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#11858 12/05/00 06:23 PM
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In reply to:

"Chuntering" or "chundering" (as I've heard it pronounced) means going on endlessly about something extremely trivial or boring in usage here in Godzone. I haven't heard it for years, though. To "chunder" also means to vomit, so it's probably a misuse of the word in relation to "chunter", although since "chunter" could also be referred to as "verbal diarrhoea", maybe there is a relationship after all?


I was reminded today by a wwftd correspondent of the following from Men at Work:

Do you come from a land down under?
Where rivers flow and men chunder?
Can you hear it, can you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover.

conventional wisdom here in the U.S. is that they meant 'to vomit'; perhaps conventional wisdom is wrong?


#11859 12/05/00 06:39 PM
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Most ladies I know hate to use the name <boyfriend> since it sounds so teenagerish. French QC ladies have a great term for a guy with whom they are living.

The term used is CHUM, and both definitions are applicable. When things are going great it can mean a close friend, someone you are rooming with. When things are going badly it can mean that chopped-up fish (not you Shona) you throw to the sharks.


#11860 12/05/00 06:55 PM
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As the creator of YART yarts (albeit appropriately), I suggest 100 mg of gingko biloba 3x day.


#11861 12/05/00 07:29 PM
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>As the creator of YART yarts...

it's not that I'd forgotten, I've just finally given in to reality.
-joe (Yet Another Defensive Answer [YADA]) friday


#11862 12/05/00 10:43 PM
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enthusiast
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In reply to:

I was reminded today by a wwftd correspondent of the following from Men at Work:

Do you come from a land down under?
Where rivers flow and men chunder?
Can you hear it, can you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover.

conventional wisdom here in the U.S. is that they meant 'to vomit'; perhaps conventional wisdom is wrong?


tsuwm,

As an inhabitant of Chunderland, I feel obliged to comment.

I looks as if there's a bit of Mondegreening going on here. Lyrics I found at http://members.aol.com/babsjdonne/menatwrk/discog/lyrics/downund.htm

read:

I come from a land down under
Where beer does flow and men chunder

(also in other parts of the song "Where women glow and men plunder". Huh?)

In the context of flowing beer, chunder seems to fit with the vomit meaning, which is the only one I am familiar with. Never struck me as a great promotion for the country, I'd have to say. And nobody here chunters on about the word 'chunter', as far as I know.




#11863 12/05/00 11:13 PM
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In reply to:

I was reminded today by a wwftd correspondent of the following from Men at Work:

Do you come from a land down under?
Where rivers flow and men chunder?
Can you hear it, can you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover.

conventional wisdom here in the U.S. is that they meant 'to vomit'; perhaps conventional wisdom is wrong?


Not too sure about "where rivers flow". No, damn it, that wasn't what I heard, either on the record or at their concert. Can't remember exactly what it was, but I believe the word "beer" came into it!

OZ and Godzone share a lot of this kind of slang. "Chunder" is a relatively mild and unexpressive term for vomiting in the wider context of terms available. Others, off the top of my head, include:

"To sell out"
"To have a conversation with the Big White Telephone"
"Peas and Carrots" (this one should be self-evident to most ...)
"Throw up"
"Technicolor Yawn"

And the list goes on, and on, and on, and on ....






The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#11864 12/06/00 12:29 PM
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jmh Offline
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>I have also noticed a resurgence in the once-twee-sounding "boyfriend" and "girlfriend". What goes around comes around, eh?

Yes, along with using the term boys and girls for adults, especially when in single-sex groups - eg girls' night out, boys' night out .. but then we discussed that a long long time ago in a distant land ...
http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=2478


#11865 12/06/00 12:34 PM
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old hand
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Oh go on then - hit me with your yarting stick, hit me...


#11866 12/06/00 12:53 PM
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"yarting stick"--

shanks, I think a better term would be yartstick.
And if anyone even threatens you, you let me know about it,
and then they'll have me to reckon with as well!



#11867 12/06/00 01:02 PM
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jmh Offline
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> hit me slowly, hit me quick, hit me

Oh go on then!

By the way. It was not a YART as I don't. It was merely a link back in time, in case anyone wanted to agree/disagree with anything there.


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