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I LOVED your golfing
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I call the reader's writer, clearly expressed and easy
to read. (Howell)
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~ The Write Way ~
Friday 26 January 2001
Australia Day
Greetings,
It's a public holiday for us today - and it's a little ripper of a day! It's
still and sparkling - with a top temp of around 34 C (that's about 94 F). When
we took our "Girls" (Silky Terriers for those of you who may have
missed the Saga of the Dogs) for a walk along the beach at 5.30 this morning,
people were already there, "bagsing" tables and setting up for a
traditional day of swimming, barbecues and cricket.
It's what we do out here on Australia Day. It's supposed to be a celebration
of the time Captain Phillip and his band of merry convicts arrived in 1788 and
"...formal possession was taken of the Colony of New South Wales. On that
day, Captain Arthur Phillip became Governor of the Colony, having jurisdiction
over the area bounded by latitude 10 37' to latitude 43 49' south and inland to
longitude 135 east."
So, now you know! If you'd like to know more, here's a more detailed account:
http://www.adc.nsw.gov.au/history.htm
Actually, after many decades of navel-gazing, most people have come to the
conclusion that this is a pretty poor day to celebrate (given the fact that
Phillip and Co. dispossessed the people who had been happily living here for the
past 40,000 years), so it's become a day of just having fun in the sun and
enjoying the Now. This is my little corner of the world (if you haven't already
seen it): http://www.write101.com/redcliffe.htm
I thought you wouldn't mind if I was a teensy bit self-indulgent and shared
these delightful lines from one of our larrikin poets of last century, C. J.
Dennis. The poem is from a collection called The Sentimental Bloke (or Songs
of The Sentimental Bloke) and deals with the Bloke, his girlfriend, Doreen,
Ginger Mick and their mates.
The book was published in 1915 and then a special pocket edition was put out
for the soldiers in the trenches in 1916. It sold 66,000 copies in its first
eighteen months - not bad for a book of poems.
This is an extract from The Play, which describes the Bloke's trip to
the theatre with Doreen to see a production of a "drarmer writ be
Shakespeare"
Doreen an' me, we bin to see a show--
The swell two-dollar touch. Bong tong, yeh know.
A chair apiece wiv velvit on the seat;
A slap-up treat.
The drarmer's writ be Shakespeare, years ago,
About a barmy goat called Romeo.
"Lady, be yonder moon I swear!" sez 'e.
An' then 'e climbs up on the balkiney;
An' there they smooge a treat, wiv pretty words
Like two love-birds.
I nudge Doreen. She whispers, "Ain't it grand!"
'Er eyes is shining an' I squeeze 'er 'and.
'Wot's in a name?" she sez. 'Struth, I dunno.
Billo is just as good as Romeo.
She may be Juli-er or Juli-et--
'E loves 'er yet.
If she's the tart 'e wants, then she's 'is queen,
Names never count . . . But ar, I like "Doreen!"
A sweeter, dearer sound I never 'eard;
Ther's music 'angs around that little word,
Doreen! . . . But wot was this I starts to say
About the play?
I'm off me beat. But when a bloke's in love
'Is thorts turns 'er way, like a 'omin' dove.
This Romeo 'e's lurkin' wiv a crew--
A dead tough crowd o' crooks--called Montague.
'Is cliner's push--wot's nicknamed Capulet--
They 'as 'em set.
Fair narks they are, jist like them back-street clicks,
Ixcep' they fights wiv skewers 'stid o' bricks.
If you'd like to read the full poem,
here it is.
This week's quiz:
Continuing with the Antipodean flavour, try matching each of these Aussie
slang terms with their meaning:
| Banana bender |
not bright intellectually |
| Beyond the Black Stump |
boast, brag |
| Chook |
true, genuine |
| Cozzie |
great, fantastic |
| Deadset |
original, genuine |
| Fair dinkum |
a chance |
| Fair go |
a person from Queensland |
| Full as a goog |
dubious, underhanded |
| Lair |
true, the truth |
| Not the full quid |
turn to buy - a round of drinks
usually |
| Lob, Lob in |
a long way away, the back of
nowhere |
| Rip snorter |
to leave |
| Ridgy didge |
drunk |
| Shonky |
a flashily dressed young man of
brash and vulgar behaviour, to dress up in flashy clothes, to renovate or
dress up something in bad taste |
| Shoot through |
drop in to see someone |
| Shout |
swimming costume |
| Skite |
a chicken |
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Last week's quiz:
Correct the adverbs in these sentences.
