Tickety-Boo #BriFri
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That week flew by, but everything is tickety-boo. So, for a quick post, I looked up tickety-boo, a word that I keep hearing on Foyle’s War.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, tickety-boo is used colloquially to mean: “In order, correct, satisfactory.” The first quotation cited is from 1939, so Samantha Stewart’s use of it in the World War II drama is quite appropriate.
The OED isn’t committing to an etymology for tickety-boo. One possibility is that it comes from a Hindi word with a similar meaning. Another is that it grew out of the expression, “that’s the ticket!”
Tickety-boo is apparently not much used today, so it might sound odd for an American in London to say it. Too bad — it’s such a fun word to say!
Posted this week ( a bit later than planned) is the latest Booker winner i read – this one is set in Wales and is funny as well as making a serious point about national identity
I want to use it. Tickety-Boo sounds appropriate for Halloween!
Tickety-boo is an excellent phrase. It’s just so satisfying to say.
This week I reviewed Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “The Shuttle.” I really enjoyed it, and it is pro-American to a point that is really almost bizarre. Kind of weird, anyway.
Every time I hear Tickety-boo, I think of Call the Midwife
I have been meaning to start Foyle’s War over again from the beginning, I stopped off somewhere in series 2…but that was a year or two ago. I’ve been so busy binge-watching MERLIN that I haven’t gotten around to Foyle’s War yet.
Binge-watching Merlin takes a long time!
I love that expression! I have a hunch the hindi expression (tikai babu meaning okay, sir) is the correct one. I can easily see the Brits getting a kick out of the phrase and parroting it back but mangling it, can’t you?
I haven’t seen all the Foyles War episodes—it’s catch as catch can—but I especially love the episodes that feature Foyle with Paul and Samantha. Honeysuckle Weeks—what a name—is especially endearing.
Have a great week!
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