"Perhaps the 140 character limit on our thoughts has made it far easier to abuse and insult the individual rather than construct a good argument. People jump to unintelligent, incoherent and annonymous abuse online because they don't have an intelligent argument to put their name and face to." - Rachel Olding, The Canberra Times
While I was back in England, I went to the Museum of London, which is an excellent museum, about which I will blog at a later date. While there I learned the reason that my mum refers to headgear as a titfer. I just assumed it was because she's a mum and they say odd things at times - best to ignore it.
However, I found out that it is rhyming slang for hat as in 'tit for tat'. I was quite excited by this and told some other people, who didn't share the (admittedly not large) thrill of linguistic discovery; several of them claiming that they had never heard anyone actually use the expression 'titfer' before. What do their mums talk about, I wonder?
Anyway, here are some everyday rhyming slang expressions that really have passed into common parlance (as far as I'm concerned!).
5 Rhyming Slang Expressions:
- Butcher's (hook - look; as in, 'Go on then, give us a butchers')
- Alans (Whickers - nickers; as in, 'Alright, alright, keep your alans on!')
- Ruby (Murray - curry; as in, 'Let's go for five pints and a ruby')
- Rosy (Lee - tea, as in 'Put the kettle on; let's have a cup of rosy'). Sometimes, although not as often round my way, referred to as a gypsy (both from Gypsy Rose Lee, an American burlesque entertainer, otherwise known as stripper).
- Tod (Sloan - own, as in, 'Did you come with someone or are you on your tod?')
When people ask me what I miss most about home, I always say the pubs, the football, the beers, the culture (comedy; theatre; music); friends and family - not necessarily in that order. So, I managed to get in some of all of that while back (although Boro v Burnley may not rate in the football category; comedy perhaps?).
It would be fair to say that I had more than five different beers, but for the Friday Five, here are the favourites.
5 Beers I Drank in England:
- Rebellion Mutiny - all of the Rebellion Ales are fabulous, but the Mutiny at the brewery itself would have to be a favourite. It's full-bodied, reddish in colour, an ESB style premium beer, with a great balance of malty hoppy goodness. Yes, of course I'm biased because it's my local beer, but it's a great one to have!
- Thwaites Wainwright - named after Alfred Wainwright, hill-walker and guidebook-writer born in Blackburn Lancashire, this has been the sponsor ale for Lancashire Cricket Club since 2005. I had a pint in a pub on Knightsbridge, after watching the Olympic women's 10km open water swim. It's a beautiful golden colour, made with Maris Otter pale malt, and has a citrus hoppy flavour. It was extremely refreshing on a hot sunny day (I got sunburned in Hyde Park, which is a bit embarrassing) and I recommend it to all the athletes who want to remove the taste of the Serpentine.
- Captain Cook's Endeavour - drank it at the beer's home brewey, The White Swan, in Stokesley. Bronze in colour and strong in taste with a malty, fruity, bready blend of flavours - perfect with a Yorkshire pudding. Yum!
- Wychwood Bountiful - a seasonal beer released to celebrate harvest festival. It's a chestnut ale with sweet fruit flavours and a biscuity smell. Cousin Rachael bought me a pint at the Bull and Butcher in Turville, thinking it might be appropriate, for some reason... I liked it, but having seen the pump clip, I wouldn't buy one for myself!
- Sambrook's Pumphouse Pale Ale - had a pint of this at the Bree Louise beer festival in Euston. Sambrook's is a Battersea brewery (brewing since 2008) so it was nice and local, golden hay colour with a zesty, spicy taste (New Zealand Hallertau hops have been used) - sitting outside the pub with friends on a summer evening. This is the taste of summer: happy times!
The sad obituary from this week is that Nina Bawden has died, aged 87. She was the author of a fantastic number of books, including Family Money and The Ice House, both of which I thought were excellent when I read them many years ago.
She is probably best known, however, for her children's novel, Carrie's War, which focuses on the plight of two young evacuees during the Second World War as they are sent to a rural world that may as well be alien - it's in Wales. We read it at school, as I think did many people my age, and it left a lasting impression. I loved war stories, and the era in which they were set: the children of the Narnia stories were evacuees and The Famous Five were obssessed with secret passages and food because they were living through the post-war rationing years.
