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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Geoff suggests: Here in the Yew Ess Aye...they yodeled because they hadn't waxed the splintery seat planks on the wagons.

All seriousness aside, I have the WDI* that US'ns cowboy yodeling is imitative of wolves' howls. By suggesting to the cattle that there are predators in the vicinity, they trigger the cows' clumping-for-protection instinct.

*WDI, Whack-a-Doodle Idea


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Swiss villages, a travelling ski waxsalesman got caught in a blizzard.

And descending once more into the gutter I'm afraid, I have an amusing pamphlet in French from Solomon who make ski wax amongst other ski paraphernalia (ever used paraphernalium?). The French for ski-wax is "fart", waxing "fartage". so you get such delightful phrases as "L'art de fartage", "Les farts glissements** pour les zone de glissement", "les farts poussees** pour les zone .... ".
** sliding and pushing respectively.
I still have a photo of "Le Tunnel de Fartage" on the ski slope which was a covered perspex walkway with a wax laden floor, with my.. er parson's nose? directed into the tunnel. Of such schoolboy humour is family bonding made.

Rod


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US'ns cowboy yodeling is imitative of wolves' howls

I think this is a worthy WDI, but given the sounds involved, I'd guess the yodels are more imitative of coyotes (known in the Southwest of our fair land as songdogs, as they're more musical than wolves).


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Carpal Tunnel
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Hyla'd guess the yodels are more imitative of coyotes

I'll accept that as a friendly amendment.


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Carpal Tunnel
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"L'art de fartage"

Smile when you say that, stranger.


#27382 04/30/01 07:18 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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In French Québec people will ofter call the head a coco when speaking to a small child.

Again, when speaking to a child, coco is also an other name for an egg.


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Carpal Tunnel
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L'art de fartage"

Smile when you say that, stranger.

Corcoran, Malcolm, Fartage de ski de fond, Guy Saint-Jean éditeur, 1996. -- Le 26 mars, de 14 h à 20 h; le 27 mars, de 12 h à 18 h. Stand 136.




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ski de fond = cross country skiing, as opposed to Alpine or downhill.
Rod



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