#4624
10/10/2000 10:35 AM
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
fish can't ride bicycles, they don't have any hands to hold the handle bars.They don't need hands if they've got good pectorals! 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
>For a stranger in a strange land it's often a temptation to pick up loose threads and run with them, go with the flow or grab the bull by the horns but sometimes discretion is the better part of valour and one should look before they leap to avoid stepping on other peoples toes or getting run over by fish riding bicycles. This may all sound like some tyred old clique but what goes around comes around. Which leads me to my point, fish can't ride bicycles, they don't have any hands to hold the handle bars
Well, I guess we can write fin(i)s to THAT one.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Well, I guess we can write fin(i)s to THAT one.
We'll just have to wait and sea, won't we?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
wait and sea, won't we?
Shell we?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004 |
Sorry for jumping in so late, but I thought I'd share - not similes, but metaphors.
First favourite - surreal:
"Nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands."
(I shall leave it to the regulars to tell us where that is from - I have disguised it a bit...)
Second favourite - hard-boiled:
"It was the kind of neighbourhood in which they rolled up the pavements after dark."
(Can't remember which book, but anything by Chandler sounds favourite.)
cheer
the sunshine warrior
|
|
|
#4629
10/11/2000 12:14 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
wait and sea, won't we?
Shell we?
You always have to mussel in, don't you mav?
|
|
|
#4630
10/11/2000 12:29 PM
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
You always have to mussel in, don't you mav?
Do you fin so? Cod be true, I suppose.
|
|
|
#4631
10/11/2000 12:37 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Do you fin so? Cod be true, I suppose.
I think that one's rather limp, et hoc genus omne
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
hoc genus omne
Is that Latin for "Beers all round!" ?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
Latin
or is there a babelfish...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
hoc genus omne
Is that Latin for "Beers all round!" ?
No, that would be "HIC genus omne"
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
This news just in from last week's Time magazine:
"In your note on my new and happy marital partnership with David Bale, you credit me with the witticism 'A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.' In fact, Irina Dunn, a distinguished Australian educator, journalist and politician, coined the phrase back in 1970 when she was a student at the University of Sydney. She paraphrased the philosopher who said, "Man needs God like fish needs a bicycle." Dunn deserves credit for creating such a popular and durable spoof of the old idea that women need men more than vice versa." -Gloria Steinem
It seems the board's most quoted feminist did not coin our favorite saying, but there is a plus to this! We now know that the phrase has a connection to the board's favorite country down under.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
We now know that the phrase has a connection to the board's favorite country down under.May I just say that I find my passionate supranationalism sorely tested by that statement? 
|
|
|
#4637
10/11/2000 10:18 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
I've got to reply to this one, Shanks -
"not even the rain...."
must be e.e.cummings, no?
He came out with many such goodies.
Love the rolled up pavements too.
|
|
|
#4638
10/11/2000 10:22 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
Welcome, Adam, and may I say that I love your comment "now I have even less"? You would seem to be the perfect person to answer Marty's challenge - what is the collective noun for a group of fish on bicycles?
|
|
|
#4639
10/11/2000 10:23 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
Wa hey!
I've been trying to get a definite suss on this for ages.
Thanks, Jazz.
Now I just need to find out who "the philosopher" was!
Must have been post Victorian to be talking about bicycles, I suppose.
Which narrows down the field about 2%.
|
|
|
#4640
10/11/2000 10:51 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
Hi Max - aren't you another HGTTG character? Now, Douglas Adams would be able to answer all our questions!
Can't find Marty's challenge, but give me time.
Anyway. Hmmmm, tricky one.
Contrary to popular belief, the collective noun for fish on bikes is NOT a "shoal". And indeed, a group of fish on bikes does not behave like a shoal, which has something of the qualities of a single organism (if you see what i mean). The same, as I like to call it, "negatively-gestalt" quality actually applies to any group of creatures placed on bikes, however socially-orientated they were beforehand.
Many experiments by maladjusted animal behaviourists have firmly established this fact.
I have to answer this with another question - what do you call a collection of wheeled vehicles containg drivers?
Let me rephrase that, before you reply "a jam".
What do you call a collection of cyclists?
|
|
|
#4641
10/11/2000 11:01 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
Marty, those are great!
I laughed like a drain.
|
|
|
#4642
10/11/2000 11:10 PM
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
>What do you call a collection of cyclists?
a mass? a rally? a peloton?
