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#6780 09/22/00 12:42 PM
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wings

Some big houses have "wings" but I would hesitate to describe them as "angelic."

Or "alate", for that matter.

Of course, if, after an exemplary life, you become "a late" person, you may, perhaps, assume angelic wings.


#6781 09/22/00 02:33 PM
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> angelic wings

Ha! Lovely.

Does anyone know the origin of the phrase "a wing and a prayer", by extension? It conjures up (for me) a sort of 'Biggles flies undone' image - but that's doubtless just a mis-spent childhood.


#6782 09/22/00 03:26 PM
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I think you've hit the source, more or less. So far as I know, it originated in the First World War, describing the miraculous return to base (or at least to ground level without killing yourself) after been shot up by the opposition. Flying by the seat of your pants dates from this period as well, I believe.

Both phrases were in use during the Second World War (or Great Patriotic War, depending where you come from) and have entered peacetime flying currency, thence ordinary speech.


#6783 09/22/00 07:52 PM
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>I wonder if there are any other words like foupe that can only be applied to animals not to humans? <

I am wondering about 'neuter' - in a verbal sense.

Cats and dogs get neutered - whichever gender they start off.
Bullocks, I am pretty sure, get castrated.
Cows, of course, are saved by our desire to have them produce milk, but if they were to undergo the equivalent operation, what word would be used?

And for humans? Sterilised? Which, if you think about it for a moment, has a totally different meaning normally - and sounds an even more painful experience! I picture myself being boiled alive!


#6784 09/22/00 10:08 PM
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Cats and dogs get neutered - whichever gender they start off.
Bullocks, I am pretty sure, get castrated.


Thanks, Bridget, you've reminded me that stallions get gelded,which is not said of male humans, even though some men are castrated, either judicially, or illegally for the production of castrati, which I understand still happens in India.


#6785 09/23/00 02:40 PM
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Cows, - - -, but if they were to undergo the equivalent operation, what word would be used?

My female cats have been spayed. Is this an appropriate word for other animals?


#6786 09/24/00 12:31 PM
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I think people tend to emigrate or immigrate or transmigrate rather than just migrate, which seems to be mainly restricted to animals and birds (except as a metaphor).

Bingley


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#6787 09/26/00 05:55 PM
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Cats and dogs get neutered - whichever gender they start off.
Bullocks, I am pretty sure, get castrated.
Cows, of course, are saved by our desire to have them produce milk, but if they were to undergo the equivalent operation, what word would be used?

And for humans? Sterilised?


"Let us not talk of this further," said Ted snippily.



TEd
#6788 09/26/00 05:57 PM
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>My female cats have been spayed. Is this an appropriate word for other animals?

Yes. It's definitely used for dogs.



TEd
#6789 09/28/00 12:22 PM
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I hope no-one is eating while they're reading this. A quote from a page titled Filth and Class from the Victorian Web ( http://landow.stg.brown.edu/victorian/history/race/rc6.html )

One medical journal noted that the poor in Bradford "dunged" in the streets,

Bingley


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