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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007Find a good quotation
It is good for some people but it is bad for others. > It is good for some people but it is bad for others. It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good. "It's an ill wind" on it's own is frequently used, the rest being understood.  SignatureLes >> It is good for some people but it is bad for others. > > It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good. > > "It's an ill wind" on it's own is frequently used, the rest being > understood. He can play On a Slow Boat to China And how I wish he would, Because in my opinion (And I want it understood) A saxophone's an ill wind That nobody blows good. -- Benny Hill (Although Danny Kaye and/or Bennett Cerf apparently earlier used the same joke about the oboe.) SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |Those who would give up essential 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |Liberty, to purchase a little Palo Alto, CA 94304 |temporary Safety, deserve neither |Liberty nor Safety. kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com | Benjamin Franklin (650)857-7572 http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ >>> It is good for some people but it is bad for others. >> [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > (Although Danny Kaye and/or Bennett Cerf apparently earlier used the > same joke about the oboe.) Definitely Danny Kaye did. I don't know about Cerf. SignatureRoland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food. NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it. > >>> It is good for some people but it is bad for others. > >> [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Definitely Danny Kaye did. I don't know about Cerf. It (the oboe as ill wind) is an old saw among musicians in classical orchestras. In addition to its nasal tone, the oboe is almost impossible to keep supplied with reeds. Tall tales of the extremes to which oboists have gone to maintain their reed supply are apparently legion. Among the strings, the viola corresponds to the oboe as the butt of jokes. I don't know whom the brass players make fun of -- the flügelhorn, perhaps. It's a known fact that all drummers are crazy. And my great musical ambition is to supply the hammerblows in a performance of the Mahler Sixth. SignatureBob Lieblich Who once played the piano -- and lost > Tall tales of the extremes to > which oboists have gone to maintain their reed supply are apparently > legion. What tall tales? Those stories are all true. > Among the strings, the viola corresponds to the oboe as the > butt of jokes. There's even a viola joke about enmity between an oboist and a violist. SignatureRoland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food. NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it. >It (the oboe as ill wind) is an old saw among musicians in classical >orchestras. In addition to its nasal tone, the oboe is almost [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >butt of jokes. I don't know whom the brass players make fun of -- the >flügelhorn, perhaps. In my area of musical interest it's the bodhrán players who the subjects of the jokes. How do you know a bodhrán player's at your door? The knocking keeps getting faster and faster, and he doesn't know when to come in. What's the difference between a bodhrán and an onion? Nobody cries when you chop up a bodhrán. What's the best tipper to use to play a bodhrán? A pen knife. A fella comes 'round the pub taking up a collection. "Spare a pound?" he asks the folks at the bar. "What's it for?" one of them asks. "Oh, the bodhrán player died, and we're taking up a collection to bury him." The guy at the bar shoves a couple of pounds in the hat. "Here," he says, "bury two." How do you know the stage is level? The bodhrán player's drooling out of both sides of his mouth. A bodhrán player, a banjo player, and a bagpipe player jump out of an airplane without parachutes. Which one hits the ground first? Who cares? Fellow walks into a pub in Belfast with a plastic bag under his arms. The bartender asks "What's that?" "Six pounds of semtex," he answers. "Thanks be to Jaysus; I thought it was a bodhrán!" Then there was the bodhrán player who remembered that he had left his bodhrán in his unlocked car. Rushing back, he opened his car door to find two more bodhráns in the back seat. A bodhrán player was sick of the band abusing him, and decided to start his own. He walked into a music shop, planning to buy the first instruments he saw. "Give me the red saxophone and that accordion!", he said. The assistant said, "You play the bodhrán, don't you?" "That's right. Why?" "Well, the fire extinguisher I can sell you - but the radiator stays. What is the difference between a bodhrán player and a terrorist? Terrorists have sympathizers. What's the difference between a bodhrán and a trampoline? You take off your shoes when you jump on a trampoline. Bodhrán care is simple... Rub gently with lighter fluid and ignite. What is the difference between a dead bodhrán player lying in the road and a dead rabbit lying in the road? The rabbit might have been on its way to a gig. OK, OK, if you people can post "What's black and white...? jokes, I can post bodhrán jokes. SignatureTony Cooper Orlando, FL >Fellow walks into a pub in Belfast with a plastic bag under his arms. >The bartender asks "What's that?" > >"Six pounds of semtex," he answers. > >"Thanks