From: elton Tue Dec 30 08:25:38 1997
Subject: What does "nitnorth" mean?
> BTW, while I'm thinking of it: What the heck does Nitnorth mean?
> (Is it allowed to ask?)
Good god. You mean you've never been standing around when that
question got asked? Gevalt!
"Nitnorth" == "Elton".
There, that was simple, wannit?
No, really. Do you remember The Hobbit, and "'Tis the shin of
my Nuncle Tim, who's ten years etc."? Some dialects pull the
"n" off "an" and stick it on the front of the following noun:
"an uncle" ==> "a nuncle". With me so far? Okay: "an Elton"
==> "a Nelton".
Now, lenition. "Aethelington" is pronounced "Elton" because
folks are too lazy to pronounce that many syllables. Hence,
"Nelton" ==> "Nelt".
Now, diminution. "Nelt" ==> "Neltie".
Oops -- still too much work to say; "lt" is a complex sound.
"Neltie" ==> "Nittie".
There, that's almost right. But we can shorten it from that.
"Nittie" ==> "Nit".
That process took about six months, and was accomplished by my
friends-from-across-the-street, Michael Post & John Bollenbacher,
lamentably now moved to New Hamster or some such. The "north"
bit showed up out of the blue shortly thereafter. (There's a
linguistic name for that phenomenon, but I've forgotten it: it's
the thing that gave rise to Cockney rhyming slang.)
Do you feel enlightened?
-- Elton