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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Plutarch, welcome to the board. Just, please, tell me sir, how you managed to fit three posts in, in the time it took for me to type one? 
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
I have to work harder. I'm just a "stranger", Consuelo. How do you get to be an "enthusiast", "member", "old guard" and so on? BTW, I studied Spanish for several years and I lived not far from you in Windsor, Ontario until recently. Used to visit Ann Arbor often. Thanks for the "Welcome".
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
So 'suela has picked up on the trick for building your post-totals: greet all vistors warmly!
Wecome aboard, Plutarch! Long lives to you here!
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 25
newbie
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newbie
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 25 |
Hi all. New member - just discovered this site. It's nice to find people who share my love of words.
As a born and bred Englishman, I've used "run/goes like the clappers" for as long as I can remember (and that's long enough, thanks). I can't do better than the suggestion that the clappers referred to are bell clappers, although there are plenty of instances of bell clappers that are quite slow (the baritone in a set of church bells isn't exactly fast).
A couple of other euphemisms for "fast" that spring to mind are:
"like a cat with its tail on fire"
and one that's always puzzled me
"like s**t off a shovel".
Can anyone explain that one? My experience (of the bovine and equine form) is that it takes quite an effort to get it off the shovel.
Do, or do not. There is no "try".
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
I think there is a more direct sense of clappers, relating to percussion instruments used in dance in many periods, including ancient Egyptian-derived cultures: “Then, at a given sign, the middle of the hall was taken by a man and a girl dancer, who were provided with clappers. These were made out of two small pieces of wood round and concave, located in the palms, and gave rhythm to the dancing steps when suddenly knocked together…http://www.bdancer.com/history/BDhist2b.html
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Welcome aBoard, plutarch and Yoda.  May I suggest you check out the "Helpful Hints for Newcomers and FAQs" in the Info. and Announcements category? It will take a bit of wading, but I believe you'll find it worthwhile. This is a compilation, spearheaded by our lovely jmh, of suggestions from a bunch of us "old-timers" that we thought would be helpful to new people. We try to keep it on page 0 so that it is immediately visible, but note that sometimes it slips back to page 1. (These clickable page numbers are in a row, just beneath the thread listings.)
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
I always thought it was to do with the clappers of a bell but found these refs in Chambers...
"that which claps, as the tongue of a bell: a contrivance for shaking a mill hopper (I like this better than the bell thing): an instrument for making a noise, as a rattle or (plural) bones for keeping musical time: the tongue (slang)." (Now that's given us a fair old crop to vote upon!!)
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