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Where does the word "nork" originate?

19 replies

msappropriate · 05/08/2007 22:16

Is it a mumsnet word? Was watching Mock the Week this week and Hugh Dennis said it twice. My dp said he had never heard of it. Perhaps Hugh Dennis is a mumsnetter?

OP posts:
TranquilaManana · 05/08/2007 22:17

i thought that...

pinkteddy · 05/08/2007 22:19

Yes I did too! Or his DP/DW!

WendyWeber · 05/08/2007 22:20

It's Australian - will find derivation for you in a sec

hatrick · 05/08/2007 22:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

whomovedmychocolate · 05/08/2007 22:20

I'm having this amazing sense of deja vu - didn't we do this the other day?

Oh fick I'm dreaming about MN now!

TheQueenOfQuotes · 05/08/2007 22:20

"norks Noun. Female breasts. (Orig. Aust?)"

Wilkepedia says it's "British English" for breasts....

msappropriate · 05/08/2007 22:21

I have been away on holiday and am a very irregular poster so it may well have been

OP posts:
filchthemildmanneredjanitor · 05/08/2007 22:21

it's an australian word coming from the norco dairy i think.

cousinsandra · 05/08/2007 22:21

I'm sure French and Saunders used it?

whomovedmychocolate · 05/08/2007 22:21

I'm having this amazing sense of deja vu - didn't we do this the other day?

Oh fick I'm dreaming about MN now!

filchthemildmanneredjanitor · 05/08/2007 22:22

Breasts. Australian slang. Derived from the prominent udders on the cow used to advertise Norco, New South Wales' North Coast Dairy Co-Operative.

WendyWeber · 05/08/2007 22:23

Urban Dictionary

This looks like the earliest post there:

  1. norks

Breasts, particularly the female variety. Australian in origin (i think)

Whoarr - check out the norks on that Shelia

by Wolly Nov 1, 2002

TheQueenOfQuotes · 05/08/2007 22:23

This Australian term for a woman?s breast appeared in the early 1960s. The popular etymology concerning its origin was supplied by Sidney Baker in The Australian Language(1966), when he associated it with the NSW butter manufacturer, the Norco Co-operative?at one stage a cow?s udder was featured on the wrapping of the butter. This has never been a convincing story, and we marked our entry in The Australian National Dictionary?of uncertain origin?. We received a letter from Fred Parkes who offers a different explanation:

By chance I came across the entry norks in your dictionary, saying it is Australian slang for women?s breasts, origin unknown. I can set you right, having been around when the expression started. ?NORKS? is the abbreviation for the New Orleans Rhythm Kings?a famous band of the 1920s. They were frequently referred to as the NORKS by members of Len Barnard?s Famous Jazz Band in the 1950s (several recordings on the Australian Swaggie label). Somehow, a member of that band (and I don?t know which member) used the expression when referring to one of the dancer?s big tits, and the word seemed so appealing in that context that the whole band started referring to tits as norks. Within a short time the expression had spread throughout the Australian jazz scene and then gradually to the jazz followers among the general public. It originated in Melbourne, at the Mentone Lifesaving Club. The Len Barnard band had a regular Sunday night gig there for some years.... The expression was used in the band as a disguised way of drawing attention to big tits. After all, one could hardly call out ?TITS? from the bandstand to alert the other players.

TranquilaManana · 05/08/2007 22:23

wmmc - hehehe

cousinsandra · 05/08/2007 22:26

wow, that's authentic! and yes, you are the queen of quotes!

WanderingTrolley · 05/08/2007 22:28

It's in Surrey

TheQueenOfQuotes · 05/08/2007 22:28

don't know how correct that info is though....and now can't find the website I found it on to link too

WendyWeber · 06/08/2007 10:48

It makes sense anyway, QoQ - well, sort of

This was also on the urban dictionary site:

WendyWeber · 06/08/2007 10:51

I just found it here, QoQ - the Australian National Dictionary (Nov 98) - same wording as yours.

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