Lovely post Phil - so lovely in fact that it's almost, but not quite, prodded me into doing the same for the equally minor-with-delusions-of-major public school I was a scholarship boy at.
Almost, but not quite...
I am one of those contemporaries from Lancing, with feelings about the whole experience very much like your own. Although I've not quite reached the point of saying I enjoyed it more than I loathed it. Perhaps the following was specific to Fields (at the risk of totally alienating state school educated people, this is the 'house' I boarded in while at Lancing), but 'Chopper' (also ('Wanger') was used to denote guys with particularly well-filled underwear, sometimes to the point that their actual names were never, ever used. Brings it all back, does this.
At my primary school (attendance ~200), we for some unfathomable reason adopted the word 'Dimbleby' to describe anything that was really rather good, or as an expression of delight. As in 'That picture's Dimbleby!' or 'My Mum's made me Marmite sandwiches for lunch! Dimbleby!' This happened when we were in the top year, and I can't remember if it was used outside our year group (probably not!)
At my secondary school (~600 of us) we didn't evolve any particular language quirks. Only two I can remember were in my A-level biology and chemistry group, unsurprisingly containing one person who was the instigator of both. The plant hormone gibberellins became 'gibber-gibber'; and the titration chemical phenolphthalein was either said in full (i.e. phenol-fuh-thaleeen) or called 'flannel-flannel'.
The things you miss out on with a state education...
More ejaculations than words, I remember clearly:
"Oh!": said somehow with two or sometimes three syllables. This was used to exclaim mocking dismay.
"Neh!": a staccato utterance. Often accompanied by a stroking of the nose with right forefinger. Denoted a lack of generosity in the accused.
"Bondage!": used by one Phil Hallard at the closing of Physics lessons. Reasons unknown.
M.
Lee: Thanks, I'd forgotten the penis metaphors. More metonymy going on there, I should think, not to mention... other things.
Sarah: "Dimbleby" for "good" is quite weird. Especially at primary school -- you'd have been a bit young for ironic pop-culture references.
(And I've just this moment remembered the prevalence in the 80s of "Jimmy Hill", accompanied by chin-stroking, as a synonym for "I find it difficult to believe that the facts you are imparting to me can be considered reliable". That one was pretty widespread, though.)
Martin: ...Good Heavens, how the hell are you? And how come you're reading my blog?
"Oh!" [...] >i>"Neh!"
I was trying to steer clear of (what I believe the masters used to call) "call-signs", because they're only dubiously linguistic, and also rather difficult to explain to a casual observer. I also remember (quite a lot of) others, designating such qualities as fatness, cleverness, shortness etc.
"Bondage!"
...and similarly I was avoiding personal nicknames. I think the examples I gave were, or became, capable of general application. Although my memory might be at fault there.
(You can take it as read that I'm wincing, though. What little shits we were back then. Not that Mrs Taylor couldn't give as good as she got, but even so.)
I think on balance, over my five years at Lancing, I'd have to say I loathed it more than I hated it.
I remember "Jimmy Hill"! "Itchy beard" was the other one.
There was a whole language of weird noises in Sandersons, thanks mainly to a couple of my contemporaries. ("Bo-weh" and "Schpeedly-dom" were peculiar to Sandersons, I think. Synonymous with "Oh...".) The one I heard most of was "Eeeehhh!" (to be growled rather than said), which was the code-noise for "fat". Then there was "Keen-o", which was used to describe anyone who set off for a class any earlier than five minutes after the class started. God forbid, etc etc.
I don't know about underwear, but in my day "Chopper" meant someone with a really big nose. A couple of the staff were Choppers. And "Spam" meant someone with a big forehead. And if you wanted to suggest someone was gay (or "gay") you'd start talking in a funny voice that was halfway between Zippy and George (and possibly say "Hurr", unless that was just Sandersons again).
And for some reason no one seemed to know, clearing-up duties after mealtimes were called "twos".
Yeah, cheers.
Mekon and rat- stampede. Nice to see you again Phil!.
John: Good call on "twos" -- that was the word I was trying to think of. I'd forgotten about "spam"... yes, that's a bit of an odd one. I think "Jimmy Hill" was in more general currency -- I remember it cropping up on The Mary Whitehouse Experience.
And Andrew: Nice to hear from you, too, if a little weird. I sometimes imagine you as an unobtrusive and self-effacing stalker, politely reminding me of your existence every ten years or so... Hope all's well, anyway.
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