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#121201 01/25/04 10:59 PM
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In reply to:

Dear Max: Capfka also said he believed the phrase was to be found only in small areas of US.



No, he did not say that. He said, and I quote, "it's a colloquialism which is unique to the US and (I suspect) not all of the US." No mention there of a "small area", he simply said "not all".


#121202 01/25/04 11:06 PM
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>I feel like blitzing my communication efforts today that have certainly been less than effective.


Why so sensitive, WW? All that happened was that you said the phrase would be, quote, "immediately understandable to English-speaking people", and Capfka and I said that such might not be the case. Nothing there to get miffed at, surely?


#121203 01/25/04 11:16 PM
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I can't speak for all of English Canada but here, in English we ususally say clean a room (i.e. "go clean your room" to a kiddy) but that could be because we use the same expression in French (va nettoyer ta chambre).


#121204 01/25/04 11:25 PM
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wwh Offline
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Dear BelMarduk: I room can be perfectly clean, but need to be "picked up". In one of the sites I visited, the mother
told of breaking her ankle by stepping on cordless phone her
son had left in the middle of the carpet.


#121205 01/25/04 11:57 PM
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Max, I am NOT MIFFED.

[fanning-herself-with-playbill-from-Gone With the Wind-emoticon]


#121206 01/26/04 02:41 AM
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I am NOT MIFFED.

No of course not, you're Muffed, and down covered, and gloved, and hatted, and scarved, and layered with layers and layers of clothing..

(two giant snows storms are tracking east, the first has remained in a more southern track, (and is currently dumping snow on VA, not souther NY and new england!)

we are down in the single digits, (f) (minus for you C's) and Wow and her neighbors would be very happy to see single digit temps!



#121207 01/26/04 05:18 AM
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The command form, when my children were growing up, delivered by me and not their mother, was not to "pick up their room" but rather to "muck out the byre"!



#121208 01/26/04 10:07 AM
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a normal, and with kids around, everyday expression in the two parts of the US that I've spent time: South Dakota and Vermont.




formerly known as etaoin...
#121209 01/26/04 03:19 PM
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wow Offline
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Wow and her neighbors would be very happy to see single digit temps!

You can say that again! It has been hovering at zero fahrenheit with winds that make it feel anywhere from 20 to 30 below. Exposed skin freezed in 15 minutes! So I have been housebound. A 20-degree day would be positively balmy!
So far we have missed the snows - BUT - tomorrow it is off to the polls in the N.H. Predidential Preferential Primary and I hope the forecast snow/sleet hold off until I get to cast my vote. Dog goes to groomer in morning so I am planning to vote and do grocery shoppping while he is being fluffed and beautified! Wish me luck!


#121210 01/26/04 03:25 PM
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Oh, I do wish you luck!

A fellow faculty member told us about riding his bike to school one morning here in Virginia, and that it had been so cold that his eyelid have briefly frozen to his eyeball and that he couldn't see. Nearly fell off his bike.

I had heard of this phenomenon happening during WWII, but never in a place such as Virginia.

Stay warm, Wow, and beware of keeping your eyes closed too long outside.


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