Manky

[brawburd]

Is this a Scottish or English word?

Do YOU use it?  Where do you come from?

 

[sddsddean]

According to my dictionary, its colloquial British from an Old French and Latin root. I use it and I'm a Londoner.

[jenglc]

i dont use it but some people in my school do when they think somethings gross.. and im from wales =D

[Quizmonster]

'Manky' is the adjectival form from 'mank', a now-obsolete word of Scottish origin dating back to the 16th century. It meant to maim or mangle back then, which sort of fits with the current idea implied by 'manky' - that something is not quite right or dirty. The earliest recorded use of 'manky' - in 1958 - was in reference to someone having all his teeth out because they were 'mankey' with an 'e'. I do not think this meant they were grubby, but that they were misshapen or 'maimed'. TOED says the word is now 'local', so it will probably be present in some parts of the country and not in others.

[IndieSinger]

Hello Quizmonster! Which version of TOED do you use? TOED Online thinks the word is of English dialectological origin (but it agrees with you about F. Norman's usage in 1958).

[RevShirls]

My Scottish dictionary agrees with you, Quizmonster and I also have some examples of "mankit" and "mancke" in some early Scottish church texts from the 17th century.

[Lindy Loo]

I think we should agree to disagree on this or we might end up with a civil war again!!

Scotland v England..... I'm emigrating!!

[mully]

 I have used the word manky as in describing something very dirty such as ((my hairs manky it needs a good wash! )) and I come from newcastle.

[Artemis]

I first used at a little person in Lancashire in the late fifties.

[pinus]

I've certainly known and used the word for about 40 years, in the same sense as mentioned by Mully "My hair's all manky"

I've lived in Sheffield all my life

[calleach]

Ive used the word all my life to mean very dirty with over tones of stickiness and revulsion, often describing someone of unhygenic habits.EG observing someone picking their nose and eating it-"you manky B******"

I was brought up in central scotland

[IndieSinger]

I forgot to answer brawburd's other question. Yes I do use it, although more as a kid, to mean "disgusting, vile, dirty, vomit-inducing..." I grew up reet doon sooth near Oxford.

[IndieSinger]

I haven't finished. AnswerBankers usage of it as youngsters won't provide much of an answer as to the word's place of birth as, wherever it originated from, it was hundreds of years ago. But interesting nonetheless!

[Philtaz]

I use manky and it is often used by colleagues in work.  I live in North Wales.

[Dark Angel]

something dirty or tattered, perhaps.

[Quizmonster]

Dear Indie, I've had this debate about Oxford dictionaries on AnswerBank before. There are various types of this reference...the Concise...the Shorter...etc. However, there is only one publication which is correctly called 'THE Oxford English Dictionary' and that is the multi-volume one that fills a shelf in reference libraries, looking for all the world like a set of 'Encyclop�dia Britannica'. I'm lucky enough to possess such a thing.

When I quote from 'TOED', that's the one I mean and it alone is considered the ultimate arbiter of British - and very largely, American - word-meaning and etymology.

For 'manky', it says "from mank (adjective). Bad, inferior, defective, dirty." If one looks up 'mank' (adjective), it lists the 'maimed/mangled' ideas I offered above and further suggests probable Old French and Latin (mancus = maimed) sources. However, originally - as far as variants of the English language is concerned - mank was a Scottish usage re Brawburd's question.

Purely as a matter of interest, regarding the use of the word to mean just 'dirty' - as is now standard - the earliest reference is from 1971...that's 'yesterday' in etymological terms.

[gingerflaps]

hi there, yes i use the work 'manky/mank' i am from lincs, i have always used it and it means, gross, discusting, nasty.   for example if somebody has gangreen then u will say....'aughhhhh...ur arms gone all manky'  another version we all use is   'rank'

[Marsh]

Hi QM, if you've got a full-size OED, I wouldn't want to arm-wrestle you.

There is more than one version of the full OED. (see http://www.oed.com/about or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary )  .  I think Indie would like to know  when yours was published.  The CD-ROMs are now up to Version 3.1 but I would guess that the OED Online would be the most up-to date.

[silly moo]

miaow , miaow.
Handbags at dawn anybody?

I use it, I'm from the NE but have lived in N Wales and the midlands, have family in the south and in Norfolk, and have heard it used everywhere.

[Quizmonster]

Dear Marsh, the online 'OED' is, virtually by definition, likely to be the most up-to-date, but - when one is discussing a word with apparent English-language origins in the 16th century, how relevant is "up-to-dateness"? My 2nd Edition (1989) 'OED' says much the same as the online version in any case.

Online says 'origin uncertain' but its very first suggestion as to likely provenance is 'mank + y', which is where I came in, as it were. The earliest quote re the adjective 'mank' is from the Scottish poet, Gavin Douglas. Cheers

[Marsh]

Cheers.