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#12339 12/13/2000 7:40 PM
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>grinding halt on a lonely country road not far from Sneem, Co Kerry.

Ah, and a lovely town it is. In fact, when I went through there, it had just been named the prettiest village or town in Ireland, according to an Irish tourist board sign. Right on the outskirts of town I watched two Americans driving on the wrong side of the road smash into a stone bridge, badly mangling a tyre and a wing.

After offering up a prayer that I had not been on the bridge on my bicycle at the time, I offered to assist them. They had rented this little car, an English Ford of some tipe (if tire is spelled tyre, type should be spelled tipe, shouldn't it?) Anyway, I spent 20 minutes pulling at the bottom of the boot to see if there was a hidden compartment, crawling under the car, etc., searching in vain for the spare. Eventually, we found it mounted on top of the engine!!!

And something occurs to me totally off the wall. Has anyone noticed Father Steve about? I don't think we've heard from him in a week or thereabouts.



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#12340 12/13/2000 8:38 PM
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Just noticed something else. You may already have realised it. Or it may not happen to you.

When you choose "Show All" instead of a page number, no New tags actually appear ... very disconcerting.



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#12341 12/14/2000 1:10 PM
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Re: the 'new' icon not appearing when you go to Show All: yes, I did notice; and, when you come back from Show All, they haven't gone away on your Index screen. You have to go to the page they're on to make that happen. And when a thread runs to several pages, quite often for me the screen won't change from page one to say, page 8. I get that "cannot be displayed" thing. I've learned to baby it along, though this takes time. It will nearly always go from page one to number four. I've never gotten it to go from say, 4 to 8 or 9. I have to go from 4 to 5, 5 to 6, etc., but it will get there this way.

Speaking of time--I find, to my dismay, that in simply trying to be sure I'm getting to everything, I am missing some of the subtleties. For instance, I just now on the second reading caught tsuwm's wordplay: CK nayed: Rubbish. Absolute piffle, Rhu. The bloody [talking] horse was a bay gelding. And it took a private reminder (thank you) to associate 'the whole chicken' with the other thread on kinkiness. Augh--I love stuff like that; it's one of the best things about this place! P'raps I should seek some of Helen's bitter acorns and eat them.
Lovely story, my friend.

Speaking of frustrations: if anyone can tell me how not to lose a typing-screen window when I change screens, I sure would appreciate it. I have learned that if I stick to the back and forward arrows, I can get back to my typing ok, but if I click the back arrow to say, page three, and then have to click on the number two to go to that page,
I cannot get my typing back. I've learned to hit copy
aforehand if I think this might happen--guess how.

Father Steve is about, on good works, no doubt.
Glad to see xara back!


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Still scrolling through screens and screens of this stuff, only 250 posts to go but I have sent off the accounts to the accountant, so I am allowed to peep at posts (very quickly though)!

On the subject of not losing your typing, it appears to be inevitable with some operations. The easiest thing is to have two have two browser windows open (or copy your message onto the clip board or into a wp file). Sometimes, if I'm using a search engine or two, I have three or four windows open. You can have your new post in one, look for another post in the second screen, google or whatever in the third screen etc etc. If you are using Internet Explorer, all you have to do is open the program again (double click on the icon on your screen or whatever you usually do) and it will open another window.

The next question is - I do this all the time and I was wondering if I appear twice on the "Who's online" screen - perhaps someone could have a look next time they notice that I'm online.


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Hi, jmh. You asked: The next question is - I do this all the time and I was wondering if I appear twice on the "Who's online" screen - perhaps someone could have a look next time they notice that I'm online.

The answer is No. Every time you open a new window, you are simply getting another view of your current session. Unless you actually log on twice (which I've never tried to do, hang on ...) — which you can't do.

As far as the board is concerned you are a single user, regardless of the number of browser windows you happen to have open.

