#44143
10/10/2001 2:31 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
First some background, then the question regarding text in bold:
This morning's newspaper had a short article about a Baltimore oriole being spotted in Baltimore (County Cork) Ireland. This is a unique event, apparently due to the bird's being blown off course by high winds in its migration. Herewith quote:
"This is the first-ever sighting of a Baltimore oriole in Ireland. It's made an astonishing journey," said Birdwatch Ireland's Dick Coombes, who drove for six hours Sunday after getting frantic calls from friends who'd seen the bird. ...
"I ran like the clappers when I heard someone shout up the hill they'd seen the wee fella," said Coombes, who stayed overnight in Baltimore.
Any Irish or other UK speakers care to comment on this interesting expression?
|
|
|
#44144
10/10/2001 4:03 PM
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
BobY, I tried to LIU, with no success, but I did find this delightful page. I was just going to copy something from it, but each thing I read was better than the last! http://islandireland.com/Pages/folk/sets/sayings.html
|
|
|
#44145
10/10/2001 4:29 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear BYB: I found a couple sites that just said it meant to run fast. But I remember one of our Australian members describing sheep in spring having muck caked on their legs so hard that when they ran it made a clapping noise. I searched, but couldn't find the post.
|
|
|
#44146
10/10/2001 4:39 PM
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Thanks for the link, Jackie. I'd heard several of those sayings before, but some I hadn't. Two that I thought were especially relevant to the board were "People live in one another's shelter." and "If your messenger is slow, go to meet him."
|
|
|
#44147
10/11/2001 1:10 AM
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
Thanks for the effort, Dr. Bill. I was wondering if it had anything to do with the social disease with the similar nickname.
|
|
|
#44148
10/11/2001 1:51 AM
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 60
journeyman
|
|
journeyman
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 60 |
Wonderful link, Jackie! But this one reminded me of another thread on meaningless maxims:
"A combed head sells the feet."
Interpretations, anyone?
|
|
|
#44149
10/11/2001 2:20 AM
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
Clappers, indeed. The clappers are the clangers in a bell. They bang back and forth so fast you can hardly see them. Hence, running like clappers.
|
|
|
#44150
10/11/2001 2:28 AM
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
"A combed head sells the feet." When the shoe salesman stoops to put on the shoes the customer has selected, the customer can't help but notice the top of the salesman's head. The first impression the customer gets is not of feet, therefore, but of head. Hence "A combed head sells the feet."
|
|
|
#44151
10/11/2001 2:38 AM
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
The head and feet puzzle reminds me of a kid's jeer which is interesting more for its form that it is for its wit. "You're built up-side down. Your nose runs and your feet smell." What do we call this kind of reverse bi-polar word play?
|
|
|
#44152
10/11/2001 2:39 AM
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Funny how great minds think alike. That one had me scratching my head, too. The only thing I can offer is that my brother-in-law is 3rd generation lace curtain Irish and some of the things that come out of his mouth are just as incomprehensible to me(Kelli, sister, if you're reading this, you really need to log on and be one of us  ).
|
|
|
#44153
10/11/2001 2:45 AM
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
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?
|
|
|
#44154
10/11/2001 3:10 AM
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
|
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".
|
|
|
#44155
10/11/2001 3:20 AM
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
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!
|
|
|
#44156
10/11/2001 8:57 AM
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 25
newbie
|
|
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".
|
|
|
#44157
10/11/2001 11:24 AM
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
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
|
|
|
#44158
10/11/2001 11:39 AM
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
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.)
|
|
|
#44159
10/11/2001 1:03 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
|
|
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!!)
stales
|
|
|
|
|
