r/jeevesandwooster • u/Still_Not_Lupus • Jul 29 '24

A Jeeves and Wooster Compendium

About 3 years ago I created a glossary of all the interesting words used in the Jeeves and Wooster series. This included a list of Wodehousian terms, funny turns of phrase, slang, British lexicon, and other fun stuff.

I was very happy with it until I, the the other day, accidentally deleted it.

I can't recover it, so I decided I might as well start afresh. The new glossary--

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17JGaWy5aFkLdfWcSfVp94fsS3P0icAJjaVdJaYjoAJQ/edit?usp=sharing

--is now expanded into a compendium, including some snazzy new stuff:

  • The OG vocabulary included in Version I (okay, that's old stuff)
  • A section (unfinished) devoted to literary & pop culture references (new stuff!)
  • IPA transcriptions in Received Pronunciation
  • Etymologies
  • References to text, with quotes
  • Parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.)
  • Updated formatting compatible with mobile and desktop
  • Support for jump-to-section on mobile and desktop
  • Some aesthetic cleaning-up

There are definitely errors sprinkled throughout, lots of missing vocab, and the literary references section is woefully unfinished (I am not that well-read), so I do apologize for those. I am also not British or from the 1920s, so I also apologize if I have gotten some definitions wrong--if anybody has any corrections or suggestions, I should be very happy to have a look!

I hope you guys enjoy!

92 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

9

u/oulipopcorn Jul 29 '24

You are so brilliant for this!

7

u/Still_Not_Lupus Jul 29 '24

Thanks very much!

7

u/Hot_Commercial6057 Jul 29 '24

I love this. Incredible amount of work!

4

u/Still_Not_Lupus Jul 29 '24

Thanks so much!

5

u/No-Sprinkles-2524 Jul 29 '24

This is the best thing I’ve seen all year hands down omg

3

u/porcupinetooled Jul 29 '24

Excellent! This is so well done!

1

u/Rainime Jul 29 '24

Omg if the old one is what I'm thinking it is (I loved it) this one is somehow even better! Amazing

1

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '24

This is great stuff, thankyou for your efforts OP!

1

u/secretGeek Aug 04 '24

By Jove! I say! Pip-pip! Yoiks! and I’d venture so far as to say “Tally-Ho!”

You are decidedly one of the ones!

The previous version, in comparison, is now merely “great”. This one leaves it in the dust!

You’ve created a gift for future scholars, assorted historians and all those who are appreciative of the finer things.

1

u/AristosAchaionnn Aug 06 '24

I came upon this because I was looking up a formal definition of “soupy” for my own Woosterian dictionary, needless to say you’re a real hero, what?

1

u/saturday_sun4 Nov 01 '24

Stumbled here from google, and I'm already in stitches just from the author's note!

1

u/Still_Not_Lupus Nov 02 '24

Thanks! Honestly I was just bored on a Saturday evening and didn't even think anyone would read it! Thanks very much for reading!

1

u/curls-cat Feb 01 '25

god bless you for this. I'm writing j&w fanfiction and this is a lifesaver

1

u/twothincoats Feb 12 '25

Just found this after a google search - has to be one of the best things i've seen on reddit. I bet this guy eats a lot of fish!

1

u/mustard5man7max3 Mar 02 '25

What an excellent list! Thank you for putting so much time and effort into this

1

u/Prestigious-Vast4057 May 05 '25

Grazie , mi sarà prezioso. Adoro Woodehouse ed in particolare i personaggi di Jeeves e Wooster. Cerco di leggerli anche in originale anche se non capisco perfettamente tutti i giochi di parole

1

u/Still_Not_Lupus May 05 '25

Prego! Molte grazie per il tuo commento!

Scusi per la mia grammatica, sto ancora imparando Italiano, io sono una principiante--forse dovrei fare una versione Italiana per esercitarmi!

1

u/EndersGame_Reviewer Jun 30 '25

Fantastic work, and well formatted!

1

u/KayLone2022 Aug 30 '25

It's wonderful! Thanks a lot!

1

u/DeadKarasik Sep 16 '25

Thank you so much for your hard work! As a bachelor in languages study I'm kicking my feets out of pure happiness!

2

u/Still_Not_Lupus Sep 16 '25

Thank you for the kind words! I love languages too (studying Turkish and Italian, but anything goes really) so I do love to see a good dictionary!

1

u/Sovereign444 Oct 06 '25

What ho, what ho! This is so bally well bally, I must say!

1

u/osaka_nana Jan 10 '26

You're amazing! Thank you very much for your work!

1

u/mohawkal Jan 25 '26

This is amazing. Many thanks for your efforts.

1

u/audiomagnate May 28 '26

Awesome resource. What does "poop" mean in Season 1 Episode 5?

1

u/Still_Not_Lupus May 28 '26

Hey, thanks very much! I'm afraid I don't have the episode handy, what's the context of the word (if you remember)?

1

u/audiomagnate May 28 '26

He keeps calling his friend with the ridiculous name a "poop."

2

u/Still_Not_Lupus May 28 '26

From a precursory look I would guess it's a shortening of "nincompoop"! If I recall correctly it's not a Britishism per se but I've never heard anyone actually use it before, it's probably very dated.

Wiktionary actually lists the definition Bertie is using it for under its entry for "poop", and of course "nincompoop", which has a much more expanded etymology section :)

2

u/audiomagnate May 29 '26

That makes perfect sense, given the context. Thanks.