I heard a comment about the names people have for the end slice of a loaf. An inane sort of topic one might think.
Lots of answers were being given, such as Heel, Bite, Crust, Dobie, but none used the word that I grew up with.
My father always called the end slices of a loaf the ‘Noggy-ends’, and this was the term I used in my turn. I had no idea where that came from. Pop was brought up in south London but his parents were a Geordie miner and Oxford farmer’s lass respectively, so it could have come from anywhere.
As a writer I am often researching old expressions for various everyday items for stories set in a particular time frame. It adds verisimilitude (I hope).
Given that Noggy-end is a term I have not heard for some years I thought I would look it up. Twenty five different online slang dictionaries later (yes, I am that sad) I had found just 4 references.
ref 1 = London: slang – end of loaf.
So far so good. But… I also found:
• American slang Noggy : term used offshore to refer to a Norwegian person – Englishman is a limey a Norwegian is a Noggy.
• Australian slang: Noggy: term used 1950s – for Vietnamese or similar asian person
• Black country/Birmingham : slang for outdated or old fashioned.
Granted these last four were all ‘Noggy’ and not ‘Noggy-end’ but it is food for thought.
Given that ‘Noggy-ends’ appear to be drifting off into the mists of time, and that ‘Noggy’ has numerous possible meanings, will it re-emerge sometime in the future as a slang term used in mid to late 19th century for all of these things?
I have to wonder – how accurate are the slang dictionaries that we writers are using now?
Should we be logging these vanishing words and phrases now for posterity?
More food for thought.
Jan Edwards 