|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
and with ferns like that, who needs animals?
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
Reposting mends fences...Riposters do not mend fences, Jackie. Riposters fence off. Sometimes they fence around. But, either way, they never get around to doing much of anything, least of all mending fences. If you fence a riposter in, he will just start riposting in circles. In time, he will dig himself into a hole too deep to crawl out of. That's the last we'll see of that riposter. Needless to say, no-one has ever played "last post" for a riposter who has played himself out. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
I think that phenomenon is under Rule #9 1/2 in the Male Bonding Manual.
Yep, and we leave for our boys' club from Platform 9 3/4 ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 79
journeyman
|
|
journeyman
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 79 |
If you fence a riposter in, he will just start riposting in circles.
And if you repost a fencer in, he'll be foiled again.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 79
journeyman
|
|
journeyman
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 79 |
And both the Mickeys (Finn and Bliss) in question derive from the slang term for a Hibernian, yes?
You called?
Cecil Adams has one version of the "Straight Dope" on this:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_092.html
[quote]
Most word books say the origin of "Mickey Finn" is obscure. But Cecil has come across one colorful if not necessarily reliable explanation in Gem of the Prairie, a 1940 history of the Chicago underworld by Herbert Asbury. Asbury claims the original Mickey Finn was a notorious Chicago tavern proprietor in the city's South Loop, then as now a nest of hardened desperadoes. In 1896 Finn opened a dive named the Lone Star Saloon and Palm Garden, where he fenced stolen goods, supervised pickpockets and B-girls, and engaged in other equally sleazy enterprises.
Around 1898 Finn obtained a supply of "white stuff" that may have been chloral hydrate. He made this the basis of two knockout drinks, the "Mickey Finn Special," consisting of raw alcohol, water in which snuff had been soaked, and a dollop of white stuff; and "Number Two," beer mixed with a jolt of white plus the aforementioned snuff water.[quote]
So, not necessarily a generic Irishman, but possibly a particular one.
hibernicus, your Mick-in-residence.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Good to see you resuming your residency here, hibernicus!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
resuming your residency
Have you been hibernicating?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 79
journeyman
|
|
journeyman
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 79 |
I wish! Sadly my employers have the idea that I should be forced to work for a living, and take pleasure in sending me to various distant locations with no access to the internet. But given half a chance, I'll be here, reading and posting, whether or not I have anything worth saying!
About defence/defense, we also have "licence/license" and "practise/practice".
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Ah well, I suspect the unspoken concensus here was that one fight at a time was good fishing. Or some other partial and mixed metaphor.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
Now I am confused.  Are you saying that there is a verb defense? Or is defend pronounced defense? And does British English distinguish between license as a verb and licence as a noun in its orthography? Or what?
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,322
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
466
guests, and
4
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
