"The Commonwealth honours bestowed by Buckingham Palace did not create good families. The abandonment of gongs in most countries reveals how mingy the British were." Frank Devine; Royal Charade Serves a British Purpose; The Australian (Sydney, Australia); Mar 16, 2000. "
What the badword does "Abandonment of gongs" mean?
OK, my dictionary gives as third meaning, "British slang for medals". The sentence still doesn't make sense to me.
While we're at it, what does it mean in Cab Calloway's
""Just tell her Smoky Joe
Was here and had to go."
And as he departed,
The curtains parted,
And there stood Minnie
Kicking the gong around! "
"Abandonment of gongs" Perhaps the second definiton from the
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary might help our thinking on this matter:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=33729&dict=CALD
A gong means a medal Dr Bill, but out of context I can't tell what this extract is getting at. Suppose ICLIU - not sure I will though, sounds like it was the usual Oz newspapers raking over of the embers of empire. Wish they would get over it and move on into the 21st century.
Again, in American slang: Hoagie Carmichael's
"He got plenty privilege taken away when he kicked Old Buddha's gong"
so here's Fald's link:
2 UK INFORMAL an honour that is given to someone for the public service they have done, or a for a particular acting or singing performance
but where would that come from?
come from?
Possibly from the appearance of the metal part of the medal looking like a gong hanging from its framework.
guess that makes sense...
I just assumed that this meant the Crown and/or the British Government was no longer giving awards (my first thought was knighthoods, but I think we can still get those - not sure about other awards) to Commonwealth citizens who weren't British, and that Mr Devine though this reflected the personal qualities of those involved in such a decision.
I just assumed that this meant the Crown and/or the British Government was no longer giving awards (my first thought was knighthoods, but I think we can still get those - not sure about other awards) to Commonwealth citizens who weren't British,
The British Government hasn't awarded medals to Commonwealth citizens for decades - the nations involved made the awards themselves. Most of those countries have now abandoned the practice, substituting their own honours instead. There are still a few awards that are the personal gift of the Sovereign, but in many Commonwealth countries, even these could only be accepted by the intended recipient with the express permission of their government.