Blithering fool? That’s claptrap!

QUESTION What is the origin of the term ‘blithering’ as in blithering idiot?

When I was growing up in Cork, I remember an ancient Christian Brother calling me a ‘blethering idiot!’ Other related terms are bletherskite or blethermaskite.

Blether is a Scots/Irish word meaning long-winded claptrap. It comes from Old norse blathra, to talk nonsense.

In his 1786 poem Vision, Robert Burns describes how he wasted his youth ‘stringing blethers up in rhyme, For fools to sing’. here blether is used as a noun.

It appears to have derived from the Proto-Indo-european root

bhle with different suffixes. This root appears in blast, blow and blaze. Blether or blither suggests blowing hot air.

A blatherskite is a person who talks at great length without making much sense.

Still used in Ireland and popular in the U.S., it was first recorded in the old Scots ballad Maggie Lauder, written by Francis Sempill in 1643.

Aaron Walsh, Malvern, Worcs.

QUESTION Punnets are used to package strawberries and raspberries. What is the origin of the word?

The earlier answer described how punnet was derived from

pun, a diminutive of pound, and that they were nicknamed chip baskets.

I remember collecting fruit in our garden in chip baskets. Our mother would give us one (old) penny for each full basket.

Our dog was called Chip because Daddy brought him home in a chip basket.

Una Garvey, Brackley, Northants.