Definition?


-dave
aim sn - 'a bored youth'

the correct spelling is abecedarian - one learning the rudiments of something

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'

A
B
C

...the rudiments of english.
-ron obvious

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...

And an xyzerian is a senile citizen like me at 83 still trying to learn to write.

Simple as
D'oh
re
mi

consuelo

"A B, C D horses?"

"I N C NE horses!"

I forget how it goes on.

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]

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").

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!"

Kay Francis was an actress. She did a lot of movie work in the 1930s. More info:

http://www.queertheory.com/histories/f/francis_kay.htm

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.

That has just jogged my geriatric memory a bit more - in UK, "k" was "for teria" (cafeteria, yeh?)

AB, CD goldfish?
L, MNO goldfish!
OSMR goldfish. CMPN?

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

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.

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"

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

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

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]'.

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

I think most have now been decoded, and there are some interesting variations. The link I put in the previous thread on this was:
http://www.heenan.net/trivia/language/alfabet.html. Those of you who didn't see that thread should look at as the other posts were interesting and germane:
http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=wordplay&Number=27935&page=2&view=collapsed&sb=5

Rod

rodw, as always, when these long/wide links pop up for local threads, I remind y'all that you can cut them off after the 5-digit post no.; tsu wit:
http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=wordplay&Number=27935

Double or nothing.. rather than double or quits..

In Italian abbeccedario is not the alphabet, but - formerly - the book used to teach the alphabet to young children.