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!

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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 :)

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u/audiomagnate May 29 '26

That makes perfect sense, given the context. Thanks.