Glossary

30 terms

• Cancer stick (n. phrase) /ˈkæn.sər stɪk/

  Cigarette.

• Candaulism /ˌkænˈdɑl.ɪ.zəm/

  Paraphilia involving the exposure or display of one’s partner. In Buggery circles, another matter suitable for committee-level discussion.

• Cant /kænt/

  Anything Sir Hearty Luncheon dislikes. A category broad enough to include youth, politics, fashion and most of modernity.

• cauchemar (n.) /ˈkoʊʃ.mɑr/

  Nightmare [French].

  • French

• charivari /ʃɑːɹɪˈvɑːɹi/

  Rough music, mock procession or public shaming. Medusa’s preferred civic technology for converting grievance into theatre.

• Chemin de fer (n. phrase) /ʃəˈmɛ̃ də fɛr/

  Railway [French - literally, “iron road”].

  • French

• Chewish kvestion /ˈtʃuː.ɪʃ ˈkves.tʃən/

  Gamina Dročerpyatova’s rendering of the Jewish Question. A piece of imported political vocabulary made no wiser by accent.

• Chimmical (adj.) /ˈtʃɪmɪkəl/

  Chemical [vernacular].

  • vernacular

• China White (n. phrase) /ˈtʃaɪ.nə waɪt/

  High quality heroin or fentanyl analogue.

• Chlamydiathon (n.) /kləˈmɪd.i.ə.θɒn/

  Marathon event of sustained sexual misadventure. Terminal phase marked by rash, remorse, and recitative.

• Chocolate starfish (n.) /ˈtʃɒklət ˈstɑːrfɪʃ/

  Bumhole.

• Chthonic (adj.) /ˈθɒnɪk/

  Pertaining to the Underworld. [Greek: χθόνιος: in/under the earth].

  • Greek

• Chthonic deities /ˈθɒn.ɪk ˈdeɪ.ɪ.tiz/

  The powers beneath the earth, invoked whenever Bristol’s lower floors, drains or neighbours require classical accreditation.

• Clamjamfry (n.) /ˈklæmˌdʒæmfraɪ/

  Mob or collection of worthless odds and ends [Scots/Doric].

  • Scots

• Clarty (adj.) /ˈklɑːrti/

  Dirty or muddy [Scots/Doric]

  • Scots

• Codex Occultatum Optimatium /ˈkoː.dɛks ɔk.kʊlˈtaː.tʊm ɔp.tɪˈmaː.tɪ.ʊm/

  Secret constitutional manual of aristocratic immunity. Cited when ordinary law threatens to remember that noblemen have bodies.

• colonic irrigation /kəˈlɒn.ɪk ˌɪr.ɪˈɡeɪ.ʃən/

  Hydraulic cleansing of the colon. In Minerva Ledwitch’s hands, also a programme for the regeneration of Stokes Croft.

• Comble (n.) /kɔ̃bl/

  Crowd, with implications of overcrowding. See ‘foule’.

• Combled (n.) /kɒmbld/

  Crowded. By implication, over-crowded.

• Confirmed bachelor (n. phrase) /kənˈfɜːmd ˈbætʃələr/

  A poor thrower. The term, already belied by the existence of beards was fully vitiated by Lord Cameron’s legislation.

• Confuckin’servatives /kənˌfʌk.ɪnˈsɜː.və.tɪvz/

  Wankstain’s proposed party of choice. Conservatism with the verbal tic already built into the brand.

• Contemporaneous Traumatic Stress Disorder or Shallow Shock /kənˌtem.pəˈreɪ.ni.əs trɔːˈmæt.ɪk ˈstres dɪsˈɔː.də ɔː ˈʃæl.əʊ ˈʃɒk/

  Cheseham’s instant trauma response to proximity with Wankstain. Psychiatry, accelerated to conversational speed.

• Copracentric hobbyist community /ˌkɒp.rəˈsen.trɪk ˈhɒb.i.ɪst kəˈmjuː.nɪ.ti/

  Amelia De’Ath’s specialist clientele. A market segment best left to the imagination and her washable equipment.

• Coprasopher (n.) /ˈkɒp.rə.sɒf.ər/

  Prophetical cove, who examines for auguries the spoor of beast and man.

• Corvid /ˈkɔɹvɪd/

  Crow-family bird. Ian Corby is the local exemplar and civic proof that taxonomy need not impede public office.

• Corvus [ˈkɔr.wʊs]

  Crow or raven genus [Latin]. The classical label attached to Ian Corby’s tribe.

• Cottage (n.) /ˈkɒtɪdʒ/

  An edifice, ordinarily a public gentlemen’s water closet, used by confirmed bachelors, friends of Dorothy, and poor throwers as a kennel.

• Council of the Gods (n. phrase) /ˈkaʊn.səl əv ðə ɡɒdz/

  The appointed trustees of Lord Snatch, including such luminaries as Sir Hearty Luncheon, Lord Handjob, and Sir Ezra Tertiary-Syphilis. Meets to discuss matters of legacy, hygiene, and insurance liability.

• craque fumeurs /kʁak fy.mœʁ/

  Crack-smokers [mock/Frenchified vernacular]. One constituency in the novel’s urban anthropology.

• Crystal methodism /ˈkrɪs.təl ˈmeθ.ə.dɪ.zəm/

  Ian Corby’s unresolved synthesis of stimulant culture and nonconformist theology. Discussion repeatedly obstructed by hipsters.