1. The man ran QUICKLY.
2. He felt SO sick, he COULD HARDLY (COULDN'T) walk.
3. You shouldn't tell that story to ANYBODY.
4. Don't give her ANY of your cake.
5. Of the two brothers, he played WORSE.
6. There WAS hardly ANYTHING she could do to please him.
7 .The boy swims REALLY WELL.
8. That was the SCARIEST film I've ever seen.
9. I'll see you REALLY soon.
10.There are two things that bother me about this and I don't
know which is the MORE worrying.
If you have a couple of minutes to spare (and if you haven't
already tried this), test your language skills by doing this little test: http://www.write101.com/trythis.htm
It's really surprising - try it on your friends too.
~ * ~
Last week's tautology
prompted Frank to put pen to paper (or digit to keyboard):
Sorry, but I don't buy this week's
tautology. A person becomes a felon when he commits a high crime.
He could be a felon for the rest of his life and never be convicted of the
crime.
Frank Poturica
I think he may be right :)
~ * ~
And Katherine has found a great site for anyone who wants a few chuckles:
In regards to the mis-heard lyrics from La
Vida Loca, try the database of misheard lyrics here:
www.kissthisguy.com
Hours of endless amusement!
Katherine Spivey http://www.theiacp.org
And here are some more of those exam answers (sent in by LaVonne), that we love
to tch tch over:
Geography
Q: Name the four seasons.
A: Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.
Q: Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to
drink.
A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large
pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists.
Q: How is dew formed?
A: The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.
Q: What is a planet?
A: A body of earth surrounded by sky.
Q: What causes the tides in the oceans?
A: The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon. All water
tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and
nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.
Sociology
Q: What guarantees may a mortgage company insist on?
A: If you are buying a house, they will insist you are well
endowed.
Q: What are steroids?
A: Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.
Biology
Q: What happens to your body as you age?
A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get
intercontinental.
Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A: Premature death.
Q: How can you delay milk turning sour?
A: Keep it in the cow.
Q: How are the main parts of the body categorised? (e.g. abdomen.)
A: The body is consisted into three parts - the brainium, the borax
and the abdominal cavity. The branium contains the brain, the
borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity contains the
five bowels, A,E,I,O and U.
For more of these classics, click
here.
~ * ~
This is the time of year when many of us are filled with
enthusiasm - take advantage of this while it lasts and plan your Internet
business using this helpful guide: http://www.write101.com/letters/profits.htm
~ * ~
Word of the week: Barmecide
n. Insincere benefactor; one who holds out illusory offers, or who
promises but does not deliver. One degree worse than an Indian Giver, since the
latter at least delivers the goods, even if he does expect to get them back
again, with interest. The original Barmecide is to be found in The Arabian
Nights. A member of a wealthy Persian family, he decided to amuse himself one
night by inviting one Schacabac, a wretched, starving beggar, to a sumptuous
meal. Barmecide's little jape consisted of presenting Schacabac with a
succession of grandly served courses, amid all the trappings of luxury -- ornate
bowls and dishes, magnificent table-settings, and so on -- the catch being that
there was no actual food in any of the receptacles placed before the hapless
guest. The story ends with Schacabac taking it all in good humor and being
rewarded for good sportsmanship with a real meal. The unsavory Barmecide was
dealt with appropriately by Fate: his family became so magnificent that they
aroused the enmity of the Caliph, who imprisoned or executed them; and the name
of Barmecide himself has become synonymous with deceit, illusion, hypocrisy, and
the offering of bounty only to withhold it until the offerer's terms are met.
(Hall of Superior Words)
I love this one - and since we're on
holidays, I thought we could afford to make it a lo-o-o-ng one today :)
Tautology of the week: I
wonder how many personal friends you have ...
A Latin phrase that's just the thing
for a day like today:
Nonne dulce est familiam totam in
unum locum cogere? (Isn't it great to have the whole family together?)
If you received this from a friend, click here to
receive your own copy: mailto:WritingTips-subscribe@onelist.com
Regards,
Jennifer
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