Somewhere in George Moore's Hail and Farewell he mentions the word spoof and speaks approvingly of it, as far as I remember. I was asked recently by Ann McCabe of Clontarf about the word; she and I, and George Moore, would define the word as a mildly-satirical lampoon or parody; a good-humoured deception or trick.
But Ann says that increasingly she hears people using the word as if it meant foolish talk, evasive blather, the type politicians use when, not having a clue as to what answer to give to a straight question, start by saying: "I'm glad you asked me that question." They then proceed not to answer it in a speech which contains more subordinate clauses than a sentence of the late Cardinal Newman's.
I have noticed this new meaning, too; it has no roots in the word's origin, which is very ordinary indeed. Spoof was named for a game involving hoaxing invented and named by one Arthur Roberts, an English comedian, who died in 1913.
Lampoon, by the way, is from French lampon, drinking song, from lampons, let's drink (a refrain of a drinking song), from the slang lamper, to drink. It's in English since the 17th century.
Andrew Lacey wrote from Reading, Berkshire, to ask about a word used on farms and in racing stables by grooms, kipe. A kipe is a large basket, but the word is used figuratively as well in an indelicate reference to a woman's tummy.
The basket is wider at the top than at the bottom, and Mr Lacey, who hails from south Tipperary, wonders if it is related to the Irish caidhp, cap, as it looks like a witch's cap when turned upside down. No. It's from the Old English cype. It was a measure for farm produce in the old days in England; it contained about half a bushel. The word is not known in Ireland, as far as I know.
A recent reference to kip, a dive, in this column led Roger Ashe, from Bangor, Co Down, to ask whether I could throw some light on another, unrelated kip, a word used by his father, who hailed from Perth in Scotland. This kip is a verb, meaning to take somebody else's property by violence or by fraud.
The word doesn't seem to have travelled to Ulster. It seems to be Norse in origin. The EDD asks us to compare Norwegian dialect kippa, to snatch, snap.