Cheers - CK



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#12344 12/15/2000 5:42 PM
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>>>how not to lose a typing-screen window when I change screens,<<<

if you use netscape and have a three button mouse, try clicking the middle mouse button to open your typing screen. when i click on a link with the middle mouse button it opens another window. i don't know whether this will work for IE, or whether it works in windows.


#12345 12/17/2000 11:36 AM
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The answer is No

Thanks Calv - it is as I expected!


#12346 12/18/2000 1:25 AM
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I dredged this up from the wwftd archives:

the worthless word for the day is: walla-walla

an unintelligible sound made by many people talking at once [from a Hindi word]

In the theater, a walla-walla scene is one where extras pretend to be talking in the background -- when they say "walla-walla" it looks like they are actually talking.

...perhaps shanks can confirm this one.



#12347 12/18/2000 1:55 AM
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Hmmmm, I seem to recall someone in a previous thread saying that the extras usually said Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubard.


#12348 12/18/2000 2:00 AM
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Do you think "walla" is related to "wallah"? While I haven't a Hindi dictionary, wallah is a parsee(?) term for 'by occupation'. Hence the punkah-wallah waves the fan back and forth, the tea-wallah makes and pours tea.

Could be well off-beam. Our Australian colleagues may also like to confirm or deny my impression that walla-walla is actually an aboriginal word for something. In fact, isn't there a town with that name?



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#12349 12/18/2000 2:34 AM
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>Hmmmm, I seem to recall someone in a previous thread saying that the extras usually said Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubard.

yup, that was *this thread, with several variations, many moons ago. : )


#12350 12/18/2000 5:00 AM
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In reply to:

wallah is a parsee(?) term for 'by occupation'


The Parsees are a religious grouping rather than a linguistic one. They are the last remnants of the religion revealed to the human race by Zoroaster at(according to who you believe) the end of the 2nd millennium BCE or in the first half of the 1st millennium BCE. (Fortunately whether millennia begin or end in the year ending 00 is irrelevant here.) In a later form, which spread throughout the Roman Empire, it is called Mithraism, and the birthday of Mithras (as the Sun in one of his manifestations) was celebrated on Dec. 25th, hence the timing of our jollifications next week. After the fall of the Sassanid empire, some Persians fled to India where they preserved the old beliefs and the scriptures in Avestan, but for every day purposes use the language of their neighbours.

Bingley



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#12351 12/18/2000 5:58 AM
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Bingley said: The Parsees are a religious grouping rather than a linguistic one

I thought that was the case, which is why the question mark. The reason I "guessed" Parsee was that I read a book by a Parsee woman called Bhapsi Sidhwa a number of years ago which took a long, hard and humorous look at being a Parsee - without explaining exactly what a Parsee is. Her chief character was Freddy Faredoon Junglewallah (amazing memory for the important things, don't I? Not.). Almost all of the males in the book had -wallah as part of their name. Could have been tongue in cheek, as most of the book was.

Anyway, in retrospect I prefer the Oz connection. Come in, ringer!



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#12352 12/18/2000 10:18 AM
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CapK: Indeed, there is an Aussie town called Walla Walla; it's in New South Wales and its postcode is 2659. In fact it must be close to Wagga Wagga which has a 2650 postcode and the Waugh brothers [non-cricketers, disregard].


#12353 12/18/2000 11:28 AM
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paulb responds: CapK: Indeed, there is an Aussie town called Walla Walla; it's in New South Wales and its postcode is 2659. In fact it must be close to Wagga Wagga which has a 2650 postcode and the Waugh brothers [non-cricketers, disregard].

Well, from a purely parochial perspective, have the place razed while they are visiting their folks. Please.



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#12354 12/18/2000 6:43 PM
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Ongoing discussion of towns named Walla Walla.

The Walla Walla, Wash mentioned in the Christmas lyrics thread (http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=wordplay&Number=11017&page=0&view=expanded&sb=5) is a city in the state of Washington, USA. Walla Walla is a Native American name for "many rivers."


