Received this today. Someone needs to talk to the OED! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- OED Online Word of the Day
nixie, n.2 [‘ U.S. Post which cannot be forwarded by the postal services because it is illegibly or incorrectly addressed. Freq. attrib.’] Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈnɪksi/, U.S. /ˈnɪksi/ Forms: 18– nixy, 19– nixie. Origin:Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: nix n.1, -y suffix6. Etymology: < nix n.1 + -y suffix6. 1. U.S. Post which cannot be forwarded by the postal services because it is illegibly or incorrectly addressed. Freq. attrib. 1890 Cent. Dict., Nixy2. 1901 Congress. Rec. 17 Jan. 1145/6 These poor ‘nixie’ clerks in the postoffices of this country. 1905 N.Y. Evening Post 8 Feb. 5 What the railway postal clerks most dread is the class of mail they know as ‘nixies’. 1929 Lit. Digest 5 Oct. 67/1 The similarity in appearance of the letters N.Y. and N.J... is responsible for many letters reaching the ‘Nixie’ division. 1956 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 19 Sept. 28/1 ‘Nixie’ is mail that can't be delivered because the address is incorrect, illegible, or insufficient. 1994 New Yorker 24 Oct. 68/3 In the Central Post Office's nixie unit—where mail arrives that has been illegibly or incorrectly addressed—I see street numbers in the seventy thousands. 2. = nix n.1 a. rare. 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xviii. 249 Er storm centre..redooced..land values t' nex' t' nixie. ________________________________ ------------------------------------- Best wishes, Malcolm -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/HKNPR04MB051478B45866A90CE8DB8DB7D5EA0%40HKNPR04MB0514.apcprd04.prod.outlook.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
