Nimʹini Pimʹini

Affected simplicity. Lady Emily, in the Heiress, tells Miss Alscrip the way to acquire the paphian Mimp is to stand before a glass and keep pronouncing nimini pimini. “The lips cannot fail to take the right pile.” (General Burgoyne, iii. 2.)

This conceit has been borrowed by Charles Dickens in his Little Dorrit, where Mrs. General tells Amy Dorrit—

“Papa gives a pretty form to the lips. Papa. potatoes, poultry, prunes, and prism. You will find it serviceable if you say to yourself on entering a room, Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes, and prism, prunes and prism.”

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.