be to Jaysus; I thought it was a bodhrán!" "What's the fastest party game in the world?" "Pass-the-Parcel in a Belfast pub." SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) > It (the oboe as ill wind) is an old saw among musicians in classical > orchestras. In addition to its nasal tone, the oboe is almost > impossible to keep supplied with reeds. Tall tales of the extremes > to which oboists have gone to maintain their reed supply are > apparently legion. I haven't played since high school, but I vividly remember faking my way through the last third of a concert after having broken my reed, my spare reed, and the one I borrowed from the other oboist. I really should get my hands on one and get back in practice, but even cheap ones are pretty expensive. (The latest acquisition in my midlife-crisis attempt to become mediocre on a broad range of instruments is a Roland TD-3 electronic drum set. I want to know what idiot decided that it was possible to play three different rhythms with three different limbs at the same time. Probably a friend of the guy who thought that using your fingertip to press down on the side of a taut metal wire was a good idea. I can deal with any two limbs, but three seems to be beyond me.) SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |The skinny models whose main job is 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |to display clothes aren't hired for Palo Alto, CA 94304 |their sex appeal. They're hired |for their resemblance to a kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com |coat-hanger. (650)857-7572 | Peter Moylan http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ >> It (the oboe as ill wind) is an old saw among musicians in classical >> orchestras. In addition to its nasal tone, the oboe is almost [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > idea. I can deal with any two limbs, but three seems to be beyond > me.) Good job you didn't take up the organ. It uses four limbs. (As opposed to the harpsichord, which uses only forelimbs.) SignatureRoland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food. NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it. Roland Hutchinson filted: >> (The latest acquisition in my midlife-crisis attempt to become >> mediocre on a broad range of instruments is a Roland TD-3 electronic [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > >Good job you didn't take up the organ. It uses four limbs. And that's only if you don't change the registration in mid-piece.... >(As opposed to the harpsichord, which uses only forelimbs.) Unless you fancy yourself Jerry Lee Lewis....r Signature"Keep your eye on the Bishop. I want to know when he makes his move", said the Inspector, obliquely. > Roland Hutchinson filted: >> [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Unless you fancy yourself Jerry Lee Lewis....r I hear he was _very_ rough on harpsichords. SignatureRoland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food. NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it. my.spamtrap@verizon.net had it: > > Roland Hutchinson filted: > >> [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > I hear he was _very_ rough on harpsichords. I once helped George Malcolm to carry his harpsichord into a hall before a concert. He transported it in a Volvo estate. SignatureDavid ===== Nope. Gravity under Vista got worse. Back to XP. > my.spamtrap@verizon.net had it: >> [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > I once helped George Malcolm to carry his harpsichord into a hall > before a concert. He transported it in a Volvo estate. I've long believed that one thing that made the early music revival take off in Britain is the fact that you can transport a good-sized harpsichord in an ordinary estate car (AmE station wagon). In America, with left-hand drive, you need to own or rent a van: harpsichords don't much like traveling upside down! By the way, speaking of harpsichordists of decades past, the scariest thing I've ever done on a stage in public was turning pages for Igor Kipnis. SignatureRoland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food. NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it. >> my.spamtrap@verizon.net had it: >>> [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] >drive, you need to own or rent a van: harpsichords don't much like >traveling upside down! I'm missing something here. Why does it make a difference if the steering wheel is on the left or the right when transporting a harpsichord? SignatureTony Cooper Orlando, FL [...] >>I've long believed that one thing that made the early music revival take >>off in Britain is the fact that you can transport a good-sized harpsichord [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > steering wheel is on the left or the right when transporting a > harpsichord? Harpsichords are chiral: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpsichord> SignatureLes > Harpsichords are chiral: > > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpsichord> Oooh. "Chiral." I wonder how on earth I'll work that in to my vocabulary? SignatureSML, more-or-less chiral >>> my.spamtrap@verizon.net had it: >>>> [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > steering wheel is on the left or the right when transporting a > harpsichord? A harpsichord is shaped a bit like a grand piano, only pointier. The first picture in the Wikepedia article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpsichord shows the