Ængelfolc: Firsthand >> could mean I experienced it or you experienced it or they experienced it...the knowledge is derived first hand, not necessarily by oneself. Right?

'the town of Maryport was firsthandly (originally) known has Ellenfoot' ?

there is: firsthand, freehand, beforehand, longhand, thirdhand, underhand, etc

'out of hand' (I think) I can kinda understand why it is not 'outahand' but why is it written 'glad hand' rather than 'gladhand' ?

there is 'shorthand' and 'longhand' wonder if something like: 'cunhand' could make a good stand-in for anything?

...the flyers were written in nowt but cunhand (cunning + hand) to trick householders out of their money

or

...always read the cunhand (small print) ?

the 'overlumpen' - elites ?

lumpen - (classes)...

the working lumpen, the middle lumpen and the upper lumpen

/the lumpen working classes/

....

the 'blumpen' upper classes'

?

'luxurious'' ...

The first I knew such high life was possible was hanging out at a party bursting with blumpen upper classes dripping in bling. I kid thee not, one goer showed up kitted out in the most blinging fur coat ever seen by mankind...

*In truth the actors are often not even English - just Americans casting as English any swarthy baddie they can lay their hands on*

Heard a smidgensworth of that exact same Americanism thing by way of the wireless. Hadn't the foggiest that bods like: 'freight train' and 'train station' are both Americanisms, and thy are outdoing (so-called *British* English) 'goods train' and 'railway station'

Hmmm..is a 'railway set' without the 'trains' and a 'train set' without the 'rails' !! (?)

American English's clout and unlikeness gets far too overcooked. Britain's media elite don't even give an honorable mention to the inroads Jamaican English has had on the English spoken in England. Nobody ever talks of 'Jamaican English' v '*British* English, so why can't we just say American English v English, full stop. Anyway, Jamaican English and Scots English would have to be the first stop of any serious linguist of isms on English. Every man, woman and child in the land, know them two are the two most wayward. JE's clout even fiddled with Britain's accents!

Might wield them unknowingly, but only got so much time for *Americanisms* especially its creepy obessession with casting every Hollywood English actor as some kinda of fiendish swarthy baddie, looking like he's just landed out of somewhere like Marseilles or Naples!

@AnWulf

indeed 'wainless(ly)' (without wheels) but more to give the meaning of both 'carfree' 'coachless' 'bikeless' etc, then just without a car.

'wynd' is narrow path amongst houses, but still meant it, even though there was more of a feeling of being out and about the land.

off the top of my head....

-ing, wh- wr- -ight -tch -dg(e) thw- unbe- -eigh -ough -awn-

all wordbits which are unmistakesomely English and not found in any others (?)

whomsoever, therein, herein, albeit, albethey, heretofore, nonetheless, howbeit, therinabove, thereinunder, insofar, inasmuch, notwithstanding, wherewithal, moreover etc etc

Have underwielded them myself, but I love the above distinctive blends of English compounds. I like all compounds but don't consider compound words like: 'standalone' 'homemade' 'roadwortiness' etc, the same thing nor breed though. Guessing the above wordblending is not an English speciality, what with all the wanton compounding in German - but does German indeed do the ('insofar' 'whomsoever') brand of compounding or is more the 'standalone' stuff (?)

What a wild and wonderful weekend we had wandering wainlessly through wet weather and winding narrow wynds. With innards washed in the warmth of wintergreens, we went wending along our way whithersoever westward while whistling wearied and waygone, but without a wanhope nor wrinklesome worry in the whole wide world.

Wow! English wordstrings can an half be wrought with a lot of words beginning with 'W-' How many w- words dose the German/Dutchy translations of the wordbatch above give?

The 'w' staff itself is a way upmost Germanic marker. Can't think of any other sister Germanic languages which can randomly let loose so many w- words in any given everyday sentence as English dose. Guessing English would wield a bigger helping of w- words then German thanks to words starting wh- wr- which are wontless to German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic etc etc.

*flight(s)end* ?