Seemingly trivial things that intrigue you
Comments
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I'm in the hotel bar at a table, eats (very good) 'n' beers. Elderly couple at the next table been staying here for past week, last night. They're chatting, expecting a visit from local couple, the bloke is originally from round these parts, meet a school pal not seen since 1964... 1964...
2nd couple show up. Conversation starts; for the first 10 minutes or so, enough for me to get my main served, eaten, and plate cleared away, they are talking about A1, M6, roadworks... FFS get down to it... Nerves or what?
At least they seem to have relaxed enough now that all 4 are chatting generally. Humans, eh.0 -
orraloon said:
I'm in the hotel bar at a table, eats (very good) 'n' beers. Elderly couple at the next table been staying here for past week, last night. They're chatting, expecting a visit from local couple, the bloke is originally from round these parts, meet a school pal not seen since 1964... 1964...
2nd couple show up. Conversation starts; for the first 10 minutes or so, enough for me to get my main served, eaten, and plate cleared away, they are talking about A1, M6, roadworks... FFS get down to it... Nerves or what?
At least they seem to have relaxed enough now that all 4 are chatting generally. Humans, eh.
Might be like one or two school friends who have cropped up on FB... after initial "What are you up to these days?" back and forth, you realise why you've not tried to contact each other for the past 45 years... nothing in common apart from a few hazy and uninteresting memories. Maybe roadworks are the most interesting thing they've got in common now.0 -
Similar to many family get togethers, then.briantrumpet said:orraloon said:I'm in the hotel bar at a table, eats (very good) 'n' beers. Elderly couple at the next table been staying here for past week, last night. They're chatting, expecting a visit from local couple, the bloke is originally from round these parts, meet a school pal not seen since 1964... 1964...
2nd couple show up. Conversation starts; for the first 10 minutes or so, enough for me to get my main served, eaten, and plate cleared away, they are talking about A1, M6, roadworks... FFS get down to it... Nerves or what?
At least they seem to have relaxed enough now that all 4 are chatting generally. Humans, eh.
Might be like one or two school friends who have cropped up on FB... after initial "What are you up to these days?" back and forth, you realise why you've not tried to contact each other for the past 45 years... nothing in common apart from a few hazy and uninteresting memories. Maybe roadworks are the most interesting thing they've got in common now.
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They’re just the set up for the side conversations afterwards bitching about whoever isn’t there.First.Aspect said:
Similar to many family get togethers, then.briantrumpet said:orraloon said:I'm in the hotel bar at a table, eats (very good) 'n' beers. Elderly couple at the next table been staying here for past week, last night. They're chatting, expecting a visit from local couple, the bloke is originally from round these parts, meet a school pal not seen since 1964... 1964...
2nd couple show up. Conversation starts; for the first 10 minutes or so, enough for me to get my main served, eaten, and plate cleared away, they are talking about A1, M6, roadworks... FFS get down to it... Nerves or what?
At least they seem to have relaxed enough now that all 4 are chatting generally. Humans, eh.
Might be like one or two school friends who have cropped up on FB... after initial "What are you up to these days?" back and forth, you realise why you've not tried to contact each other for the past 45 years... nothing in common apart from a few hazy and uninteresting memories. Maybe roadworks are the most interesting thing they've got in common now.0 -
Is MonkeyPox out, or out out?
Is a Pox potential worse than a Covid?
Why isn't there a MonkeyPox thread?
Will a mask help prevent the spread of MonkeyPox
Why am I being too lazy to search for it?
Am I all Brexit, Covid, Nuked, Inflation, Pox out of it?
I thought bad things came in three's not fives.
Why is everything so Salvador Dalí?
Does anybody else care?0 -
focuszing723 said:
Is MonkeyPox out, or out out?
Is a Pox potential worse than a Covid?
Why isn't there a MonkeyPox thread?
Will a mask help prevent the spread of MonkeyPox
Why am I being too lazy to search for it?
Am I all Brexit, Covid, Nuked, Inflation, Pox out of it?
I thought bad things came in three's not fives.
Why is everything so Salvador Dalí?
Does anybody else care?
A pox on your house. Or mine. Or someone else's.
I don't give a monkey's though.0 -
If I catch it I'll go fackin ape.1
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Thanks, I feel reassured now. I know I seem a bit Chicken about the Pox, but after Covid and all that, I thought...0
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Why Co-op lardons are 50% more expensive per kg than smoked back bacon. I guess it's cos they sound posh.0
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Some artisan* has pre-chopped them for you.briantrumpet said:Why Co-op lardons are 50% more expensive per kg than smoked back bacon. I guess it's cos they sound posh.
*MachineThe above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
pblakeney said:
Some artisan* has pre-chopped them for you.briantrumpet said:Why Co-op lardons are 50% more expensive per kg than smoked back bacon. I guess it's cos they sound posh.
