Stamp collectors and post card collectors know the term well, it's common to see this on ebay, a piece of mail described as a "nixie". Caught me off guard the first time I ran across it.
Terry On Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 9:51:22 PM UTC-5, mgm wrote: > > 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/567adf3c-a4b2-4b83-b376-ccef2c103520%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
