Sep
19
Billified
Category: Language |
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Today, I had some members of my form in a lates detention for the simple reason that they had arrived to school in an unpunctual manner. At the end of break I was told by MH, a friend of the three culprits, that she had been “billified”.
“Vilified?” I asked.
“No, billified,” MH clarified, “left on me bill”.
This was a new one on me so I asked colleagues later whether they had heard this word.
No. But it was agreed that this word was noteworthy. We were unsure whether the deverbal noun should be billification or billifaction although I prefer the latter since it would be less likely to be confused with vilification.
Knowing that the OED are keen to be able to date the first occurrence of new words, I thought it best to note it swiftly. I have no idea whether this word has been floating around Westhoughton’s youth for a while but I am posting it here and now for the record.
billify, bilify (billifying, billified) verb to cause someone to be alone
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A quick google on billified and meaning returns a prior use http://www.evboard.com/archive/index.php/t-24364.html – I’ve never heard anyone use “left on me bill” before (surely it’s more normally “left on my tod”?) so I guess it’s something from “up north”.
Here in t’north country, Billy No-mates is used in a self-explanatory way. It is routinely contracted to Billy. On my tod is, apparently, rhyming slang.