*Machine
It's worth my cycling to next farm shop on from my normal one just to get their bacon misshapes - £2 for 1kg. Then I can be the artisan with my chopper.1 -
Why they didn't use the word 'forest' instead of 'wood' in the phrase 'You can't see the wood for the trees', given that 'wood' could mean a big thing (the forest), or a detail of it (the bits of timber). As it is, it's ambiguous, for no good reason.0
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Forest is also used. Mostly US English though I think.briantrumpet said:Why they didn't use the word 'forest' instead of 'wood' in the phrase 'You can't see the wood for the trees', given that 'wood' could mean a big thing (the forest), or a detail of it (the bits of timber). As it is, it's ambiguous, for no good reason.
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TheBigBean said:
Forest is also used. Mostly US English though I think.briantrumpet said:Why they didn't use the word 'forest' instead of 'wood' in the phrase 'You can't see the wood for the trees', given that 'wood' could mean a big thing (the forest), or a detail of it (the bits of timber). As it is, it's ambiguous, for no good reason.
Just occasionally US English makes more sense.0 -
English has many pairs of words that mean almost the same thing; in each pair, one is from Old English and the other is from Norman French. I cannot get at the OED right now, but I'd bet that wood and forest are such a pair. Often there's a slight distinction in meaning in modern usage (such as a wood being smaller than a forest) but that distinction didn't exist in the older language. So in older documents, you'll see wood used the way forest would be now. –briantrumpet said:TheBigBean said:
Forest is also used. Mostly US English though I think.briantrumpet said:Why they didn't use the word 'forest' instead of 'wood' in the phrase 'You can't see the wood for the trees', given that 'wood' could mean a big thing (the forest), or a detail of it (the bits of timber). As it is, it's ambiguous, for no good reason.
Just occasionally US English makes more sense.
zwol
Mar 7, 2015 at 20:09
@zwol Yes, wood is Germanic (and presumably related to the modern German wald = forest); forest is derived from Latin (and related to the modern French forêt). –
David Richerby
Mar 8, 2015 at 1:23
This page is a very cogent discussion of the AmE/BrE usage split. Not just about the trivial forest/wood preference, but also the (to me, much more interesting) difference between the wood and the woods (the latter being the only one you might go down to today if you want in on The Teddy Bears' Picnic!
seanoconn - gruagach craic!0 -
pinno said:
English has many pairs of words that mean almost the same thing; in each pair, one is from Old English and the other is from Norman French. I cannot get at the OED right now, but I'd bet that wood and forest are such a pair. Often there's a slight distinction in meaning in modern usage (such as a wood being smaller than a forest) but that distinction didn't exist in the older language. So in older documents, you'll see wood used the way forest would be now. –briantrumpet said:TheBigBean said:
Forest is also used. Mostly US English though I think.briantrumpet said:Why they didn't use the word 'forest' instead of 'wood' in the phrase 'You can't see the wood for the trees', given that 'wood' could mean a big thing (the forest), or a detail of it (the bits of timber). As it is, it's ambiguous, for no good reason.
Just occasionally US English makes more sense.
zwol
Mar 7, 2015 at 20:09
@zwol Yes, wood is Germanic (and presumably related to the modern German wald = forest); forest is derived from Latin (and related to the modern French forêt). –
David Richerby
Mar 8, 2015 at 1:23
This page is a very cogent discussion of the AmE/BrE usage split. Not just about the trivial forest/wood preference, but also the (to me, much more interesting) difference between the wood and the woods (the latter being the only one you might go down to today if you want in on The Teddy Bears' Picnic!
Quite. Normally native speakers can easily (and unconsciously) parse sentences that involve polysemy (words having multiple meanings) depending on context, but in this saying the context gives no clue as to the correct meaning. Forest hasn't assumed the multiple meanings of 'wood'.
Oi, stop tittering at the back, Pinno.0 -
I wasn't. I was defending the use of the British form rather than the US form - often barbarised, concatenated and abbreviated.briantrumpet said:
Oi, stop tittering at the back, Pinno.
Yet, interestingly and intriguingly, (****THREAD CROSSOVER LERT****) American broadsheet journalese obligates the reader to understand a much wider vocabulary then the British equivalent.
seanoconn - gruagach craic!0 -
pinno said:
I wasn't. I was defending the use of the British form rather than the US form - often barbarised, concatenated and abbreviated.briantrumpet said:
Oi, stop tittering at the back, Pinno.
Yet, interestingly and intriguingly, (****THREAD CROSSOVER LERT****) American broadsheet journalese obligates the reader to understand a much wider vocabulary then the British equivalent.
As in 'morning wood' tittering.
US journalese - nah, I just think they have a few different words from UK tabloids, such as 'bloviating' and 'shooter'. And I don't think that they have the same UK fondness for punning headlines, which is sometimes rather good.
http://www.mcgarvey.co.uk/2007/11/22/best-tabloid-headlines/
(It's worth reading the comments too.)0 -
No. Having spent 5 years with a Swedish woman (and a lot of that in Sweden), I happily relinquished most of that intrinsic 'British toilet humour' (as they aptly put it) and 'Carry on...' style references get quite dull.briantrumpet said:
As in 'morning wood' tittering.pinno said:
I wasn't. I was defending the use of the British form rather than the US form - often barbarised, concatenated and abbreviated.briantrumpet said:
Oi, stop tittering at the back, Pinno.
