence that I was brought up in Devon(where this expression was also used by another), although my father was from Oxfordshire.
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