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Pooh-Bah
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I am definitely in the wrong business. I have, right here beside me at this very moment, a waste basket which is absolutely FULL of virtually identical objects to those displayed. So, please support home industries - send me just $25 and I'll send you one of those, fresh made, post free. For those in the UK, the price is a knock down £17.50  (all the way to the bank!)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Think of all the art treasures that disappear in WC.
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:
Think of all the art treasures that disappear in WC.
now that's just gross.
formerly known as etaoin...
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enthusiast
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Ah now Dr Bill
That was a bit of a sewer pint ta be maken.
GT
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Dear etaoin: I worked over twenty years in a psychiatric hospital. We had a muralist
who created spectacular works of art, unfortunately in monochrome ordinarily used
on bumf. The janitors were not gruntled critics. Thank goodness they saw their duty
and did it.
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So, please support home industries - send me just $25 and I'll send you one of those, fresh made, post free.
For those in the UK, the price is a knock down £17.50Ah, but I'm sorry, Rhuby - you just don't have the same je ne sais quoi (and I sure as hell don't know what it is).  Love this, nuncle! Hmmm, what are universal equivalents of "selling coals to Newcastle"? (as the mark of an excellent salesman)
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I have seen a lot of horror stories about sams. You guys ought to be able to have
trouble picking the worst one.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Although I have heard of "selling coals to Newcastle", this USn would more likely say "selling a refridgerator to an Eskimo" or "selling ice to Eskimos".
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Sellen a double bed thr Pope
Sellen sand ta the Arabs
Sellen whit, charm and pancho ta GTed (I made that one up meself)
Be seein ya
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old hand
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>Sellen sand ta the Arabs
Weeeelll, if we're goin' down that road,
selling braggadocio to Ockers
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selling braggadocio to Ockers
What quantities does that come in? And how can I get some? 
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>What quantities does that come in? And how can I get some?
As I understand it, your state is particularly bleesed with it. What was that Sydney Morning Herald headline that caused such displeasure in the other penal states? Something like, "Forget the rest of Australia, NSW is third in the CG medal table". Wonderfully self-effacing stuff.
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your state is particularly bleesed with it (EA)
I couldn't find a dictionary definition for this, so I'm taking it that you mean bleeped.
Sydney Morning Herald
It was the Daily Telegraph aksherly, and no one here credits that paper with being anything other than a trashy tabloid.
I mean, who could possibly think that we would want to split our country into competitive states, so that our highest achieving team would only be coming third? [rolleyes] [sigh] Where do they get these people?
As an aside, CONGRATULATI ONS on your newbie status (that would be statt-US), sjm! Glad you're here.
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I couldn't find a dictionary definition for this, so I'm taking it that you mean bleeped.
Sydney Morning Herald
It was the Daily Telegraph aksherly, and no one here credits that paper with being anything other than a trashy tabloid.
My apologies to the SMH. As for bleesed, a particularly deft save from the accusation of typo would be to claim it as an attempt to represent phonetically the way the word is uttered in the land of the deengo.
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Pooh-Bah
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As an aside, CONGRATULATIONS on your newbie status
May I second that, sjm? Your presence here goes a long way to make up for the defection of one of your fellow-countrymen.
Long mayest thou prosper, O welcome ex-stranger!
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Pooh-Bah
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you just don't have the same je ne sais quoi
It's not that I don't have it, shona, it's just that my je ne sais quoi is je ne sais óu.
And as to a universal equivalent to "coals to Newcastle" etc
How about:
"Trying to sell moonbeams to the Sun."
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Your Boulder Dam site got me a'lookin and I stumbled upon this. http://newdeal.feri.org/library/ag57.htm I'm thinking I don't want to jump in!
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"selling coals to Newcastle"
I've only heard this as "carrying coal to Newcastle," in the sense of bringing something that is really not needed, or just doing something unnecessary, like showing up at the watermelon farm's annual picnic with a big, juicy watermelon. I haven't heard the version related to sales skill - is this how it's commonly rendered in the UK?
Do other USn's use the selling version or the carrying one?
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I think more people in the UK would tend to use the 'carry' version rather than investing it with fisk's reference to salemanship, though that version may be simply outside this salesman's experience. The chime of hard 'c' sounds is the poetic key to its impact (carry...coals...Newcastle).
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carry...coals...NewcastleI've thought about this some more, and you're all quite right and I'm wrong The original construction was definitely "carrying coals to Newcastle", meaning a pointless effort. The salesmanship ones are "selling snow to the Eskimos" and "selling sand to the Arabs", and are pretty universal anyway.
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Pooh-Bah
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Yes, I agree with mav about "carry" rather than "sell", although the latter has gained a certain amount of currency over here - presumably as a copy of ice to Eskimos (ought to be Inuit, in these OC days, of course) etc.
But the question about universally acceptable phrases of this sort doesn't, surely include phrases like "ice to Eskimos?" Whilst that phrase is probably understood throughout the english-speaking world, it would have to be explained to someone who had not heard of the Eskimos or encountered ice.
My suggestion of selling (or taking, perhaps) moonbeams to the Sun would be understood anywhere on the planet, I think.
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Pooh-Bah
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The very first house I can remember living in was a little saltbox house in rural Pennsylvania (so rural we didn't have running water!) It was about fifty yards from a water-powered cider mill. When I was 2 1/2 I was asked by the kindergarten teacher what my address was. I responded with the name of the property, as posted on the sign my parents put up. "Sister. my address is 'By a Dam Site.'" You know, death by apoplexy is not a pretty sight for a child of such tender years.
In retrospect, it's so nice to know that my punning ability rubbed off on my parents at such an early age.
I don't believe I've told this story before. Some years later I was an altar boy, but I only got to serve at one Mass. For you non-RCs, one of the high points of the Mass for the altar boy is pouring the wine and water into the chalice. You have two cruets, and you pour in the wine first. The priest raises the chalice slightly to click against the chalice to let you know that you've put enough into the chalice.
So here I was pouring away and the priest, Father Mulcahy, dinged the chalice against the cruet. I kept pouring, so he dinged it again. And again. I looked up at him, still continuing to pour, and said four little words that broke up the entire parish, "Say when, Father Mulcahy." The one and only time I got to serve Mass. My father told that story ever after, and my mother never went back to church!
TEd
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