Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)’s Comments (group member since Sep 20, 2013)

Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)’s comments from the Net Work Book Club group.

No, it's a crossover...means something a bit different in the US...as a verb...

What upsets me is that even if you accept the idea that many presidents of many nations are figureheads, they ARE meant to represent the country when dealing with figureheads of other nations and having their faces and words constantly in the media. This guy is going to be a national embarassment every time he opens his trap. I remember an old Bill Cosby recording from when he was doing Vegas nightclub shows--he did a whole bit on, "never say things couldn't possibly get worse--because they will." I never thought we could do worse than the Bush years, who was a man who could contradict himself in midsentence and be blissfully unaware of the fact.

mrbooks wrote: "I like the term I've got or you have the hump."

You guttersnipe American, you're as bad as me, it gives you the giggles!

Groovy wrote: "I didn't know they still said, thee and thou--hmmm!"

That was 36 yrs ago, and she was from a very small town, basically a Quaker settlement. She didn't wear a cap, though, or dress "plain", though she favoured darker colours. Her mom wore simple skirts and blouses, and did wear a little white cap made of some sheer-curtain type material, but it was held on with hairpins, not tied on with strings.

Back Story: When I was in college, our RA was a Quaker girl who was about five foot nothing, 95 lbs soaking wet, with flaming red hair and a tendency to lapse into "plain speech" when upset or happy. Our house was on the ground floor at the back, and we had the only easily-accesible vending machines in the area (this was 36 yrs ago). My room was about 2 yards down from the machines. The guys from the men's dorm across the quad regularly walked through our house to get stuff from the vendos, and some of the "jocks" were not above rocking the machines to see if they could get some freebies. When they let go you could hear that "thump" as the machine struck the wall behind it.

One day three or four guys went below and beyond the call, and someone finally called the RA. Next thing I know, this little red whirlwind came spinning down the hall, shaking her finger as high up as she could reach at this basketball player: "Thee cannot do this! This is not thy residence! Thee is breaking the law as well as the regulations! All of ye must leave at once!" and the jocks were backing away, hands raised, "OK mama, cool down, we're goin', we're goin!" They went, right speedily.

After she had seen them out the door, she "hmphed", smoothed her sweater down over her hips in a sort of job-well-done way, and said, "I think they know I was not pleased!"

Shoot honey, all of Lawther Hall (and possibly Bartlett) knew you were not pleased!

I've always loved that line ever since. "I think they know I was not pleased!"

If the other guy comes through, we'll ALL have to duck!

Groovy wrote: ""It begs the question..."--I love this phrase. In other words, "Why?""

Actually that's not what "begging the question" means. To beg the question actually means to tapdance around a subject and pretend to answer the question without actually doing so.

Yes I know that in five years' time the meaning will have changed.

NASA's a Mickey Mouse outfit. Someday sooner than you think Pluto will be reinstated!

I said "funny". There's nothing funny about either of those two. All those millions of inhabitants and those are the two choices? Strewth.

Anybody got a funny joke?

I'm a fan of "Have I Got News For You" on the BBC. They love to catch out some minister doing something silly like playing Candy Crush instead of listening to important speeches...

Originally I meant to comment on the phrase ""Not trying to criticise you in any way, but..." and then they do. Like a person saying, "I'm not trying to be funny, but..." and then they say something rude that's usually none of their business.

Se-nate as uncommon as you might think, lords no!

From the highest paid literary critic to the lowliest reader, a review is simply a reaction, an opinion. And often the "critique" of some NYT or LT reviewer reveals more about the person writing it than about the work itself, whether it be a book, a movie or a piece of artwork. I always tell my students when they write a commentary, "If you can't back it up, don't write it down." Conversely, if we can back up what we say, we have as much right as anyone to say it.

One reviewer I know of gives every book they read 5 stars. That's not very helpful, particularly if they go on to slate it in the review. Or a person will give a book two stars, and then tell you how much they enjoyed it. ???

Just read this in a comment on someone's review of a book they didn't finish: "Not trying to criticise you in any way, but..." and then the person waded in and told the reviewer how they shouldn't try to review a book they haven't finished. Yeah, like that's a rule! Of course you're criticising them! Otherwise you wouldn't have said it.

I much prefer a person to say "I didn't finish this book and here's why" than to just say "Worst book evarrrr" or words to that effect. Many DNF reviews have saved me valuable reading time...if they bailed on the book for reasons I would, then I know I won't like it.

Is that a Conservative estimate? I wouldn't want to Labour the joke, sir!

Cuts down on the unfounded gossip, though.

There's an old poem out there somewhere that talks about the three gates that everything we say should pass through before it comes out our mouths: the first, "Is it true?", the second "Is it needful?" and the third, "Is it kind?"

As I like to say, "There is no Back button on life."

Just pasta fazoolin' around!