12-01-2007, 05:30 PM
Quote:Can anyone PM me with the meaning of 'cavorting ninny'? PLEASE?
No, but I'll tell you in front of everybody else. Embarrassed or something, Robert? ;-)
The OED defines the verb to cavort thusly: 'to curvet, prance, caper about, frisk, bound', whilst a ninny is, according to the same source, 'a simpleton; a fool'.
It doesn't get any more authoritative than that. I first used the expression to The Good Dr Coulston many years ago to describe some of the less reputable groups of Roman re-enactors and he now regularly re-issues it with the sort of twinkle in his eye that only he can manage.
It works a bit like insanity: if you wonder whether YOU are a cavorting ninny, or want to ask me if it is the case, then you probably aren't. If, on the other hand, you are pretty damn sure you're NOT one... then the chances are that you are indeed such a creature.
Mike Bishop
