:: The Wendy House ::

Few events can attract my attention as effectively as a TOOL SHOW. And a tool show in a school playground to boot!. 

Did I walk past this tool show?  No. I bounced right on in!

Looking for a suitable large mechanical warm treat for my impending birthday.  To my joy,  I was able to handle more tools than you can shake a stick at.

‘one over the eight’ is defined by a UK phrases website as ‘the drink that renders you drunk’. 

My one over the eight is actually number 3 with weak beer  (under 4.5% alc.)  with Liquor my one over the eight is drink number 2. 

These non-trivial life-style details have caused the normally supportive Excel to get a mardy on because 9 does not equal 2 or 3.

I thought I knew what this idiom meant until I tried to verify it online.  This is what I believed:

• cop. To view, gather or recieve.
• flack.  Tiny metalised paper strips dropped from World War II aircraft as a means of interferring with enemy radar that is attempting to identify their position to relay to the anti-aircraft guns. 

In Wendy’s world,  to cop some flack is to be on the recieving end of lots of small irritations that together add up to major disruption.  This interpretation is consistent with usage of the phrase in forums, blogs and news item titles.

Merriam-Websters 4th and last definition of flack is ‘anti aircraft guns’ or ’the bursting shells fired from flak’.  It cites the origin of the main meaning of flack ‘one who provides publicity’  as ‘unknown,  1939′ .  During WW2.    WW2 airplanes also used to drop publicity (propaganda) leaflets,  Dropping flack and dropping small leaflets have remarkable behavioural, if not intended funtional, similarity.

Dictionary.com’s 6th entry for flack cites the meaning of flack that looks most similar to my current understanding of its use

• Antiaircraft artillery.
• The bursting shells fired from such artillery.
• Excessive or abusive criticism.
• Dissension; opposition.
• Informal:  Excessive or abusive criticism.
• Informal:  Dissension; opposition.

Ever since the stranger in Reading pointed out that the locals are prone to using double negatives to indicate a single negative,  rather than a positive,  I’ve been noticing this phenomenon.  Examples

I don’t know nothing about it (Guv)

I didn’t eat none of it

There wasn’t nothing there

He didn’t have nothing to say

I probably didn’t notice this local language because I may not be prone to never using it myself.

Not ‘are you apprehended by the police for the ghastly crime of insufficient height’ but another clever euphemism for wanting to go to the toilet.  The city of Westminster has signs to help you out with clever stick-people designs to illustrate the problem for those people who don’t understand the idiom ‘caught short’.   My favourite part of the sign is the invitation to text toilet,  for a toilet.  Hoorah,  no euphemisims there just send a text saying what you need,  effectively the bottom-line…

I’m on foot,  carbon foot.  because I have no car,  not even a rental,  and even my bicycle is out of action with buckled wheels…

The 1980’s UK social classification of electrical products divided into ‘white goods’ (fridge, washing machine, Iron, etc) and ‘black goods’ (TV, Hi-Fi etc). This division was reflected in the location of the items in shops and the marketing styles.

The only electrical goods that came with me from America fall outside the colour classification by being red (laptop & camera) or silver (network drive). The new old Wendy House came with some white goods (fridge, cooker, microwave, combination boiler, radiators) and no black goods.

Should I buy some form of black goods?

This is a non-trivial question. Judging by Bang and Olufsen’s website it is a decision the price of a small car. I’m not spending that much money….

tenth in a ceremonious series of Thursday posts about taking tiffin with (black) tea in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #10 Will you be mum?,

Lets start by assuming you have a pot of brewed, not stewed, tea a china cup and some real milk. As we have seen it may not always be possible because one or several of the required utensils or ingredients may well be missing in a NW USA homestead or diner. 

What next?  The holder of the tea ceremony, host*, normally pours the tea on behalf of the guests.  In the English working and middle-class circles I grew up with** it was possible to offer the honourable role to another guest by asking

“would you like to be mum”. 

The offer is a generous one.  As if anyone could replace a real mum!  With this phrase the host conveys trust that the person can pour tea for the guests and distribute the filled cups with suitable polite conversation and without spilling a drop in the process.  A shy person might decline the offer,  a person with great respect for the social skills of the actual host might decline the offer,  someone like me who might miss the cup or spill a drop from the spout while pouring will decline the offer.  Just that the offer was made is flattering.  While in the USA I’ve never actually got to the point where enough of the pre-requisites are in place that I can offer the role to another person.  My tea pots are all tricky little devils that need practiced skills to pour well.  I couldn’t offer the role to a guest because I would be setting them up to spill the tea and that just wont do,  that’s mean and devious.   A Brit could look at the shape of the spout,  the proportions of the pot and quickly adapt to the peculiarities of my pot.  Here my pots are not sufficiently usable by a novice, I must fix that and a screw driver wont help.  Oh my gosh,  please warn me if I sound a tad too much like Martha Stewart,  it’s frightening.

Assume that when in the NW USA the locals will not understand the implications of being asked if they want to ‘be mother’.

* intended as gender non-specific use of the term.

** Disclaimer:  I have not investigated aristocratic tea practices.  Aristocratic tea practices may involve behaviour codes that I have not acquired.

A place to store your self.  A hotel where nothing ever happens.