The Internet Can Still Be Handy At Times

I was reading a book of short stories which became part of the public domain on 2026-01-01: Very Good, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse.  Earlier in the day the internet was "out" for over 3 hours so it was a chance to avoid the infinite scroll and read:

source: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77923

But although Very Good, Jeeves was written in English, this work was published in 1930 and Wodehouse was an Englishman - result was that there were references that I didn't understand. 

For example: 

Costermongers:  sellers of food, often from a cart, the cart being located in England

Whelk-stall owners:  a whelk is a saltwater snail eaten by English folk

The Sands of Dee:  tidal mudflats and salt marshes of the River Dee estuary between the Wirral Peninsula and North Wales (England adjacent - be careful when walking there !)

Patience on a Monument:  sitting perfectly still, composed, and unmoving while enduring deep, silent sorrow or waiting, often smiling through grief, phrase originally employed by an English poet and playwright: William Shakespeare in Twelfth Night

the third prox.:  the 3rd day of the following month (proximo mense)  (English upper crust folk in the early 20th century all seem to have studied Latin)

Chiyiking:  teasing, banter, mockery, or, in some contexts, a noisy, sarcastic, or, hearty greeting. It originally arose from London costermongers (there are those wacky English peddlers transforming into hecklers !)

Put a bit of custom in their way:  to direct business, customers, or work toward someone.  

all definitions taken from your friendly neighborhood internet Googletorium.  Luckily these all appear in a story,  Jeeves and the Song of Songs, which I was reading AFTER the internet service resumed :)  I suspect that some of these definitions are sorta like using AI generated subtitles on foreign origin videos - the meanings may not be spot on  but they are close enough to get the gist of the reference :)

In the olden, pre-internet days I probably would have just bleeped over these kinds of references but actually reading the text on a computer makes it so easy to question the all knowing oracle !

BTW, Very Good, Jeeves is a fun book but I've got the Jeeves and Wooster series on DVD so I am familiar with many of the episodes in Bertie's life already.  But the point is driven home in story after story that those with money and position are rarely smarter than the people who work for them :)

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm