#11190
11/30/2000 10:23 PM
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Didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground
I prefer the world-famous doesn't know his arse from his elbow.
Whilst less "in your face", it wins easily on surreality points.
Give us this day our Dali bread (TEd)..
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#11191
11/30/2000 10:26 PM
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Does that make an ayleur a really ancient grandfather?Yes, Max - so ancient that we thought him dead already, and may have buried him prematurely 
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#11193
11/30/2000 10:42 PM
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if B...s..t was music, he'd be a brass bandSimilarly "If wit were sh*t you'd be constipated" ...which reminds me of another expression that the chefs used to apply to us waiters in bygone days   "If you had a brain you'd be dangerous"
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#11194
11/30/2000 10:55 PM
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"A woman needs a man like a fish..." oh, never mindHow about we switch over to the expression "as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike"? Then tsuwm finds ashtrayonamotorbike.com and you, dear Annatie, invite the site's creator/creatrix aBoard. And (to cut a very long story short) we all live even more happily ever after. 
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#11195
12/01/2000 2:04 AM
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A common expression we say (French Québecois)when someone is complaining about having to do something that is not really all that difficult: écoute, c'est pas la mer à boire / listen up, it's not the sea to drink
Does anyone have anything similar? I seem to recall some English expression about not crying in oatmeal (or some other food).
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#11196
12/01/2000 2:44 AM
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Ichthys says: "...which reminds me of another expression that the chefs used to apply to us waiters in bygone days ..." I am put in mind of the delightful English television comedy "Chef" in which the conversation between the chef and the waiters was a model of abuse.
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#11197
12/01/2000 3:38 AM
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enthusiast
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bel,
Are you, peut-être, thinking of the expression "It's no use crying over spilt milk" (it's no use regretting something that is done, especially if it's trivial and easily fixed)?
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#11198
12/01/2000 4:47 AM
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>as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike
shona, this reminds me of that great philosophical question: what's the difference between a duck?
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#11199
12/01/2000 5:16 AM
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>that great philosophical question: what's the difference between a duck?
My initial reaction was "It's just a matter of a pinion", but I believe the traditional response is "One of its legs are both the same". Makes as much sense as many of our postings.
My father was fond of asking "How long is a piece of string?"
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#11200
12/01/2000 5:25 AM
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In reply to:
No idea of the origin but to be "sent to Coventry" means no one speaks to you or acknowleges your presence.
It's said to date back to the Civil War (1640s) when Royalist prisoners of war were detained in Coventry, a Midlands town which was a staunch Parlimentarian stronghold, and ostracised by the townsfolk there.
One phrase much used as a mild expletive by a Dorset lass I know is "Do things to ducks."
Bingley
Bingley
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#11201
12/01/2000 8:15 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
old hand
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old hand
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écoute, c'est pas la mer à boire / listen up, it's not the sea to drink
A rather common one in the UK (and probably an import from across the pond, given our sometimes archaic technology) is: "It's not exactly rocket science, is it?", implying its not an intellectually taxing job.
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#11202
12/01/2000 10:31 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460
addict
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"My grandfather's clock" was written by Henry Clay Work. There's a wonderful recording of the song made by 'Flotsam and Jetsam' (Malcolm McEachern and F C Hilliam) in the 1920s or early 1930s. The only other song of Work's that I know is "Poor Kitty Popcorn" on a recording made by Joan Morris and William Bolcom.
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#11203
12/01/2000 10:39 AM
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"One of its legs are both the same"
Not what it's quacked up to be, really.
"How long is a piece of string?" reminds me of a (at the time fashionably) miserable local band that advertised themselves with the strapline:
"How low can you get?"
To which some wag added:
"Lower."
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#11204
12/01/2000 10:46 AM
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the delightful English television comedy "Chef" in which the conversation between the chef and the waiters was a model of abuseIsn't this the case worldwide, Father? I couldn't imagine a state of affairs where chefs were polite to waiters (although waiters are at least initially polite to chefs). You go through those double swing-doors and all hell breaks loose! If people only knew what happens in the kitchen... 
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#11205
12/01/2000 11:18 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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What was the name he used for the waiters? I remember it as being particularly funny.
I remember seeing a programme about Lenny Henry trying to "break into" America. I don't think he ever really made it, unlike Tracy Ullman, one of his co-stars in "Three of Kind".
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#11206
12/01/2000 12:49 PM
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>what's the difference between a duck?
tsuwm:
You have reminded me of one of my pet peeves in journalism, the misuse of "between." "The bullet missed the policeman and lodged between the wall." I have been known to call the reporter, ask him to get his editor on the line with us, and then scream, "Between the wall and WHAT, you idiot?"
Also, since the bullet missed, who cares a rat's patoot where it ended up?
TEd
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#11207
12/01/2000 1:48 PM
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who cares a rat's patoot
Love it, TEd!
But is it more or less significant than a bee's dick, that's what I want to know.
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#11208
12/01/2000 3:15 PM
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>what's the difference between a duck?
yes, the *traditional answer is "one leg is both the same"; which is why, I suppose, there are many *optional answers. such as "the higher it flies, the much" and "a red door on a motorcycle" (which goes a long way towards explaining why I was reminded of this by "an ashtray on a motorbike").
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#11209
12/01/2000 3:38 PM
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In reply to:
There was a great deal of discussion about ayleurs; some people loved it, others did not. I've assumed all along that those who hated it are probably cat-kickers too.
never ass/u/me -- I am an ayleurophobe and an airlurophile.
