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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Elderly chap came up to our stall at the Oundle Farmers Market yesterday morning and looked at our wares for a while. Then he looked at our flyer and then went back to looking at the goods. I asked him if I could help him. "I'm just cogitating," he said. "Cogitate away," I replied. But where else in the world would someone say that completely unselfconsciously? 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
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he prolly lurks on AWAD... 
formerly known as etaoin...
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newbie
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newbie
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Must be my age, but it doesn't sound strange to me--just the sort of thing my family would have said (a Texas from a long line of southerners.) But I have a question perhaps you can answer. I notice in "Keeping up Appearances" that Hyacinth's sisters and brother-in-law use the word "our" before the names of their sisters, as in "Our Rose". I think it's charming, and wonder if it is commonly used in Great Britain. I also note that Hyacinth never uses the term. Is that because it wouldn't be in keeping with her always trying to keep up appearances?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
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I don't know the distribution of the use of "our" so-and-so, Kapatchka, but I would guess that it came into use in the first place to distinguish someone who belongs to the family from someone else with the same name who doesn't.
"Our Rose is on good form tonight."
"Yeah, better than Rose from No. 10!"
This be Rhuby territory. Where be Rhuby?
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Joined: Mar 2001
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newbie
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newbie
Joined: Mar 2001
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But sometimes it's used about the person being spoken to.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I was talking about its origins, not its current usage. You are quite right.
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addict
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addict
Joined: Apr 2002
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i wuz cogitating on this point and am relating my ramblings
*in the north we say, 'our kid' and, 'your kid' when referring to siblings but never, 'my kid'
*we also say, our mam and, our dad, but never, 'our mum'-- unless talking about, 'our mum', to a third party in the presence of a sibling
*in the tv adaptation of Pride and Prejudice Jane says, 'our mother' to Lizzie
*to differentiate between people of the same name who are not relatives we say, 'my Joe' and, 'your Joe' (insert appropriate name)--you pick which one according to who has the closest relationship
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I haven't seen "Keeping Up Appearances", but, yes, I would think someone who was keen on keeping up appearances would shun 'our' + first name. It definitely doesn't sound very upwardly mobile, shall we say.
Bingley
Bingley
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I wouldn't be surprised to have somebody locally tell me he was just cogitating. Is the word no longer used in NZ?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>I wouldn't be surprised to have somebody locally tell me he was just cogitating. Is the word no longer used in NZ?
Probably more a case of the action itself not happening very often here.
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