hobson-jobson

plural hobson-jobsons

1. countableuncountableAlternative letter-case form of Hobson-Jobson.

plural Hobson-Jobsons · alternative hobson-jobson

1. countableobsoleteslanguncountableAny Indian religious observance, especially the Muharram.

   ‘You must be moped to death in this dull place; and next week is Hobson Jobson. Can’t you throw some dust any how, in the eyes of the cat, and meet me and Philip somewhere, and so get away to the Tamacha.’

   1851, Jamie Gordon, page 85

   1 more example

   The dusky sons of Mohammed have been having a high old time down at the British India Company’s wharves during the past few days. [. . .] It was the great week of ‘Hobson-Jobson,’ as it is known out East, or the time of the Mohurram.

   1903 April 8, Queensland Figaro, Brisbane, page 23, column 2

2. uncountablehuman sciencesThe assimilation of borrowed lexes, either partial or whole, to word forms of the borrowing language.

   Falaun, s. […] gradually, by a process of Hobson-Jobson, this was turned into Forlorn.

   1886, Henry Yule, A.C. Burnell, Hobson-Jobson, page 265

   1 more example

   Learned persons, especially those who know all about ‘Volksetymologie,’ whether under that imposing name, or more familiarly as ‘Hobson-Jobson,’ are advised to pass on to the next question.

   1909 February 20, The Argus, Melbourne, page 6, column 4

3. countablehuman sciencesA word or phrase borrowed by one language from another and modified in pronunciation to fit the set of sounds the borrowing language typically uses.

   CARAFT, here is a delicious Hobson-Jobson from that veritable well of curious Anglo-Indianisms, the Madras Manual of Administration[.]

   1899 June 28, Indian Antiquary, page 161, column 2

   2 more examples

   If the French for pun, calembour, derives (as Spitzer maintained) from "conundrum"; this points up well the at first puzzling effect of such devices. Caran d'Ache is in fact an intentional hobson-jobson.

   1977, Robert H. Stacy, Defamiliarization in Language and Literature, page 51

   A Hobson-Jobson turns a difficult word or phrase into something more tractable (or perhaps less offensive). By that route, a Texas river that French trappers had named Purgatoire became the Picketwire, and the Malay word kampong became the English word compound.

   2003, Jan Venolia, The Right Word!, page 4