Re: [tied] Colonial /r/'s

At 8:03:23 on Friday, 4 March 2005, tgpedersen wrote:

[...]

> Occasionally, knowing other Germanic languages than
> English I come across words and expressions that sound
> very similar to some I know in those languages, but
> 'science' (the local one) tells me these expressions have
> perfectly natural explanations from within English. I
> suspect sometimes they just aren't aware of those
> parallels in other languages.

> toss-pot (some Australian sitcom) cf. Danish tosse "idiot,
> fool", and cf Danish gnavpot "sourpuss".

I don't see a parallel: a tosspot is 'One accustomed to
toss off his pot of drink; a heavy drinker; a toper,
drunkard', attested by 1568.

Brian