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Discussion Groups / British English / February 2008looking for a limerick
Hi, my English teacher sometimes told us a Limerick which I only partly remember: There was a ?young? lady of ?? who wanted to catch the two-two. the ?clerk? said: "Don't worry, ...... It's one minute or two to two-two. Can someone help me with the mssing words?  SignatureRegards Olaf >my English teacher sometimes told us a Limerick which I only partly >remember: [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > >Can someone help me with the mssing words? Pure guesswork, as I hadn't seen it before: There was a young lady of Looe Who wanted to catch the two-two. The clerk said: "Don't worry, There's no need to hurry. It's a minute or two to two-two." Looe is the only British place name I could think of that rhymes with "two". SignatureJohn Hall "Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin" attributed to Sir Josiah Stamp, a former director of the Bank of England 20:16, lunedì 11 febbraio 2008, John Hall: >>There was a ?young? lady of ?? >>who wanted to catch the two-two. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > Looe is the only British place name I could think of that > rhymes with "two". Is the "two-two" a train? Signature"Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin," thought Alice; "but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!" > 20:16, lunedì 11 febbraio 2008, John Hall: > >> [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Looe is the only British place name I could think of that > > rhymes with "two". In American there's a colloquial 'San Berdoo,' and Saint Louis could conceivably be called 'Saint Loo,' but with those names the limerick doesn't scan well. > Is the "two-two" a train? It is if it leaves at 2:02 a.m. or p.m. >Is the "two-two" a train? Yes, timed to depart at two minutes past two. As has been pointed out, Crewe is a much more likely station than my original idea of Looe. SignatureJohn Hall "Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin" attributed to Sir Josiah Stamp, a former director of the Bank of England > 20:16, luned? 11 febbraio 2008, John Hall: >>> [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Is the "two-two" a train? Yes, I should have mentioned this, it's meant to be a train. SignatureGru? Olaf 16:14, martedì 12 febbraio 2008, Olaf Foellinger: >> 20:16, lunedì 11 febbraio 2008, John Hall: >>>> [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Yes, I should have mentioned this, it's meant to be a train. I suppose there are limericks using the sound resemblance in "for ~ 4" as well. Signature°¿° > I suppose there are limericks using the sound resemblance in > "for ~ 4" as well. There's a clear difference, at least in my regional accent, but that didn't stop a rock group back in the 70s calling themselves the Four Skins. Puns are absolutely fundamental in English. sprocket schrieb: >> I suppose there are limericks using the sound resemblance in >> "for ~ 4" as well. > > There's a clear difference, at least in my regional accent, but that > didn't stop a rock group back in the 70s calling themselves the Four > Skins. Puns are absolutely fundamental in English. In most accents "four" and "fore" are pronounced the same, even if "for" is pronounced differently - "for" is usually pronounced differently when it isn't emphasised, even in those accents that pronounce the three words the same way in isolation. Regards, Einde O'Callaghan On 13 Feb, 13:32, Einde O'Callaghan <einde.ocallag...@planet- interkom.de> wrote: > >> I suppose there are limericks using the sound resemblance in > >> "for ~ 4" as well. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Regards, Einde O'Callaghan To John Hall How 'bout ...The clark said "don't worry, You won't need to hurry, There's still a minute or two to two-two" To JS Can we have a lady 'of' Looe board a train from Crewe or does she then become a lady 'from' Looe? To Tony Mountfield Does the 'toot' in 'tooters' mean a 'drinking binge'? To Einde O'Callaghan Remember that cartoon which showed a guy in a punk outfit playing an electric guitar looking into a music sheet? The question was "Does he qualify to be a member of a rock band?" The answer, "Nope. He seems to know how to read music". And the auditory difference between the 'o' vowel (sort of a 'flat o' or an 'o' with a front vowel resonance) in 'for' and the 'deep o' (with a back vowel resonance) in 'four' could only be lost on a rock band desperately looking for a name for itself, sufficientlyf shocking to those of us with finer sensibilities, as this difference is well entrenched in standard international English (RP), British English, American English, Canadian English and Australian English > And the auditory difference between the 'o' vowel (sort of a 