The Word of the Day is 'nobble', and this sentence was given for an example in usage.
I think I can grasp what 'nobble' means... but the rest of the sentence is just plain baffling to me!

Can anyone translate this from Austrailian to American English for this confused Mid-Westerner?:

"When a boilover and a no-hoper that couldn't run a drum beats a dead bird,
causing you to lose a gorilla and look a drongo, someone nobbled your horse."

Thanks!

Are you sure the word is nobble? - When used in that sentence - in that context - it sounds like it should be "hobble" [with an H]. Hobbling a horse - probably an American Indian invention - used a rope or something similar, to loosly bind the forelegs of the horse [around the ankles] so they can graze, but not gallop away.

Just check'in

Here's the link to the LJ entry. Nobble is another word for Hobble, apparently.

http://the-tinidril.livejournal.com/633548.html

Nobble I can understand... it's the other words like 'boilover' and 'no-hoper' and such... such a colourful use of language!

I just tried the Aussie slang dictionary and it came up blank... so it might not be strictly Aussie.

no-hoper is a loser... someone for whom there is no hope.

and I guess beating a dead bird is like beating a dead horse *shrugs*

oh and drongo is an idiot, or fool... someone does something stupid you can call them a drongo

I begin to suspect that someone at the 'word of the day' websight is having a good joke at my naive expense!

LOL! Thanks anyway, kids!

Nobble means....

1. To disable (a racehorse), especially by drugging.
2. To win (a person) over.
3. To outdo or get the better of by devious means.
4. To filch or steal.
5. To kidnap.

They trying to make you look like a drongo

They fooled you because the word isn't exclusively Aussie; it's British slang as well.

Are you familiar with the Britcom "May to December"? In the pilot episode, there was a reference to "nobbling the jury".

In horse racing terms, a no-hoper is a horse that couldn't win a race if the rest of the competition fell down.

That certainly makes sense!

The parts of this sentence that really baffles me are these uses:

... a boilover? What on earth--?
... couldn't run a drum lacking in rhythm, dexterity, or musical ability?
... causing you to lose a gorilla Hi, I'd like to place a bet on todays race... one large primate on number six; to win, place, and show!

I've never actually heard the term "Lose a Gorilla" but I have heard similar terms, which always mean to lose your cool, and in the context of the sentence you provided, this meaning would fit.

The first thing I thought of when I read "Couldn't run a drum" was that they wouldn't be able to do something as simple as banging on a drum to make a noise".. another way of saying they particularly useless.


Actually even after translating, that sentence really makes no sense.

Bloody Australians!!

I think couldn't run a drum might mean that the horse is a bad runner, poor performer.

Yeah.... those Australians can be pretty weird sometimes... (j/k Aussie fwends)

... BUT! their neighbors in New Zealand are really cool, and some of them have awesome MacGyver web-sites!

Not to mention great shots of Middle Earth...

Yeah nice scenery... pity about the people though.

Found it! I thought 'gorilla' was slang for a large amount of money -- comparable to the Regency terms "pony' and 'monkey'.

Gorilla: Australian Slang term for $1000.

*shakes head*

*walks off mumbling about Australian heritage under his breath*

That is definitely a new one for me!

I'm having some problems with a couple of the terms, but here's the list.

boilover: the unexpected defeat of a hot favourite
no-hoper: horse that can’t run (can't better Grrl's great definition!)
run a drum: a horse that ‘can’t run a drum’ is a lousy horse
a dead bird: can’t find it; I would guess it means a horse that was heavily tipped to win
gorilla: $1000
drongo: idiot
nobble: illegally disabled

Somewhat free translation:
When there’s an unexpected upset in a horse race, and a really bad horse beats the obvious favourite, and you lose a $1000 bet and look like an idiot, someone drugged (or otherwise disabled) the horse.

I think it sounds better in the original cant.

Thanks, Beth! That clears things ... um, up? I think...

Yeah, clear as mud.

Funny discussion!

Not sure if anybody is interested, but just for the record, in Germany money (but no certain ammount) would be also called "mouses".

Such strange labels (--though I say as shouldn't, considering how many different American slang words there are for 'money' )

I though nobble was was sort of hitting someone in a sports game, like in " Kepers always get nobbled by the other team players" Might be wrong..... or maybe not.

Nobbling, as discussed above, is any form of illegally disabling another player or participant. So hitting them is one form of nobbling, but not the only method. And the term can be applied to non-sports venues -- such as "nobbling the jury" or "nobbling a witness".