Surely a modest request, Max. Everybody should have one.

Why sure, Max. I have a few extra pounds I've been trying to find a home for. Would you like them from the belly, hips, or thighs? I'm calling dibs on the white meat!

It goes under the hammer in New York on October 8 to 9 and is expected to raise upwards of NZ$6 million

Soooo - what's that? About 55 bucks, American? I think we can swing that, Max.

Shoot, who the heck would want the darned old Shakespeare, anyway? I covet the "Songs of Innocence"!

Shoot, who the heck would want the darned old Shakespeare, anyway? I covet the "Songs of Innocence"!

Oh, Jackie, we're going to have to blake you of your habit of disparaging The Bard! But then you'll read "Songs of Experience." We just hope our effort isn't Love's Labour Lost.

[sigh]
The news story about Max's christmas gift has a link to a story that lolly sticks are no longer going to have jokes on them!!!!! Because the Germans are complaining that they can't understand the jokes !!!! [/sigh]

http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,3782-738860,00.html

Bingley

F*** 'em if they can't take a joke.

Bingley, old chap, take a leaf out of your Former Colony's book and start a Crusade.

Several years ago Nabisco (the food giant) announced it would no longer make Crown Pilot crackers "The Famous Chowder Cracker."
New Englanders were outraged, particularly the folks in Maine and NH where lobster chowder, clam chowder -made with cream please- and corn chowder (pronounced Chowdah) are favorites and staples of the winter diet.
We made so much noise and signed so many petitions that Nabisco caved! The Food Giant gave in and Crown Pilot in the big brown box with the red end-flaps is back on the shelves of markets throughout New England.
Nabisco threw a party in a fancy Boston waterfront restaurant for the core group of instigators to announce they would continue to make the Chowder Crackers. Of course the main dishes at the party were Chowdahs and Crown Pilot - the good crackers!
Classy bunch those Nabisco folks. Got a lot of free publicity too which was just gravy for them!

Save the lolly jokes!

And thanks for a bit of levity today. As my Granmother was fond of saying : "A good laugh is as good as a good cry."

Um, lolly sticks?????

I looked at the article but am still unsure. Is it striped icecream on a stick? Is it just a summer treat?

We have lollypops. Hard, generally fruity-flavoured candy at tip of small paper stick that kiddies slurp on until dissolved. You might get a peppermint one with stripes (like in the picture) but kiddies aren't really partial to those.

Lolly is short for lollypop (and now "My Boy Lollypop" is echoing away in the inner chambers of my mind). The basic lolly is frozen fruit-flavoured water held on a stick which was presumably inserted before freezing. You can lick your lolly or bite bits off according to taste. Can't say I've ever seen one like the one in the picture in the article.

Bingley

Oh--now that you've said they are frozen, I recall seeing the term ice-lolly in some British book. That might be what we call popsicles. Are yours shaped like elongated, but solid of course, horseshoes?
The one in the picture is what we call a lollipop, or sucker.

Aside: is anyone else having an unusually difficult time typing, these last four days?

That's them. And now O linguaphiles, what is the word for that shape?

Bingley

Damn it all, let Walls stick it to the Germans. They started it in the first place, didn't they?