#12355 12/18/2000 7:47 PM
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and is famous for onions-- almost as good as vadalias-- and later in the season..


#12356 12/18/2000 9:32 PM
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Walla, Walla

Yes, Walla Walla is a city in Washington south of Spokane near the Oregon border. It's probably most famous for being used by Daffy Duck in the name of his sales company.


#12357 12/19/2000 8:04 AM
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And I had always thought, 'til now, that "Walla, walla . . ." were the opening words of that grand old Tommy Steele song, "Singin' the blues."



#12358 12/19/2000 10:14 AM
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Thanks, Faldage. Perhaps Wagga Wagga is the town of "many runs", eh, Capk? 13 on the trot, now [non-cricketers, disregard]


#12359 12/19/2000 10:23 AM
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paulb said: Thanks, Faldage. Perhaps Wagga Wagga is the town of "many runs", eh, Capk? 13 on the trot, now [non-cricketers, disregard]

Sorry, Paul, don't actually follow you. Are you suggesting that the Waugh brothers are making the runs, getting the runs, or just having the trots?



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#12360 12/19/2000 2:57 PM
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In reply to:

Walla/Wallah


Not too long ago I read a most interesting magazine article about a day in the life of a tiffin wallah in India. A tiffin wallah is someone who delivers tiffin to office workers. Where is Shanks when you need him?


#12361 12/19/2000 7:33 PM
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What a fascinating thread. I've learned so much here!!

OK, besides the aforementioned Walla Walla, can anyone think of other reduplicative place names? I can think of three others.


#12362 12/19/2000 7:44 PM
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OK, besides the aforementioned Walla Walla, can anyone think of other reduplicative place names? I can think of three others.

In NZ, we have Matamata, Meremere, and Chch.



#12363 12/19/2000 8:03 PM
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Pago Pago


#12364 12/19/2000 8:07 PM
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Max, how do you pronounce Chch [interrobang]

Faldage, yep, Pago Pago's one of the ones I thought of. There's another in the South Pacific, and the third in Europe.


#12365 12/19/2000 8:26 PM
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AnnaS enquired Max, how do you pronounce Chch [interrobang]


Sorry, Anna, that was a little in-joke for CapKiwi. Chch is the standard abbreviation for Christchurch, the South Island's largest city.


#12366 12/19/2000 8:50 PM
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baden baden takes care of europe..
i half remember someplace in NJ-- and another in one of the midwest states..
I'll wake up tonight from a sound sleep and know them...


#12367 12/19/2000 9:03 PM
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Gotcha, Max.
You had me thinking NZ was beset by an immigration wave of post-Bosnian War Serbs


#12368 12/19/2000 10:52 PM
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>OK, besides the aforementioned Walla Walla, can anyone think of other reduplicative place names? I can think of three others.

You're just not thinking hard enough then, Anna.

Wagga Wagga (also already mentioned) would have to be the best known Australian town with such a name, but a quick scan of our postcode list reveals:
Bli Bli, Boonoo Boonoo, Curl Curl, Doon Doon, Gol Gol, Ki Ki, Lal Lal, Nowa Nowa, Pindi Pindi, Pura Pura, Wool Wool and Woy Woy. Then there are placenames for other geographical features, such as Yarra Yarra and Mullum Mullum. I don't know the significance of repetition in the Aboriginal languages concerned - my completely uninformed guess would be a plural. Perhaps Nicholas Nicholas can help us out?

I grew up in a house named Goonoo Goonoo after an outback farming property. Curiously my parents pronounced it (rightly or wrongly, I have no idea) as "Gunna G'noo".

Which reminds me, I was told as a child that "Pago Pago" is pronounced something like "Pakka Pay-go". Any truth in that, or, if not, any idea where the notion sprang from?


