# ξεκατίνιασμα = slanging match



## nickel (Oct 13, 2010)

Ο πολιτικός διάλογος συχνά ξεπέφτει σε επίπεδο σκυλοκαβγά και ξεκατινιάσματος. Τα ελληνοαγγλικά λεξικά δεν έχουν αυτή τη σημασία του _ξεκατινιάσματος_. Εδώ το _ξεκατινιάζω_ δεν έχει σχέση με το _εξουθενώνω_ (και τη σπονδυλική στήλη, _catena_, απ' όπου προέρχεται), αλλά με τη μικροπρεπή _Κατίνα_ και την ανταλλαγή μικροπρεπών χαρακτηρισμών, πέρα από κάθε ουσία της πολιτικής επιχειρηματολογίας. Για απόδοση σκέφτηκα το *slanging match*, αλλά ίσως να υπάρχουν και καλύτερες, ανάλογα και με τη χρήση του ελληνικού όρου.

Ένα ενδιαφέρον σημείωμα για το _slanging match_ βρήκα στον ιστότοπο του Μάικλ Κουίνιον και το αντιγράφω.

Q: How did the expression _slanging match_ develop? Its meaning is well-known, but how did _slang_, meaning informal language, make its way into this compound noun?

A: Its meaning is well-known in British and Commonwealth circles, but puzzled comments when I used it a couple of years ago suggest that Americans are less familiar with it. A _slanging match_ is a vituperative argument or an exchange of abuse.

The experts are sure the origin is indeed the noun _slang_, which dictionaries note is itself slang in origin, though nobody has the slightest idea where it’s from. It dates from the middle of the eighteenth century. Before then the usual word was _cant_, for the secret language of thieves and beggars. This is from Latin _cantare_, to sing, via a disparaging reference to medieval church services and the whining speech of some beggars.

The link with _slanging match_ comes about through slang becoming a verb meaning to abuse or insult people, which is known from the early decades of the nineteenth century. Since much slang is itself disparaging or insulting, it’s not hard to see how this developed. In 1864 Charlotte M Yong wrote in her novel _Trial_, “I never had such a slanging in my life!”

_Slanging match_ appears at the end of the century to mean a bout of verbal fisticuffs. An early example is in a book by Thomas E Taylor entitled _Running the Blockade: A Personal narrative of Adventures, Risks, and Escapes during the American Civil War_: “A slanging match went on between us, like that sometimes to be heard between two penny steamboat captains on the Thames.”

Intriguingly, in view of its current distribution, early examples were as common in the US as they were in Britain. It would seem that Americans fell out of love with it but we Brits didn’t.​


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## Cadmian (Oct 13, 2010)

*Dissing* σε πιο σύγχρονο κόντεξτ, έστω κι αν το urban dictionary δεν καλύπτει όλο το εύρος της λέξης.


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