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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Keiva, go away. You are not welcome here.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
The person know as Keiva, who recently posted on this thread, was banned, for flaming.
He forced his way back into this forum by making implied threats to Anu Garg, the founder of AWAD. This same person has also been know, for certain, to post under the aliases AphonicRants and KeivaCarpal.
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Keiva, go away. You are not welcome here.
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148
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OP
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148 |
Consuelo, I don't think Mr Guthrie would like you quoting him like that.
Anyway - back to the matter at hand - I spent most of my childhood in lovely tropical Darwin. We had mango trees in our backyard, and as a consequence we had a lot of fruitbats in the yard too (they're also known as flying foxes). The point is, another variation on 'mad as' is "Mad as a fruitbat;" I'm not sure whether this was meant to mean angry or crazy, but when they're squabbling over fruit, they certainly sound annoyed... Might also be a play on the idea of 'batty' meaning crazy.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
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A common expression where I came from (Zild) and one which seems to be understood where I am now (Here There Be Dragons), is "as mad as a meataxe".
Speaking of which, "shambles" comes originally from the Latin scamnum, scamni, a footstool. Pre-Conquest, it became the ME word (sceamol I think) for a butcher's block and got reduced, over time, to shambles.
It became applied to, of all things, bishop's palaces during one of Christianity's greater periods - burning of heretics and witches. Doncha just luuurve that ol'time religion? This usage occurred because it became the norm to carry out this form of quasi-legal death by torture in the courtyard at the bishop's palace. It also became the common word for a slaughterhouse, probably about the same time (15th-16th C). Willy-nilly, and for obvious reasons, it also became used to refer to battlegrounds immediately after the fight and before the bodies were carted away.
It was still being used in that sense in the 19th century when an area in Southwark in London was called The Shambles because the tenements there were built over the remains of an older slaughterhouse. Because the area was such a mess (more so than usual for that time), it came to mean any kind of a mess, hence our usage today.
I did have to look up the last part of this!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275 |
As pliant as a bamboo
When you see bamboo poles used for fencing or flooring in remote villages in undeveloped countries, you wouldn't think them pliant but while they are still growing they sway with the gentlest of winds.
It is an Oriental saying that in a storm it is better to be
a slender, pliant bamboo than a big, massive Acacia tree.
I guess bamboos "go with the flow" to survive.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
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Just finished a lighthearted book called "Farm Fatale" by Wendy Holden. Two disparate couples seek relief from hectic city life by moving to the country where they run up against the eccentric residents of Eight Mile Bottom among which are a reclusive rock star' a nosy postman, a studly farmer and a mysterious millionaire! Good fun with some snappy puns dropped in willy nilly. It's very clever and quite naughty  ISBN0-452-28302-7 (Putnam Penguin Publishers)
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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Go away, Keiva. You are not wanted here.
You raped my identity with your faux handle 'AphonicRants.'
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275
enthusiast
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275 |
Hi wow, I can see you are enjoying your retirement, but still immersed in words, right?
That is a very hilarious title. And from your report it is that. I will be sure to look it up come winter time, which is my reading time.
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