Kennings

Curate's friend

Kennings, invented by the Vikings, are riddling ways of referring to things. The sea was the whale’s way, and a sword was a – blood onion? (They're always popular at the beginning of the school or academic year – they must be on a curriculum somewhere.)

More from the imaginative Vikings:
war leek: sword
wave-horse: ship
sky-candle: sun
bee-wolf: bear
gannet’s bath: sea

Love thy neighbour:
ankle-biter, rug rat: child
bog trotter: Irishman
bookworm: avid reader
brainbox, egghead: intellectual
brother of the quill: writer
carrot cruncher: person from the Southwest of England
castanet clacker: Spaniard
clod-hopper: bumpkin or yokel
fang snatcher: dentist
garlic muncher: French person
gate crasher: uninvited guest
hash slinger: waitress
jailbird: prisoner
knight of the road: tramp
left-footer: Catholic
muesli muncher: lefty
sawbones: doctor
sea dog: sailor
sky pilot: chaplain
tree hugger: lefty, hippy

Adam’s ale: water
beetle-crushers: heavy shoes or boots as worn by policemen
big sleep: death (Raymond Chandler)
boneyard: cemetery
bunfight: tea party

cake’ole: mouth
cherry picker: lorry with elevated platform
cloud-splitter: Icelandic for skyscraper (skýjakljúfur). In French it’s a “gratte-ciel”.
cow catcher: grid on front of old American train
curate’s friend: three-tier cake stand

devil's dandruff: cocaine
dumb waiter: rotating tray, or lift for dishes
flywalk: the cut end of the loaf
hot seat: electric chair
idiot box/idiot’s lantern: TV

last roundup: death
le rasoir national: the guillotine (the national razor)
long goodbye: death (Raymond Chandler)
mother’s ruin, rot-gut: gin
necktie party: lynch mob
one-armed bandit: gambling machine

passion killers: long knickers
pen-pusher: clerk
pine overcoat: coffin
puddle jumper: small plane

side-splitter: hilarious joke
skyscraper: tall building

the devil’s lettuce: marijuana
the Grim Reaper: Death
toadstool: fungus
windcheater: jacket