typical size and shape of a Flemish-style instrument. An Italian would be even longer, as its bass strings are not as severely foreshortened (in comparison with an a length inversely proportional to frequency: i.e. doubling at the octave). The harpsicord either sits on a separate stand or (on some modern instruments) has legs that come off. The stand can usually be disassembled for transport. Since the instrument's long tail is on the left side, if you can fold down or remove the front passenger seat of a right-hand drive wagon, the harpsichord will fit in nicely (provided the keyboard end isn't too wide to fit between the wheel wells -- this will depend on both the car and the harpsichord). With left-hand drive, the driver would need to sit where the tail of the instrument wants to go, so you would need a large vehicle, typically a full-size van. SignatureRoland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food. NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it. >I've long believed that one thing that made the early music revival take off >in Britain is the fact that you can transport a good-sized harpsichord in >an ordinary estate car (AmE station wagon). In America, with left-hand >drive, you need to own or rent a van: harpsichords don't much like >traveling upside down! That's utterly delightful. Even if the hypothesis is unfounded, it's a splendid example of the way a random circumstance can have significant consequences in what seems to be a totally unconnected field. Lovely -- thanks! SignatureKaty Jennison spamtrap: remove the first two letters after the @ > >I've long believed that one thing that made the early music revival take off > >in Britain is the fact that you can transport a good-sized harpsichord in [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > significant consequences in what seems to be a totally unconnected > field. Lovely -- thanks! Check out the one that says tornadoes are because Americans drive on the right. (Presumably not from the same lab as the one that says Britain is the real Tornado Alley.) SignatureMike. my.spamtrap@verizon.net had it: > > I once helped George Malcolm to carry his harpsichord into a hall > > before a concert. He transported it in a Volvo estate. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > drive, you need to own or rent a van: harpsichords don't much like > traveling upside down! I remember having to refit the legs; I assume it must have stuck forward of the passenger seat but I don't recall exactly how it fitted (this was over 30 years ago). He spent an age tuning the thing after we'd carried it in. I was even younger when I met David Monroe, who may have a better claim to being the catalyst for early music revival than a Volvo estate car. I must have been about 12 and had been playing the bassoon for a year; I was in the front row at a concert he gave with a number of other performers in a hall with no stage, so he was right in front of us. He asked if any of us played woodwind instruments, and handed me a racket when he heard about the bassoon. > By the way, speaking of harpsichordists of decades past, the scariest thing > I've ever done on a stage in public was turning pages for Igor Kipnis. I still shudder when thinking of my performance on the triangle during the can-can. SignatureDavid ===== > my.spamtrap@verizon.net had it: >> [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > I still shudder when thinking of my performance on the triangle > during the can-can. You're in good company. Playing the triangle (for David Munrow) is how Chris Hogwood got his start as a recording artiste. SignatureRoland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food. NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it. Roland Hutchinson filted: >I've long believed that one thing that made the early music revival take off >in Britain is the fact that you can transport a good-sized harpsichord in >an ordinary estate car (AmE station wagon). In America, with left-hand >drive, you need to own or rent a van: harpsichords don't much like >traveling upside down! Almost entirely unrelated to this bit of arcana is the observation that, owing to the way the human ear perceives exponential changes in sound frequency as linear changes in pitch, it is possible to construct a working slide rule using the fretboards of a pair of banjos....r Signature"Keep your eye on the Bishop. I want to know when he makes his move", said the Inspector, obliquely. Wonderland wrote, in <1167470264.828578@nsserver1.polyu.edu.hk> on Sat, 30 Dec 2006 17:17:50 +0800: > It is good for some people but it is bad for others. One man's meat is another man's poison. SignatureNick Spalding > Wonderland wrote, in <1167470264.828578@nsserver1.polyu.edu.hk> > on Sat, 30 Dec 2006 17:17:50 +0800: > > > It is good for some people but it is bad for others. > > One man's meat is another man's poison. The Wonderland entity posted thusly: >It is good for some people but it is bad for others. One man's junk is another man's treasure. > The Wonderland entity posted thusly: > >>It is good for some people but it is bad for others. > > One man's junk is another man's treasure. Fun for some, but not for all? Signaturerzed OMG! Monkeys! >> The Wonderland entity posted thusly: >> [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Fun for some, but not for all? One law for the lion and the ox is oppression. (Blake, _The Marriage of Heaven and Hell_) |
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