Much is made these days of children needing stories with characters they can relate to. I think this is patronising and doesn't credit the power of childhood imagination or their ability to understand something other than their own immediate environment. Children have amazing war stories now: The Book Thief by Makus Zusak; The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne; and Michael Morpurgo's War Horse spring to mind.
I have since read children's books concerning other wars in China, America, Africa, Canada, India, South America, the Balkan states, and what was once Persia, but up until the early 80s, almost all my reading about war was Euro-centric and (with the notable exceptions of Henry Treece and Rosemary Sutcliffe who wrote thrilling historical fiction) concerned WWII. Because I have already mentioned the highly-influential Carrie's War, I am not including it in this list, although it would otherwise be right up there.
5 Children's Book About War (That I Read When I Was a Child):
- I Am David - Anne Holme
- Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank
- The Silver Sword - Ian Serraillier
- Goodnight Mr Tom - Michelle Magorian
- The Eagle of the Ninth - Rosemary Sutcliffe
Now the hurly burly’s done and we’re back to the ‘real’ (i.e. non-Olympic) news, the papers make for fairly grim reading. Here is a selection of quotes from today’s press:
5 Trending Topics in Today’s News:
- “I think fame became more exciting for me in the late 90s because I could actually use it as a means to an end. I could actually have it help my vocationfulness. I could offer comfort and upliftment and be a leader and take on that responsibility, rather than see it as this daunting thing.” – an interview with Alanis Morisette proves that she is still crazy after all these years (and her grammar hasn’t got any better either. No, it’s not ironic; it’s just unfortunate).
- “Whatever views one may have about Julian Assange as a Wikileaks activist, it is clear that in legal and moral terms he cannot properly be described as a refugee.” - Alan Rusbridger (editor of the Guardian) explains his position.
- “Despite being the epitome of middle-class (doctor’s daughter, grammar-school girl, boho provincial upbringing), being mistaken as a posho has been a lifetime affliction. Maybe it’s because I went to Oxford, maybe because I refuse to cultivate a mockney accent, maybe because all my friends are called Tarquin de’ath von Bunface-Toffo, I can somehow (inadvertently) pass and I am routinely lambasted for it.” – Hannah Betts offers rare sympathy to Benedict Cumberbatch who has complained that he misses out on a lot of roles because he is too posh for people to take seriously.”
- “The world can always be divided into two types of people – those who like board games and those who don’t. Those who thrill to the news that a fancy dress party is in the offing and those who shrink from it like paper from a flame. Those who will listen politely to accounts of other people’s dreams and those who will beat the teller to death with the nearest stick. But none of these divides comes close to that which separates horsey people from the non-horsey.” – Lucy Mangan stands firmly on one side of the fence and refuses to jump it.
- “When a new manager comes in it’s always a rebuilding process in certain respects. I’m always honest. I’m always realistic. It’s impossible to say it’s the title this year; people will laugh at me.” – On the eve of their first game of the 2012-13 Premiere League campaign (at West Brom), Stevie G’s pre-season remarks don’t exactly instill confidence.
There are a lot of things not to like about flying. But the Friday Fives are relentlessly positive, so, as I embark on a thirty-six hour plane journey around the world, here are some of the things I do like.
5 Things I Like About Aeroplane Travel:
- The films – often really up-to-date pictures that you were planning to see on terra firma, classics that you always meant to watch someday, or sections of TV dramas that you missed out on because you were busy doing something other with your life.
- Duty free – even if you don’t buy anything (and you know you’ll end up with a Toblerone), it’s fun to sniff all the perfume and check out the free gifts with litres of gin or whisky.
- The little stuff – from mini packets of nuts to pocket-sized g&ts, somehow all the packaging on the aeroplane seems cute.
- Famous people – occasionally you glimpse them as they waft through the airport in a cloud of photographers and bad disguises – sometimes you even get to share a plane, although of course they always sit up front in the big seats.
- The warm hand towels – nowhere else do you get this luxury, apart from maybe massage therapists. The situations could not be more incongruous. You may be cramped up with your knees digging into your chin and your back unbearably jack-knifed, but your face feels fresh and your pores cleansed.
This seems relevant to the current Olympic situation:
"It's not bragging if you can back it up." - Muhammad Ali