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#11210
12/03/2000 10:46 PM
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Posts: 347
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>I am an ayleurophobe...tsuwm !! I do hope you're referring to the word, not the people. I agree with you about the word. Of all the messages I've posted and then regretted, that short one that containing the now-immortalized-in-an-acronym "anything you like except unanimous" is right up there. And I don't even get the royalties !
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#11211
12/04/2000 2:11 AM
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Marty, take that back!
I think a post that created such a hubbub, that got people discussing back and forth and that can still cause a stir (without hurting anyone) is quite masterful.
Voila, my two-cents.
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#11212
12/04/2000 3:41 AM
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>I do hope you're referring to the word, not the people. I feel your concern, but you must recall that the word was never unanimously accepted by the people, so if I did mean the people it would only be those who accepted the word.
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#11213
12/04/2000 4:32 AM
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so if I did mean the people it would only be those who accepted the word.Je t'aime aussi, tsuwm! 
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#11214
12/04/2000 5:42 PM
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I am getting an overwhelming sense of jamais vu.
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#11215
12/04/2000 6:13 PM
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an overwhelming sense of jamais vu
Stop wining, it could be worse, mate: Jamais Crû
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#11216
12/04/2000 6:24 PM
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>Stop wining, it could be worse, mate: Jamais Crû
mav, I would have never believed this of you.
joe (I will whine no whine before it's time) friday
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#11217
12/04/2000 6:29 PM
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Was my joke too bourgeois?
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#11218
12/04/2000 6:43 PM
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was mine too much Gallo humour?
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#11219
12/04/2000 7:06 PM
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I shall now bottle out and go see my family!
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#11220
12/04/2000 9:44 PM
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I am getting an overwhelming sense of jamais vu.Pourquoi? Je suis désolé, mais je ne comprends pas. Je t'aime, vraiment je t'aime.
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#11221
12/04/2000 10:02 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
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I'm beginning to think that I should have taken French.
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#11222
12/04/2000 10:19 PM
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>I'm beginning to think that I should have taken French.For once, Jazzockie, I can actually follow what's going on here. Mind you, I do sympathize - at times, on other threads, I feel as if I should have taken English. Or at least read some books.
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#11223
12/04/2000 10:47 PM
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All right, settle down MaxQ and tsuwm. Am I going to have to start explaining about partners again?
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#11224
12/05/2000 12:10 AM
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Am I going to have to start explaining about partners again? Anything but that! Perhaps you could regale us all with stories of moving days and shutdowns instead.
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#11225
12/05/2000 8:47 AM
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Posts: 1,004
old hand
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Pourquoi? Je suis désolé, mais je ne comprends pas. Je t'aime, vraiment je t'aime.
Just a quick translation with parenthetical notes, so Max's words will make sense in the context of the thread:
Poirot? (Famous Belgian detective - chauvinistically misspelled in France) He likes sweet flatfish (solé is also French for 'heart', so there is a subtle pun at work here.), which Maisie (the maid) cannot understand. She is a domestic ( the French t'aime was corrupted to the English 'tame', meaning domesticated), she wears the clothes of a domestic (her raiment is tame - all the Norman 'vr's were converted to 'r's in English, a process known as the Great Stick Shift).
Hope this helps.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
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#11226
12/05/2000 9:16 AM
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In reply to:
Just a quick translation with parenthetical notes, so Max's words will make sense in the context of the thread:
Poirot? (Famous Belgian detective - chauvinistically misspelled in France) He likes sweet flatfish (solé is also French for 'heart', so there is a subtle pun at work here.), which Maisie (the maid) cannot understand. She is a domestic ( the French t'aime was corrupted to the English 'tame', meaning domesticated), she wears the clothes of a domestic (her raiment is tame - all the Norman 'vr's were converted to 'r's in English, a process known as the Great Stick Shift).
Masterful! With JazzO supplying the etymythologies, and you supplying the "translations" our philological needs are filled. I just hope Bel didn't rupture anything from laughing too hard!
Omnis orbs terrarum patria mea est
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#11227
12/05/2000 9:33 AM
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Omnis orbs terrarum patria mea est
Translates as:
Buses' eyes keep turtles in glass boxes with low wattage bulbs for Patricia Mea out west.
Well, it beats the ego expressed in the Latin, anway!
Orba sum et ego orbo
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#11228
12/05/2000 3:55 PM
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>
Omnis orbs terrarum patria mea est
Translates as:
Buses' eyes keep turtles in glass boxes with low wattage bulbs for Patricia Mea out west.
And here I thought it meant all eyes were on Mae West's terrific patties!
TEd
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#11229
12/05/2000 6:39 PM
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[Well it beats the ego expressed in the Latin, anyway!I am afraid that you have the advantage over me, CK. I inserted that signature line after tracking down the Latin version of a phrase attributed to Seneca in my atlas: "I was not born for one corner of the earth, the whole world is my native land." I could only find the last part in Latin, and when I did, it was on a UN page. Here's the paragraph from which I copied the "egotistical" phrase in question: Speaking on the topic of world peace, Roman philosopher Seneca who lived at the time of Christ said: "There will be world peace when we create a new generation which is capable of transcending all boundaries and divisions and say with realization: Omnis orbs terrarum patria mea est -- the whole world is my native land." This is one of the greatest challenges we are facing today. World citizenship is a goal which we should reach, the sooner the better, for it eventually creates the concept of a genuine global community. I was puzzled by "orbs", and inserted the signature line in the hope that one of the Latin literati here might be able to validate it, or correct it. Having never studied Latin, I couldn't shake the feeling that "orbs" looked wrong, and that the word should have been "orbis" instead. After all that blethering, what I'm saying is that I am at loss to figure out how the quote is a display of ego. I guess that's a good demonstration of why one should not use foreign language quotes without being certain of their meaning.  
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