Quote of the week!

[Cody]

"He may be a world-class narcissist, but this doesn't make him mentally ill, because he does not suffer from the distress and impairment required to diagnose mental disorder." He added: "Mr Trump causes severe distress rather than experiencing it and has been richly rewarded, rather than punished, for his grandiosity, self-absorption and lack of empathy.

Thus spake Dr Allen Frances, a trick-cyclist.

[UK_Eliter]

A trick-cyclist? Surely not. Still: a magnificent quote for the week.

[Malacandra]

A trick-cyclist? Surely not.

Military slang.

[UK_Eliter]

Ah. Thanks for the information. Sounds more like cockney rhyming slang to me, though.

[Disembodied]

From Brian Bilston, "the Poet Laureate of Twitter":

PRESS CONFERENCE

searching
inside his cranium

trying to find
a brain to rack,

he found the word
"uranium"

and launched
an unclear attack

https://twitter.com/brian_bilston/statu ... 5146260481

(relating to this recent alternative fact)

[Malacandra]

Ah. Thanks for the information. Sounds more like cockney rhyming slang to me, though.

Possibly, but the only place I remember seeing it is in a war story ("Commando" Picture Library or some such).

[Cody]

The Oxford English Dictionary refers to her as "unintelligent, promiscuous, and materialistic", while Collins adds "devoid of taste" to the mix.

Essex Girl? How very dare they! Calls for a song, does that.

[UK_Eliter]

Calls for a song, does that.

'Pranet?' Pomegranate? 'Alter Rag'? (Oh, hold on, I think I can work out the last one - and the general sense of 'pomegranate' is clear enough . .)

[UK_Eliter]

If everyone in Essex were like Dury, we'd be better off, it seems to me.

[Malacandra]

Ah. Thanks for the information. Sounds more like cockney rhyming slang to me, though.

Possibly, but the only place I remember seeing it is in a war story ("Commando" Picture Library or some such).

Seen it again in Gunner's Moon, a RAF autobiography - the writer is not a Londoner.

[Disembodied]

Army slang has always been a huge melting-pot for various regional slangs, especially during periods with conscription/National Service. Hence "Ruby Murray = curry" is common to both Glaswegian and Cockney rhyming slangs - but, due to differences in pronunciation, "Joanna = piano" only works in London, and "corned beef = deaf" only works in Glasgow.

[Malacandra]

I've greatly enjoyed George Macdonald Fraser's army stories and they make regular use of Glasgow expressions. One phrase that's remained with me is "Darkie's got a rare hatchet on" meaning "Darkie is in a really bad mood today". It was some time before the narrator found out who "Darkie" actually was.

[Disembodied]

Yes, the McAuslan stories are very funny … if you've not read it yet, you might also like GMF's memoir of his wartime experiences as a private in Burma, called Quartered Safe Out Here. It's not funny (and for funny wartime memoir, you can't beat Spike Milligan's Hitler: My Part in His Downfall and others), but it's interesting to read as the real-life background of the narrator "Dand MacNeill" in the McAuslan books.

[Cody]

My uncle was stationed in Burma during WWII - from what little he'd talk about, it sounded nasty!

The first war memoir I read (as a kid) was One of Our Submarines - a very good read.

[Disembodied]

We now return you to our scheduled programming:

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