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From: byrd@portia.Stanford.EDU (Greg Byrd)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: "jemmy" vs. "jimmy" [was Re: Randomised Instruction Set Computer]
Keywords: viruses
Message-ID: <1990Jun8.165850.20903@portia.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 8 Jun 90 16:58:50 GMT
References: <3131@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au> <14060@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM> <3199@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au>
Organization: AIR, Stanford Universit
Lines: 30

In article <3199@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au> ok@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au (Richard A. O'Keefe) writes:
[prev. quote removed]

>I wrote "jemmy".  Barry Traylor, apparently without checking a dictionary,
>added "(sic)".  here we go:
>	jemmy (N,Count,^tool,=crowbar) A *jemmy* is a heavy metal
>	bar which is curved at one end and which is used as a tool
>	especially by criminals for forcing things open;  used in
>	British English.  E.g. "Any filing cabinet will yield to
>	a jemmy and a bit of brute force."
>To jemmy something is to force it with a jemmy.  Clearly the metaphor
>in "jemmy that lock" is "use special tools to break something open
>with criminal intent".  No "(sic)" needed.


In fairness to Mr. Traylor, the American usage is "jimmy," and that's
how it's listed in *my* dictionary.

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Greg Byrd                 byrd@sumex-aim.stanford.edu
Knowledge Systems Lab     701 Welch Rd., Bldg. C, Palo Alto, CA  94304
Stanford University       (415) 725-3849



-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Byrd                 byrd@sumex-aim.stanford.edu
Knowledge Systems Lab     701 Welch Rd., Bldg. C, Palo Alto, CA  94304
Stanford University       (415) 725-3849