A relative of Manute Bol?
What is “hock”?
As in, “Never mind, my dove. Look - nice hock. Drink it up and you’ll feel better.”
(quoted (probably incorrectly) from memory from Cold Comfort Farm.
I always assumed it was something like a hot toddy?
Ok . . . what in hell does ‘wot’ mean?
“Hock” is a Britishism for “Rhine wine.”
“Wot” is just an alternate spelling and pronunciation of “what.”
Yup, as in “Wot’s all this, then?”
I’d always assumed (from the tone and facial expressions of the children in the movie) that the line “And never smell of barley water” was intended to mean “And never have a funny old person smell” while conveniently rhyming with “Love us as a son and daughter”. 
That’s what I thought for the longest time but recently I’ve seen it a few times in contexts that don’t fit with that at all.
Just like daft and bollocks . . . everytime I think I know what those words mean I see them in a context that makes NO sense with any definition I thought I knew.
Ah, okay.
Why does Tonks keep saying “Wotcher!” to Harry?
“What ya up to, Harry?” = “Wotcher, Harry?”
Wow, illumination breaks over me! I never understood that one. I was mostly only familiar with it from Asterix, though, so “Wotcher!” in a book always makes me think of cartoon ancient Britons.
“What about a spot of hot water with lemon in it?”
“Ooh, lovely!”
[QUOTE=silenus]
“Hock” is a Britishism for “Rhine wine.”
It also is slang for pawning summat.
Innit?
As in “A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!”?
God knows. I mean, that’s what it means. From Old English “witt”, to know.
It is, but in the Cold Comfort Farm context it seems to be referring to German wine. Hock, in that sense, is a slightly old-fashioned term, usually meaning a particular kind of wine. Other German varieties such as Riesling or Mosel are not usually labelled “Hock”.
Back on barley water, it’s one of those things that you are aware of, but nobody you know actually buys. The only time I ever come across it is the Wimbledon TV coverage.
There also tends to be a lonely bottle of it in the drinks cabinet of little old ladies. Ones where everything is covered in dust except the sherry.
Isn’t barley water usually stored next the dandelion and burdock?
And what’s the deal with Vimto? 
Tapioca Dextrin is about the most obscurely appropriate username for this subject.
How many other dopers have names that combine a carbohydrate with the starch from a grain?
I quite like dandelion and burdock.
And Vimto … ah, yes, Vimto. For the benefit of our uninitiated US cousins, Vimto is a fruit-flavoured fizzy drink. Not any specific fruit, you understand. Just … fruit. Possibly the sort of fruit that grows around Chernobyl these days.
Vimto’s not normally fizzy, it’s usually sold as a cordial in a big bottle (I’ve never seen a small bottle of Vimto). You can get cans of it that are carbonated, though.
Since I didn’t actually figure out what they were till a few days ago, I had never been clear where the boiling came in. I think I was imagaining that they were boiled as a finishing touch. Some candies get dipped in chocolate, and some candies get … boiled. Which is why it seemed so freakin’ odd, and why I couldn’t figure out what they were in “real” (American) candy.
It’s allegedly a contraction of “What cheer?” (same meaning as above, though)