#12369 12/20/2000 4:30 AM
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There's a Pare-Pare in Sulawesi (the island in Indonesia that looks like a disected starfish). There must be others. I'll let you know as I think of them.

Bingley


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#12370 12/20/2000 8:04 AM
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Which reminds me, I was told as a child that "Pago Pago" is pronounced something like "Pakka Pay-go". Any truth in that, or, if not, any idea where the notion sprang from?

I was there many moons ago. From memory, it was pronounced "Pango Pango". One of the "Pago"s is stronger than the other. Can't remember which one.



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#12371 12/20/2000 9:10 AM
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I don't know the significance of repetition in the Aboriginal languages concerned - my completely uninformed guess would be a plural.

Not as such, in any one I've come across. (As opposed to e.g. Malay-Indonesian, anak-anak = 'children'.) Aboriginal languages typically don't have plurality in nouns. Reduplication has some morphological function, clearly, but in odd ways, e.g. names of colours in Bidyara if I remember rightly.

Pago Pago is Samoan, so the <g> is nasal [N] as in <singer>. Samoan forms plurals of some nouns, but with a variety of means: reduplicated syllable, vowel lengthening.

If the two <a>s are different, perhaps one is long: as in <pucker> vs <parker>, but I don't know.


#12372 12/20/2000 9:58 AM
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Hello BYB. You said: A tiffin wallah is someone who delivers tiffin to office workers. Where is Shanks when you need him?

Indeed you are right there, though in Bombay we most usually called them dabbah-wallahs (Dabbah being a contraction of tiffin-dabbah, itself meaning tiffin-box.)

I also posted a bit about tiffin in a thread called Food for Thought under Wordplay and Fun. Since I don't know the 'short' version of post references here, I won't actually try to make a url of it, but any search on tiffin, over the last three months, should turn it up.

cheer

the sunshine warrior


#12373 12/20/2000 10:42 AM
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can anyone think of other reduplicative place names? I can think of three others.

There's a Bora Bora in the Pacific somewhere, isn't there?

Dum Dum, where the bullets came from, near Kolkata.

Sing Sing where the convicts go.

Kwekwe in Zimbabwe, formerly Que Que; and Xai Xai in Mozambique, formerly Beira I think, and Tete also there.

I think there's a Kukukuku tribe in Papua New Guinea: there's a Malak-Malak language from northern Australia.


#12374 12/20/2000 11:21 AM
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Ooh, serendipity. From a news article today on unrest in the Central African Republic:
In reply to:


The opposition leaders, party officials and hundreds of supporters turned up at Bangui's Bonga-Bonga stadium in spite of the ban, but were met by riot police who ordered them to disperse.

When they refused, police reportedly fired tear-gas canisters and live ammunition, causing a stampede during which several protesters were injured.


Good thing they were only injured. I've heard the old death option can be quite nasty.


#12375 12/20/2000 9:47 PM
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NW offers: Sing Sing where the convicts go.

Sing Sing is the name of the prison. It's located in Ossining, NY.

Course there's always Torpenhow Hill, in England, but that's a little off track.


#12376 12/20/2000 10:11 PM
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Amazing, Faldage

I'd never heard of it and yet I've been to that area lots of times. Its not far from Rhubarb Commando country. We'll have to put it on the shortlist for an AWAD gathering one of these days.

http://www.ucle.org/ucle10.html


#12377 12/21/2000 3:57 PM
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Sing Sing isn't really the name of the prison, but is just a nickname, I think. They nicked the name from the name of the town. BTW, I noticed that the house the Clintons bought in NY is about five miles from the prison. Should make it convenient for Hillary on visiting days.

Actually someone told me the other day they already sold the house as they are (or at least she is) looking for a house in the DC area now that she's got a new job.



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#12378 12/21/2000 5:57 PM
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Local Ithaca area philanthropist et al. Roy Park recently had a park named after him. In a related story, Cornell University has a building named Anabel Taylor Hall and commonly referred to as Annie Hall.


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