I like this:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/8201723/Most-popular-Flemish-words-of-the-year-include-tent-slut.html
I can just imagine Kenneth Williams saying this in Carry On Camping! You remember that "Tent up first, bunk up later!" Yes, tent brings up memories of awful weather yet one has to look at the bright side and consider the poor people who have been evacuated due to floods and earthquakes and strife in Haiti, Pakistan, Australia. Yes, tents is up there.
I think I might need some help in organising these words. I'm very new at this - in fact, that in German I have a blogmangel. I think this implies a deficiency in blog skills or a shortage of blogs. I tried your idea of looking up some linked items and in that Telegraph (Torygraph) piece you sent me it appears that the second most common Flemish word of 2010 was 'pedopriester'. I was searching through the weekend German press and it appears that your friend Dr Ratzinger wrote about priestermangel in the 1970s.
http://www.fair-news.de/news/Westdeutsche+Zeitung+Schon+1970+zweifelte+Joseph+Ratzinger+den+Zoelibat+an+Der+Zwang+zur+Ehelosigkeit+muss+fallen+Ein+Kommentar+von+Alexander+Schulte-244416.html
As I don't hold a brief for Dr Ratzinger and I'm sure he doesn't hold a brief for me, I need to consult a suitable blog about the shortage of priests. Is this on account of demand, celibacy or lack of prospects?
Another item for our discussion - now that we have mangle and tent in the list - is 'a bottle of whiskey'. The smell of it makes me feel sick and the empty bottle can be an offensive weapon in the wrong hands. What are the views on whiskey? If you think whiskey is bad, which is the worst - Scotch, Irish, Welsh, Manx, Canadian, American, Spanish, Thai, Japanese or Chinese?
Ding Dong!
I quite like whiskey! In fact, I'm a great fan of Laphroaig which, according to this website (http://www.visitscottishheartlands.com/whisky/island.html), tastes of carbolic among other things. I would agree that a half bottle can be an offensive weapon, but you can buy the stuff in plastic bottles these days. I haven't been to the Laphroaig distilliery on Islay, but I have been to the Talisker distilliery on the Isle of Skye. Have you tried cask strength malt whiskys? May be you have an aversion to carbolic soap, sea weed and peat. You need to keep this blog tidy. I would suggest you search for scrubbers! Ciao ...
ReplyDeleteDear John
ReplyDeleteSorry I've been slow in replying to this. It was quite eventful, with all this Egypt stuff and in keeping tabs on answering these blogs. I am trying to get this tidied up as I am sure there are many dodgy links, but you have to take people at face value. In recent postings, I have suggested the idea of putting the Carry On series into theological research concerning authority, sacred texts and material culture. When you mentioned scrubbers, my mind went to Carry On Behind with Russian professor keeping a 'dirty caravan' and 'needing scrubbers'.