Thursday 19 June 2008

Nurging

To Nurg (verb): to make an automatic negative statement in response to a previous statement which involves no thought whatsoever on behalf of the speaker. For example: in response to 'weather turned out nice today' the reply 'Bound to rain later' is a nurg not just because it is a negative response but because no thought was expended in formulating it.

It is possible for a nurg to be made in response to another nurg and so on leading to conversations that consist entirely of nurging - a nurgue (pronounced nurg-way). Indeed amongst professional northerners resident in London the nurgue is the dominant conversational form (see bhliming).

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