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Urban_Tribesman · Post edited by Urban_Tribesman at 2014-12-31 07:58:17

I thought it was the music Lonnie Donegan played when he had had a few !

Pet

@iuventus I will freely concede that there are no longer any ancient Greeks to be offended by our playing ducks and drakes with their language. In my view, however, politeness isn't primarily about avoiding offence -- or, it's only incidentally about that. I think that we should give offence where it's merited. Rather, I perceive politeness as means of marking respect. Few people seem to consider that the desirability of respect ceases when people die. My own view, I will admit, is at odds with the world in general. I dislike the exaggerated respect accorded to the recently dead. (As when the undertakers walked backwards as they retreated from my father's coffin.) I dislike even more the absence of respect accorded to long dead people. It seems to me, for example, unacceptable that ancient mummies are displayed in museums. It is unlikely that many people will agree with me, but I hope that my views have the virtue of coherence.

@Urban_Tribesman Squiffle juice is, as far as I'm aware, my own coinage. It's a term I adapted from the word 'squiffy' -- meaning juice that renders one squiffy. I like the term 'squiffle juice' very much, and have used it in some of my books. 'Squiffle juice' rolls off the tongue a lot easier than 'squiffy juice'. In fact, if a squiffy person attempted to say 'squiffy juice' it might well come out as 'squiffle juice'.

"Squiffle juice" occurs in my published novel Jane. In this passage, Jane Brewster and her friend Nicola Sherrin are drinking Sailor Girl whisky in Bluebell Wood. Nicola is doing a mocking impression of Knickers Naughton, one their former teachers:

"As I thought, it's squiffle juice. Now, girls, attend! The magnesium tetrahydrite particles form a bond in this liquid, leading to what is technically known as the tipsy effect. Tipping the balance, you'll understand. The mariner on the label is an emblematic example of what we may call a deferred allegory. I hope that you're all taking notes, Miss Brewster."

-- Jane 188-9.

Whickwithy

Happy New Year!

Urban_Tribesman

Whickwithy said:
Happy New Year!

And to you WW. Salute. This board is such a broad church !

Pet

And a happy new year from me.

iuventus

May Janus have your back end, as well as your front bits.

I agree about the departed--and simply because they don't need it--but I extend the sentiment, or lack thereof, to those long dead. I mean, mummy schmummy!

Whickwithy

Urban_Tribesman said:
This board is such a broad church !

Broad church, indeed, UT, if I understand the phrase. And, well put.

Pet

@Whickwithy Vis a vis Downton Abbey you posed this question:

"One thing concerning Monarchies (interestingly enough, worldwide) I've always been fascinated with is the idea that, at least, there was an attempt to encourage good manners and all of the redeemable values of humanity and wondered if I was completely wrong about that."

Theoretically, I think you're right about that. But, in practice, all too often, it may be that you are indeed completely wrong. Rather than politeness, the royals tend to go in for formal etiquette, which can be downright rude. I have never personally mixed with the Royal Family, but have known people who've had that doubtful honour. One such told me that, if one is having dinner with a member of the Royal Family, nobody is allowed to eat once the royal person stops eating. Princess Margaret, he told me, seemed to delight in ceasing to eat after taking only a bite or two. Consequently, the guests at table had excellent dinners before them, which they couldn't (by this bizarre rule of etiquette) eat. Then servants removed the food, and the next course arrived, only for the same thing to happen again. Such conduct is very far from polite to the guests. Worse, in a world where there is so much hunger, a great deal of top class food was wasted. It was, in my view, a gross blasphemy against the goddess whose bounty the food is.

Whickwithy

Pet said:

"One thing concerning Monarchies (interestingly enough, worldwide) I've always been fascinated with is the idea that, at least, there was an attempt to encourage good manners and all of the redeemable values of humanity and wondered if I was completely wrong about that."

Theoretically, I think you're right about that. But, in practice, all too often, it may be that you are indeed completely wrong.

Hahaha! Yeah. That reminds me of the Asain cultural practice of "saving face". While it seems a good idea, it has its drawbacks and is often used in a less than quality manner. I realize that none of these practices are perfect but I just think they are so much better, in the broad sense, then the current cultural imperatives that encourage outirght sociopathy. And, I just wonder if they shouldn't be tinkered with to remove the less appealilng qualities. I feel like we've left the path of even seeking, much less encouraging the betterment of mankind, the qualities that can distinguish man from the rest of the animal kingdom.

Pet

^ I'm inclined to think that the rest of the animal kingdom is, in many cases, to be preferred to our species.

Whickwithy

And, isn't that sad? I am now certain that we can do better and be the advanced species we've always perceived ourselves to be. And, yes, Pet, that includes men. Our intelligence is the necessary vehicle of our further evolution. Right now, we're just using it to make toys.

Pet

I rather like toys. Or, at least, some toys. I'm not talking about sex toys. Playfulness is good.

rewak

Is it bad that i think the Fifty Shades of Grey movie looks really good? :-/

Pet

^ Probably.

Pet · Post edited by Pet at 2015-01-16 04:53:27

^^ Actually, @rewak, I didn't know that there was a Fifty Shades of Grey movie until I read your post. This morning, though, I received an email from French Amazon recommending that I should buy the Blu-ray disk of Cinquante Nuances de Grey -- nothing else was featured in the email, just Cinquante Nuances de Grey. So, what have I previously bought from French Amazon? Checking Vos commandes (my orders) on the site, I find that I have made five purchases from French Amazon. Two of these were Editions Montparnasse's excellent DVDs of RKO films. The films in question are (ignoring an accent I don't know how to do on a computer): Vaudou (= I Walked with a Zombie) and Le Vaisseau fantome (=The Phantom Ship). The other three purchases are all music Blu-ray discs. Two of these are Vanessa Paradis (again ignoring an accent) Un Nuit A Versailles and Love Songs Concert Symphonique. The other Blu-ray disk (which only arrived this week) is Carla Bruni A l'Olympia.

I have a possibly kinky desire to have women sing to me in French. (Although I wouldn't go so far as to listen voluntarily to Edith Piaf.) All the same, I wonder which of my purchases makes French Amazon pick out Cinquante Nuances de Grey as a disk I'd buy. Is there something about Cinquante Nuances de Grey that I'd enjoy more than I suppose? UK Amazon have yet to recommend Fifty Shades of Grey to me. It's just those French people. Hmmmm...

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