I haven’t heard nob used that way. Describing someone as a nob = ‘posh’ person is thought to derive from noble. So perhaps using nob to describe excellence is an extension of the same thought.
But describing someone as a deadset ‘nob’ (another of Nico’s examples) should actually be a deadset ‘knob’. And that slang in turn derives from one of the slang terms used to refer to a private part of a male’s anatomy!
Thanks Meg - in future I will know the difference between 'nob' and 'knob' and apply my knowledge appropriately!
He reminds him of the guys, close-set, slow, and never rattled, who were play-makers on the team. (John Updike, seeing Josh Kennedy in a crystal ball)
So not to confuse Rowbottom with other kinds of nobs and knobs, why don't we call him Swan Nephew Of Brian.
If a horse is a wet tracker they say he is a nob in the wet.
Drongo was a horse back in the day (40's I believe) who couldn't win a race. Hence the term "he is a drongo" (meaning a loser). One of my dad's favourite terms.
Nob appears to be one of those words that has changed somewhat over the years to have a number of meanings in the vernacular of language, and this maybe peculiar to Australia, or even parts of Australia.
Last edited by Nico; 20th October 2020 at 06:12 PM.
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