Yet, interestingly and intriguingly, (****THREAD CROSSOVER LERT****) American broadsheet journalese obligates the reader to understand a much wider vocabulary then the British equivalent.
seanoconn - gruagach craic!0 -
pinno said:
No. Having spent 5 years with a Swedish woman (and a lot of that in Sweden), I happily relinquished most of that intrinsic 'British toilet humour' (as they aptly put it) and 'Carry on...' style references get quite dull.briantrumpet said:
As in 'morning wood' tittering.pinno said:
I wasn't. I was defending the use of the British form rather than the US form - often barbarised, concatenated and abbreviated.briantrumpet said:
Oi, stop tittering at the back, Pinno.
Yet, interestingly and intriguingly, (****THREAD CROSSOVER LERT****) American broadsheet journalese obligates the reader to understand a much wider vocabulary then the British equivalent.
Oh, I'm sorry.0 -
No need.briantrumpet said:
Oh, I'm sorry.pinno said:
No. Having spent 5 years with a Swedish woman (and a lot of that in Sweden), I happily relinquished most of that intrinsic 'British toilet humour' (as they aptly put it) and 'Carry on...' style references get quite dull.briantrumpet said:
As in 'morning wood' tittering.pinno said:
I wasn't. I was defending the use of the British form rather than the US form - often barbarised, concatenated and abbreviated.briantrumpet said:
Oi, stop tittering at the back, Pinno.
Yet, interestingly and intriguingly, (****THREAD CROSSOVER LERT****) American broadsheet journalese obligates the reader to understand a much wider vocabulary then the British equivalent.seanoconn - gruagach craic!0 -
Forest is also historically not dense woodland. Forests were where you went hunting (if you were nobility) and were necessarily more open. Woods were effectively farmed for timber and so much denser. Then there's copses, spinneys, glades, etc.TheBigBean said:
Forest is also used. Mostly US English though I think.briantrumpet said:Why they didn't use the word 'forest' instead of 'wood' in the phrase 'You can't see the wood for the trees', given that 'wood' could mean a big thing (the forest), or a detail of it (the bits of timber). As it is, it's ambiguous, for no good reason.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
I think for a saying to last, it has to flow nicely. You can't see the forest for the trees, might have been used once, then died. They could have used woodland too, but the same problem.
`Waste not want not` is better than, don't throw it away, you might need it later.0 -
Tell us a Swedish joke, go on. They are even funnier than Germans.pinno said:
No. Having spent 5 years with a Swedish woman (and a lot of that in Sweden), I happily relinquished most of that intrinsic 'British toilet humour' (as they aptly put it) and 'Carry on...' style references get quite dull.briantrumpet said:
As in 'morning wood' tittering.pinno said:
I wasn't. I was defending the use of the British form rather than the US form - often barbarised, concatenated and abbreviated.briantrumpet said:
Oi, stop tittering at the back, Pinno.
Yet, interestingly and intriguingly, (****THREAD CROSSOVER LERT****) American broadsheet journalese obligates the reader to understand a much wider vocabulary then the British equivalent.0 -
Not a joke as such, but made me laugh, nipple in Swedish is bröstvårta. Pronounced breast water.First.Aspect said:
Tell us a Swedish joke, go on. They are even funnier than Germans.pinno said:
No. Having spent 5 years with a Swedish woman (and a lot of that in Sweden), I happily relinquished most of that intrinsic 'British toilet humour' (as they aptly put it) and 'Carry on...' style references get quite dull.briantrumpet said:
As in 'morning wood' tittering.pinno said:
I wasn't. I was defending the use of the British form rather than the US form - often barbarised, concatenated and abbreviated.briantrumpet said:
Oi, stop tittering at the back, Pinno.
Yet, interestingly and intriguingly, (****THREAD CROSSOVER LERT****) American broadsheet journalese obligates the reader to understand a much wider vocabulary then the British equivalent.0 -
why did the Swedish chicken cross the road?First.Aspect said:
Tell us a Swedish joke, go on. They are even funnier than Germans.pinno said:
No. Having spent 5 years with a Swedish woman (and a lot of that in Sweden), I happily relinquished most of that intrinsic 'British toilet humour' (as they aptly put it) and 'Carry on...' style references get quite dull.briantrumpet said:
As in 'morning wood' tittering.pinno said:
I wasn't. I was defending the use of the British form rather than the US form - often barbarised, concatenated and abbreviated.briantrumpet said:
Oi, stop tittering at the back, Pinno.
Yet, interestingly and intriguingly, (****THREAD CROSSOVER LERT****) American broadsheet journalese obligates the reader to understand a much wider vocabulary then the British equivalent.0 -
I forgot the punchline. Bröstvårta translates as breast wart.0
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Apparently this is a warning sign in Sweden of speed checks ahead. Tee hee.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
No, that's a British joke.Stevo_666 said:Apparently this is a warning sign in Sweden of speed checks ahead. Tee hee.
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