'flat o' > or an 'o' with a front vowel resonance) in 'for' and the 'deep [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > is well entrenched in standard international English (RP), British > English, American English, Canadian English and Australian English I have been trying all afternoon, but I still cannot detect any difference at all in the way I pronounce the syllable preceding 'arms' in (a) He voted against 'Pygmalion' but for 'Arms and the Man'. (b) My Thalidomide brother had four arms, but I have only two. (c) My forearms are skinnier than my brother's. There is a difference, of course, if the syllable is unstressed, but only in the case of 'for'. As far as I can tell, the stressed syllable has exactly the same vowel sound as in 'floor' and 'flaw' or 'or' and 'awe'. It could be followed by a glottal stop in (a) and (b), but not (c). Are my sensibilities less fine than others'? SignatureNoel > I have been trying all afternoon, but I still cannot detect any difference > at all in the way I pronounce the syllable preceding 'arms' in > (a) He voted against 'Pygmalion' but for 'Arms and the Man'. > (b) My Thalidomide brother had four arms, but I have only two. > (c) My forearms are skinnier than my brother's. In my accent, the vowel goes from back(ish) to front(ish) in the order for-fore-four. There is very little difference between the latter two, and as someone else pointed out, none in most accents. > > And the auditory difference between the 'o' vowel (sort of a 'flat o' > > or an 'o' with a front vowel resonance) in 'for' and the 'deep [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > -- > Noel The 'sensibilities' in question are those of a rock band that wants to call itself 'foreskins'. Not those who prefer to pronounce the 'o' in 'for' exactly as the 'o' in 'four'. There are hundreds of dialectal variants with regard to pronunciation, and each is as valid as the other. So long as sense is conveyed, language stands absolutely justified. > To Tony Mountfield > Does the 'toot' in 'tooters' mean a 'drinking binge'? I don't know anything about drinking binges. I always understood 'toot' as being to make a noise with a musical wind instrument, horn or similar. Cheers Tony SignatureTony Mountifield Work: tony@softins.co.uk - http://www.softins.co.uk Play: tony@mountifield.org - http://tony.mountifield.org > In article <df3fcf65-3ddb-49cb-8850-46f8ebca5...@d4g2000prg.googlegroups.com>, > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Work: t...@softins.co.uk -http://www.softins.co.uk > Play: t...@mountifield.org -http://tony.mountifield.org Why should the tutor tutor someone to toot if he is a tooter already, is my worry! > In article <df3fcf65-3ddb-49cb-8850-46f8ebca5...@d4g2000prg.googlegroups.com>, > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Work: t...@softins.co.uk -http://www.softins.co.uk > Play: t...@mountifield.org -http://tony.mountifield.org Why should the tutor tutor someone to toot if he is a tooter already, is my worry! > > In article <df3fcf65-3ddb-49cb-8850-46f8ebca5...@d4g2000prg.googlegroups.com>, > > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > Why should the tutor tutor someone to toot if he is a tooter already, > is my worry! So he can be a better tooter! Cheers Tony SignatureTony Mountifield Work: tony@softins.co.uk - http://www.softins.co.uk Play: tony@mountifield.org - http://tony.mountifield.org >Why should the tutor tutor someone to toot if he is a tooter already, >is my worry! Because the tooter's tooting is still in need of further tutoring. SignatureCharles H. Lindsey ---------At Home, doing my own thing------------------------ Tel: +44 161 436 6131 Fax: +44 161 436 6133 Web: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~chl Email: chl@clerew.man.ac.uk Snail: 5 Clerewood Ave, CHEADLE, SK8 3JU, U.K. PGP: 2C15F1A9 Fingerprint: 73 6D C2 51 93 A0 01 E7 65 E8 64 7E 14 A4 AB A5 > In <a3278b22-825e-4117-8b12-be4f07680...@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com> Paul <paulmathew...@gmail.com> writes: > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > Email: c...@clerew.man.ac.uk Snail: 5 Clerewood Ave, CHEADLE, SK8 3JU, U.K. > PGP: 2C15F1A9 Fingerprint: 73 6D C2 51 93 A0 01 E7 65 E8 64 7E 14 A4 AB A5 To Charles Lindsey, Tony Mountifield Dictionary.com gives the meaning for 'toot' (at the end of a list of other, more accepted meanings), in the following manner: 'toot' : (noun, informal) 'a period or instance of drunken revelry; binge; spree.' 