In the film Withnail and I, Uncle Monty says: "Do you mean you've been up in all this beastly mud and oomska without wellingtons?"
Since he's talking about muddy lanes in the English Lake District which cows have been passing through, "oomska" presumably refers to cow dung - or at any rate to some unpleasant gunge of which cow dung is a main constituent.
The Anthony Powell citation comes in Chapter 3 of Books do Furnish a Room, but in that context it appears to have nothing to do with drunkenness, despite Bagshaw's fondness for a glass of beer. Rather it seems to imply complete ignorance:
"As a matter of fact I came across him in the first instance through a small ILP group in India, but Trapnel didn't know whether it was arse-holes or Tuesday, so far as all that was concerned."
I've been trying for years to find the origin of the phrase, but no-one (including members of the Anthony Powell Society) seems to know where it comes from.
Comments by tonysever
TonySever commented on the word cow dung
The word "dried" in the definition ("a piece of dried bovine dung") is wrong. Cow dung can be either wet or dry - the fresher the wetter!
March 20, 2012
TonySever commented on the word oomska
In the film Withnail and I, Uncle Monty says: "Do you mean you've been up in all this beastly mud and oomska without wellingtons?"
Since he's talking about muddy lanes in the English Lake District which cows have been passing through, "oomska" presumably refers to cow dung - or at any rate to some unpleasant gunge of which cow dung is a main constituent.
March 20, 2012
TonySever commented on the word doesn't know if it's arseholes or tuesday
The Anthony Powell citation comes in Chapter 3 of Books do Furnish a Room, but in that context it appears to have nothing to do with drunkenness, despite Bagshaw's fondness for a glass of beer. Rather it seems to imply complete ignorance:
"As a matter of fact I came across him in the first instance through a small ILP group in India, but Trapnel didn't know whether it was arse-holes or Tuesday, so far as all that was concerned."
I've been trying for years to find the origin of the phrase, but no-one (including members of the Anthony Powell Society) seems to know where it comes from.
January 2, 2012
TonySever commented on the word coaking
"The coaking just above the cap is not what any of our friends could wish."
Patrick O'Brian: H.M.S. Surprise (1973)
April 22, 2011
TonySever commented on the word Coco Blanc Bean
There's an explanation of coco blanc beans at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinkadvice/3322814/In-a-stew-coco-blanc-beans-ras-el-hanout-fromage-blanc.html
October 6, 2010