#33085
06/21/2001 7:35 PM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3 |
Definition?
-dave
aim sn - 'a bored youth'
-dave
aim sn - 'a bored youth'
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#33086
06/21/2001 7:40 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
the correct spelling is abecedarian - one learning the rudiments of something 
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#33087
06/21/2001 7:45 PM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3 |
Oh I could've very easily spelled the word wrong, I've only heard, not read, it. I just thought it was Abcde because I was under the impression it was something to do with letters, words, or language.
-dave
aim sn - 'a bored youth'
-dave
aim sn - 'a bored youth'
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#33088
06/21/2001 7:48 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
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#33089
06/21/2001 7:50 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
...the rudiments of english.
-ron obvious
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#33090
06/21/2001 7:54 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
There's a Spanish word - abecedario - that means alphabet. I always preferred that one to alfabeto for some reason... takes you farther in that just Alpha/Beta...
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#33091
06/21/2001 8:20 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
And an xyzerian is a senile citizen like me at 83 still trying to learn to write.
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#33092
06/21/2001 11:00 PM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Simple as
D'oh
re
mi
consuelo
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#33093
06/22/2001 6:56 AM
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Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 444
addict
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addict
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 444 |
"A B, C D horses?"
"I N C NE horses!"
I forget how it goes on.
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#33094
06/22/2001 7:17 AM
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 41
newbie
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newbie
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 41 |
As a kid, I was taught this ABC:
A for 'orses
B for mutton
C for yourself
D for ential
E for brick
F for vescence
G for police
H for [mm can't remember this one]
I for Novello [which just goes to date this chestnmut]
J for oranges
K for ancis [even I haven't got the faintest idea who on earth Kay Francis is, or more probably, was]
L for leather [which is silly really, as L is for leather]
M for sis
N for ence
O for the garden wall
P for relief [considered rather racy at the time]
Q for a ticket
R for mo
S for... [can't recall: someone named Esther presumably]
T for two [cf F]
U for films [UFA, apparently a defunct studio, if it's all too anachronistically obscure]
V for la difference
W for a shilling
X for breakfast
Y for goodness sake
Z for breezes [obviously not the Western Atlantic sort]
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#33095
06/22/2001 8:01 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393 |
The Surrealist Alphabet: one of my dad's 78 that he laughed uproariously to. I can't remember exactly what they said on the record (or who they were: Jack Hulton?). Possible variations:
C forth Highlanders.
E for Adam.
H for... no I can never remember this either. H for consent? No, too racy.
N for a penny.
Q for billiards.
S for Williams.
U for... for mism? for ne?
V for la France (at which point the two performers broke into a hearty "Allons enfants de la patrie").
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#33096
06/22/2001 10:27 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
The version I was dragged up with had;
"H for dropping" (in true London style!)
"G" was for "backing"
and an alternative to "E for brick" was "E for Adam"
edit and an alternative for "o" was "O for the Rainbow"
Also, in war-time London, "Q" was "for everything!"
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#33098
06/22/2001 2:48 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
I never heard these as a string- just one or two- but i suspect that
L for leather [which is silly really, as L is for leather]
is bassed on Hell for Leather-- which is an idiom that means go at something, no matter what--
"The shoppers went hell for leather to get the last few pieces, of the last shipment of the latest electronic toy, before the stores closed for the holidays"
In an other thread, Rodward, and others shared other versions.
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#33099
06/22/2001 2:57 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
That has just jogged my geriatric memory a bit more - in UK, "k" was "for teria" (cafeteria, yeh?)
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#33100
06/22/2001 3:02 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
AB, CD goldfish?
L, MNO goldfish!
OSMR goldfish. CMPN?
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#33101
06/23/2001 7:19 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
I've heard two versions for the letter S:
S for Williams
S for Rantzen
I believe Ms. Williams was a swimmer, and Ms. Rantzen had teeth.
Bingley
Bingley
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#33102
06/23/2001 3:41 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Rusty, thanks for posting that! Beef or mutton made me  . But, I still don't get: E for brick (though I finally got Eve or Adam); I for Novello; J for oranges; or W for a shilling. It gave me satisfaction to decipher queue for a ticket, 'arf a mo, and zephyr breezes. ALso: Bingley, your statement that Ms. Rantzen had teeth left me in the dark.
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#33103
06/23/2001 5:25 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Esther Williams was I believe an US Olympic swimmer, later a movie star. In a movie, Keenan Wynne was engaged to her, but soon supplanted by Van Johnson, who (in the movie) married her. Keenan Wynne then got off a line I treasure: "She may be married to you, but remember, she's still engaged to me."
I too can't get "E for brick" unless its "Heave a brick"
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#33104
06/23/2001 10:18 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 427
addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 427 |
Jackie still doesn't get: E for brick (though I finally got Eve or Adam); I for Novello; J for oranges; or W for a shilling.Well, the only one that I can adventure is Jaffa Oranges for J, but I'm not entirely sure... the other ones are just as mysterious to me!  Marianna
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#33105
06/24/2001 12:00 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
E for brick (as the good Dr. says) = 'eave a brick
I for Novello = Ivor Novello (1920s? songwriter)
W for a shilling = double you for a shilling (betting)
Esther Rantzen was (still is for all I know) a TV presenter with a fearsome set of gnashers in the seventies.
Bingley
Bingley
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#33106
06/25/2001 2:05 AM
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 41
newbie
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newbie
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 41 |
In reply to:
W for a shilling = double you for a shilling (betting)
That's what I always thought too - up until the moment I posted it on this Board, when I realised (a) I've never heard anyone actually say 'double you for a [insert monetary unit]' - the betting phrase is 'double or nothing'; and (b) I have heard plenty of mendicants say 'trouble you for a [insert monetary unit]'.
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#33107
06/25/2001 2:39 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
I must confess I've never actually heard anyone say it either, but then I don't bet much. What I have heard is "double or quits".
Bingley
Bingley
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#33110
06/25/2001 7:34 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Double or nothing.. rather than double or quits..
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#33111
06/26/2001 6:45 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 315
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 315 |
In Italian abbeccedario is not the alphabet, but - formerly - the book used to teach the alphabet to young children.
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