um err... hello

[Arch]

Yes, it's important to hit your thumb first, it de-stresses the hammer...

 

[Big Bren]

Welcome!

I'm off topic and rambling here, but Arches' post reminded me of something.

We had an old guy living on our street to whom we would take our bikes if they needed any kind of repair or upgrade. He was a gentle old soul who, despite many years in the army, steadfastly refused to swear around us kids. He would routinely twat himself on the thumb with the hammer (there's the link - tenuous I know, but it does exist!) or endure other self-inflicted injuries whilst fixing our bikes, and use various expletives to avoid swearing;

'Ooooh sugar!'
'Ffffiddlesticks!'
'Bar steward!'
'Hells bells!' ('and buckets o' blood!' if it was an especially nasty one)

Any others?

Bren

 

[Tinkstheminks]

There you are!

I've been looking for you guys for ages.. It feels like I have come home after being on holiday...
How is everybody? Are all the gang here or have we lost some in the move?
I see there are new folk too! Fantastic!!

 

[Arch]

We had an old guy living on our street to whom we would take our bikes if they needed any kind of repair or upgrade. He was a gentle old soul who, despite many years in the army, steadfastly refused to swear around us kids. He would routinely twat himself on the thumb with the hammer (there's the link - tenuous I know, but it does exist!) or endure other self-inflicted injuries whilst fixing our bikes, and use various expletives to avoid swearing;

'Ooooh sugar!'
'Ffffiddlesticks!'
'Bar steward!'
'Hells bells!' ('and buckets o' blood!' if it was an especially nasty one)

Any others?

Bren

My mother has been known to use "Botheration!" , sometimes accompanied by a stamp of the foot in a real temper...

 

[Arch]

Oh, and hello again tinks! I think most of us are here, yes - there has been the odd name change, but mostly we're the same.

 

[Christopher]

There's a guy in our office whose ultimate swear-word is 'chuffing'. Only heard him say it once, and he was very annoyed at the time.

 

[Aperitif]

One thing my Mum used to say was "Well stap me" - no idea what that meant...

French Mother In Law exclaims "Merde...credi" when she commits a faux pas (like letting the bidons fall over before they are screwed down...)
Which I find funny because she regales in saying "F***in' 'ell" at odd times when she is in England...whilst casting stern glances at the chavvy little toss*rs who are using 'that word' in every sentence...
I blame the government personally myself.

 

[Arch]

One thing my Mum used to say was "Well stap me" - no idea what that meant...

Just did a quick google and found:


"Re: Stap my vitals!
this a sentence much used in Restoration farce and comedy by Congreve an Vanbrugh, and later by Sheridan and others (Byron and Thackeray)

: can anybody help with with meaning; i gather 'stap' is either 'stop' or a corruption of 'stuff' and vitals refers to the main bodily organs

any ideas???

I think you are right, and is a phrase like 'blow me down' or 'stone me' which are used (or used to be; I get the impression that, in the UK and Ireland at least, they are less frequent)as expressions of surprise. As in, 'do you know that John has got married?' 'Has he, well fxxx me!'"

So I read it that 'stap' means stop, in the sense of inserting something to block a hole....

Your Mum was probably saying it quite innocently...

 

[Arch]

link for the above BTW, for reference...

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/34/messages/948.html

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

link for the above BTW, for reference...

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/34/messages/948.html

Crumbs from Hi Ya to literary references in seemless fashion

Oh BTW fix has one X and one I

 

[Aperitif]

Well stap me Arch - you're an angel.

 

[rustychisel]

Hello cotter pin, can anyone cast any light on the phrase "bloody Nora", which I've been known to use.

 

[Keith Oates]

I thought it was invented by a certain Military Man in Yorkshire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Arch]

Hello cotter pin, can anyone cast any light on the phrase "bloody Nora", which I've been known to use.

A quick google suggests an Australian derivation, but can't see any more than that...

While we're at it, (and I know this one already) , why do we say "Gordon Bennett!" as an exclamation of surprise?

 

[Big Bren]

It is commonly thought that this refers to James Gordon Bennett. JGB was a real person. In fact, with the expansiveness that is appropriate for this story, two real people. The elder James Gordon Bennett was born in Banffshire, Scotland in 1795 and emigrated to the USA, eventually becoming a journalist and founding the New York Herald in 1835. Bennett had a natural talent for journalism and the paper flourished. An editorial in Harper's at the time expressed the opinion that "It is impossible any longer to deny that the [city's] chief newspaper is the New York Herald". Other rivals, while accepting Bennett's nose for a story, weren't impressed with what they saw as his 'gutter press' methods. In 1836, in a pre-cursor to the chequebook/kiss-and-tell journalism now so popular with tabloid newspapers, he published a notice offering to reward any woman who "will set a trap for a Presbyterian parson, and catch one of them flagrante delicito [sic]". He was unblushing in what was then seen as improper descriptions of his relationship with his wife - describing her 'most magnificent' figure and publishing details of their wedding and the birth of James Gordon Bennett junior in 1841.

James Gordon Bennett Jr. inherited his father's talents for journalism and controversy, not to mention his multi-million dollar estate - and he's the Gordon Bennett that the phrase refers to. He took over control of the New York Herald in 1866, by which time he was well into an enthusiastic and hedonist playboy lifestyle, indulging in spending the family fortune on air and road racing in the USA, England and France.

He was a significant promoter and patron of sports, especially those requiring impressive and expensive equipment, for example international motor racing, ballooning and air racing. He gave several sponsorships in these fields, notably the Isle of Man Bennett Trophy races of 1900 to 1905 (subsequently a trials course on the island was named after him). A long-distance hot-air balloon race (The International Gordon Bennett balloon race), which still continues, was inaugurated by him in 1906.

Bren