English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

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661-Pete
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by 661-Pete »

Ray wrote: 18 Oct 2021, 10:30pm
Jdsk wrote: 18 Oct 2021, 10:25pm What do you call a French Transit that never breaks down, and just lugs loads around reliably?
'Fourgon conclusion' sprung to mind - but I'm not sure that really works ....?
IIRC, fourgon used to be the word for the closed black wagon in which condemned criminals were conveyed to the guillotine.

I don't know whether they ever switched to using Transit vans..... :shock:
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thirdcrank
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by thirdcrank »

Here's an earlier post - including foregone conclusion quip - and pics of Renault fourgons. Mine is the bottom one

viewtopic.php?p=1118700#p1118700
mattheus
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by mattheus »

Mick F wrote: 18 Oct 2021, 3:18pm I was going to say that when we go past a cast-iron cover that says "Water" on it, I want to say that it isn't water, but a piece of cast iron. :wink:
Similar to seeing a van with "Horses" written on the front and back, when it isn't a horse but a van!
Oh my days ...
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Audax67
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Audax67 »

661-Pete wrote: 18 Oct 2021, 10:49pm IIRC, fourgon used to be the word for the closed black wagon in which condemned criminals were conveyed to the guillotine.

I don't know whether they ever switched to using Transit vans..... :shock:
Fourgon simply means a van. Funnily enough it also means poker, as in hearth, which I suppose is where the four- comes from.
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Jdsk
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Jdsk »

Jdsk wrote: 18 Oct 2021, 10:25pmWhat do you call a French Transit that never breaks down, and just lugs loads around reliably?
Anyone?

Jonathan
thirdcrank
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by thirdcrank »

Jdsk wrote: 19 Oct 2021, 6:48pm
Jdsk wrote: 18 Oct 2021, 10:25pmWhat do you call a French Transit that never breaks down, and just lugs loads around reliably?
Anyone?

Jonathan
I don't know. What do you call etc?
Jdsk
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Jdsk »

thirdcrank wrote: 19 Oct 2021, 7:09pm
Jdsk wrote: 18 Oct 2021, 10:25pmWhat do you call a French Transit that never breaks down, and just lugs loads around reliably?
I don't know. What do you call etc?
VAN ORDINAIRE!

Jonathan
Oldjohnw
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Oldjohnw »

Jdsk wrote: 20 Oct 2021, 9:19am
thirdcrank wrote: 19 Oct 2021, 7:09pm
Jdsk wrote: 18 Oct 2021, 10:25pmWhat do you call a French Transit that never breaks down, and just lugs loads around reliably?
I don't know. What do you call etc?
VAN ORDINAIRE!

Jonathan


Interesting appellation.
John
Ray
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Ray »

From a photo in today's Guardian:
Image.png
Image.png (123.09 KiB) Viewed 882 times
Ray
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt - Bertrand Russell
thirdcrank
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by thirdcrank »

the trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt - Bertrand Russell

Or as James Thurber put it
It's better to be hendubious than cocksure
=============================================
Another from Thurber, based on Alexander Pope
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread,
But the angels are all in Heaven,
And few of the fools are dead
Ray
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Ray »

thirdcrank wrote: 28 Oct 2021, 12:07pm as James Thurber put it

It's better to be hendubious than cocksure
Nice.

As well as witty word-play, it's interesting to wonder whether Thurber was making an oblique comment on the comparative wisdom of the female of the species (including ours).
Ray
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt - Bertrand Russell
Mike Sales
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Mike Sales »

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
The Second Coming W.B.Yeats, written in 1919, after WWI.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/ ... ond-coming
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
thirdcrank
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by thirdcrank »

Ray wrote: 28 Oct 2021, 12:42pm

Nice.

As well as witty word-play, it's interesting to wonder whether Thurber was making an oblique comment on the comparative wisdom of the female of the species (including ours).
Here's the original

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1956 ... our-time-5
Ray
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Ray »

thirdcrank wrote: 28 Oct 2021, 2:03pm
Ray wrote: 28 Oct 2021, 12:42pm

Nice.

As well as witty word-play, it's interesting to wonder whether Thurber was making an oblique comment on the comparative wisdom of the female of the species (including ours).
Here's the original

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1956 ... our-time-5
Thanks, TC.
The rooster certainly doesn't come off too well in that story! I've read little of Thurber, but I suppose I assumed that he had traditional notions of gender, writing at the time that he did. However, a quick google suggests he was more complicated, and worried that, as a humorist, his work would not be taken seriously. Fascinating.

Anyway, back on topic :D
Ray
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt - Bertrand Russell
Wilhelmus
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Wilhelmus »

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Last edited by Wilhelmus on 25 Nov 2021, 1:19pm, edited 1 time in total.
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