'toot': (slang) 'to snort cocaine' But my ground is slippery because no dictionary talks of an automatic extension of the noun 'toot' or the verb 'toot' into the derived noun 'tooter' to mean a person who indulges in a drinking binge or one who snorts cocaine. Therefor I guess I can't be adament about a tooter being a drunkard or a cocaine snorter...! Beside the above meanings, dictionary .com says in Australian informal usage it means 'a lavatory; a toilet' and in Pennsylvania (German area) it means 'a paper bag'. > Dictionary.com gives the meaning for 'toot' (at the end of a list of > other, more accepted meanings), in the following manner: [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > usage it means 'a lavatory; a toilet' and in Pennsylvania (German > area) it means 'a paper bag'. Not UK English, though, at least in my experience, and this is _U_.c.l.e. As for nouning verbs, verbing nouns, and so on, it's standard enough practice. Prescriptivists whinge about it, but it's often useful when it's not pretentious. My little daughter once asked me how you badge something. She didn't understand my explanation at all; she couldn't see how badgers attached labels to things. JS > > Dictionary.com gives the meaning for 'toot' (at the end of a list of > > other, more accepted meanings), in the following manner: [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > > JS Hello all! Do you think the general trend is towards English evolving as a truly international language with distinct geographic identities in terms of meaning, accent and usage gradually making way for a broader spectrum easily understood and accepted by everybody concerned irrespective of their nationality? In article <a18059cd-7639-4f31-9608-29a1b946126a@i29g2000prf.googlegroups.com>, >Hello all! >Do you think the general trend is towards English evolving as a truly >international language with distinct geographic identities in terms >of meaning, accent and usage gradually making way for a broader >spectrum easily understood and accepted by everybody concerned >irrespective of their nationality? I think that process is well underway, thanks to TV and films. There aren't many speakers of British English speakers who don't know what a "sidewalk" or a "faucet" is, for instance. SignatureJohn Hall "Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin" attributed to Sir Josiah Stamp, a former director of the Bank of England > I think that process is well underway, thanks to TV and films. There > aren't many speakers of British English speakers who don't know what a > "sidewalk" or a "faucet" is, for instance. Yes, if a tap is too stiff to turn easily, just faucet. Cheers Tony SignatureTony Mountifield Work: tony@softins.co.uk - http://www.softins.co.uk Play: tony@mountifield.org - http://tony.mountifield.org In article <df3fcf65-3ddb-49cb-8850-46f8ebca5505@d4g2000prg.googlegroups.com>, >To John Hall >How 'bout > ...The clark said "don't worry, > You won't need to hurry, > There's still a minute or two to two-two" The last line has to have the same number of syllables as the first two lines (not shown in the quoted material above), and I don't think that your suggestion does. >To JS >Can we have a lady 'of' Looe board a train from Crewe or does she then >become a lady 'from' Looe? I think "of" is a possible alternative. though people say "from" more frequently. SignatureJohn Hall "Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin" attributed to Sir Josiah Stamp, a former director of the Bank of England > There was a young lady of Looe > Who wanted to catch the two-two. > The clerk said: "Don't worry, > There's no need to hurry. > It's a minute or two to two-two." I have a distant memory of one which went something like: There was a young lady from Looe Who desperately wanted to poo But the Twelve Twenty-Four Had no corridor Unlike the Ten Twenty-Two. I may have got it wrong, though Dawei SignatureZhang Dawei: Stoke-on-Trent, UK. Please use the Reply-To field. The email address given there is guaranteed to work for two weeks from the date of this message. > Pure guesswork, as I hadn't seen it before: > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Looe is the only British place name I could think of that rhymes with > "two". Crewe seems more likely, Looe was (is in fact) on a tiny branch line. Crewe is a major junction. There was a little local difficulty when the twenty-four hour time system was introduced by British Railways (as was). People would turn up for the 22.11 at twenty to eleven... JS > >my English teacher sometimes told us a Limerick which I only partly > >remember: [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > There's no need to hurry. > It's a minute or two to two-two." Another one in a similar alliterative vein: A tutor who tooted the flute Tried to teach two young tooters to toot. Said the two to the tutor, "Is it harder to toot or To tutor two tooters to toot?" No idea where it came from; I've known it for years. Cheers Tony SignatureTony Mountifield Work: tony@softins.co.uk - http://www.softins.co.uk Play: tony@mountifield.org - http://tony.mountifield.org |
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