(hope you won't think I spoke out of turn...)
|
|
|
#4643
10/11/2000 11:40 PM
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Over at the fish thread I voted for "pool" (a combination of Marty's "pack" + "school"). Fishman, I'm gonna give you fair warning. There's a member here, an old hand , in fact, who cannot abide the word "orientate." Forewarned is forearmed... or forefinned, in your case.
|
|
|
#4644
10/11/2000 11:43 PM
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Terrific trolling, Jazz! Now, let us find the post-Victorian philosopher.....
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004 |
Could I call you Shona for short?
Indeed it was the inimitable e e cummings. The last line from one of my favourite love poems. It goes like this:
somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands
cheer
the sunshine warrior
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>Could I call you Shona for short? I was wondering when we were going to get our first e-romance. If its not Jackie and tsuwm (or was it Jackie and Max, Jackie and Maverick or .....) then I think that Shanks must stand a chance here . (OK, just worked out who Shona is - maybe not .. then again ...)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>favorite country down under, passionate supranationalism
There, there Max. We love you Kiwis too!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004 |
Hey Jo
I was just inferring, from FishonaBike, that it might refer to a person of the female persuasion who was already hitched. Then I discovered the fishona thread and realised it could be anybody. Apologies to FishonaBike for any confusion caused.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>Apologies for any confusion caused
It's fine. We thrive on confusion. How else did we notch up all those posts!
|
|
|
#4651
10/12/2000 12:20 PM
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460 |
<What do you call a collection of cyclists?>
A 'knees-up'? <grin>
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Jackie and tsuwm (or was it Jackie and Max, Jackie and Maverick or .....)  tsk tsk Jo. What are you implying?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
>Jackie and tsuwm
I prefer the feckful, taciturn type. 8-)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
Hey folks
Yes, I'm a bloke, sad to say - well, only sad to the extent that it means shanks may feel more inhibited about posting further delights from e.e.cummings. Speaking of which, I always loved the "o sweet spontaneous nature" one, and, of course, e.e.c's Top Ten Hit single "anyone lived in a pretty how town". Well, there's probably web sites dedicated to the man anyway.
Yeah, I can see why the name may have been confusing. Although, as it happens, I am hitched. And quite a lot of the time, I'm hitched to a bike. And I drink like a fish, given half a chance. But fish are cool anyway.
Check out http://www.fishonabike.com for more. I'd like to incorporate some of the little gems flying around this Board there at some point, but don't hold your breath, as I have little sprats (on scooters) to take care of!
Anyway, it's nice meeting you all.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
I'm sure you never spoke out of turn, tsuwm. I'm the saddle git if anyone.
After much deliberation, I was thinking your "peloton" was best. And then the appropriate collective noun for fish on bikes came to me in a flash - a PEDALLO.
Unfortunately I can't find it in my dictionary. Can anyone else? May be spelt with one L.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
Whoops, I seem to be multi-threading! Is this bad?
Have to say, Anna, I don't overrate orientate myself. Was used a tad ironically. Mock professor mode.
Mind you, "oriented" used in place of "orientated" really gets MY dorsals up.
By the way, how long do I have to be a stranger?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
Definitely the right answer if they're all out on a pub-crawl!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
You mean we've got BOTH on this Board??
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
By the way, how long do I have to be a stranger?
Her's my understanding of the board's "rank" system:
0-24 posts stranger
25-49 newbie
50-99 journeyman
100-199 member
200-399 enthusiast
400-699 addict
700-??? old hand (currently Jackie, in splendid isolation)
???-??? the undiscover'd country from whose board no traveller returns
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347 |
FishonaBike, you appear to be talking to yourself. I think your recreational pursuits are bad for your sanity.
In answer to your question "how long do I have to be a stranger?" the answer is - you're about half-way to being a newbie, but closing fast.
Stranger(0), Newbie(25), Journeyman(50), Member(100), Enthusiast(200), Addict(400), Old Hand(600). Jackie will tell us what comes next when she gets there. For a comprehensive discussion see the Graduation thread in this Miscellany forum.
|
|
|
#4661
10/12/2000 11:31 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
Thanks for helping me not feel like a fish out of water, guys.
Marty - well, what's writing if not talking to yourself?
There's a seedy side to creativity!
|
|
|
#4662
10/12/2000 11:37 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
"So how are you doing Shona?"
"Fine thanks, Fishman. Fancy a drink?"
"Don't mind if I do."
"Incidentally, if you need insurance, Anna's your woman."
"Thanks, but I'm not so orientated."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347 |
...and if I recall correctly, onaBi, answering yourself is the second sign. As if we needed proof.
|
|
|
|
|
