The Continuing Insult To The English Language
- Thread starter Yithian
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It's a widely known UK children's playground rhyme / chant. Some versions start with 'Zero is the hero'.
There's an entire section on its variations and possible history in this 2010 book:
The Lore of the Playground: One Hundred Years of Children's Games, Rhymes & Traditions
by Steve Roud
... accessible at Google Books:
https://books.google.com/books?id=H...=onepage&q="Third the hairy princess"&f=false
There's an entire section on its variations and possible history in this 2010 book:
The Lore of the Playground: One Hundred Years of Children's Games, Rhymes & Traditions
by Steve Roud
... accessible at Google Books:
https://books.google.com/books?id=H...=onepage&q="Third the hairy princess"&f=false
I grew up with 'the hairy chest' version, but try as I might I cannot manage to go further without lapsing into the magpie chant (at the wrong point):
First's the worst,
Second's the best,
Third's the one with the hairy chest.
Four for silver,
Five for gold,
Six for a secret that cannot be told.
Not quite working...
First's the worst,
Second's the best,
Third's the one with the hairy chest.
Four for silver,
Five for gold,
Six for a secret that cannot be told.
Not quite working...
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I think if one is going to say 'First, Secondly, Thirdly' then surely it should be 'Firstly' rather than 'First', so that they all 'match', as it were?
Mind you, if I have several points to make I have been known to say ''first of all... second of all... third of all' and the last one of those might not strictly be correct, so take what I said above with a pinch of salt.
Mind you, if I have several points to make I have been known to say ''first of all... second of all... third of all' and the last one of those might not strictly be correct, so take what I said above with a pinch of salt.
I am under 50 and I definitely have a telephone voice. I used to be a civil servant which might have something to do with it. I had thought it had faded but a few weeks ago my colleagues teased me about my telephone manners and apparently overly formal telephone voice, according to their 20-something year old experience. So endangered it may be but there are under 50s out there with a telephone voice.
Yes, an irritating development that I have also noticed. Working in IT I often get recruiters who I have never spoken to in my life emailing me and casually asking "what are you up to currently?".
Yes, an irritating development that I have also noticed. Working in IT I often get recruiters who I have never spoken to in my life emailing me and casually asking "what are you up to currently?".
I neglected to say so, but I was thinking of a 'home telephone' voice. I'm thinking here of my grandmother and to a slightly reduced degree my mother, who could be screaming blue murder at my younger brother and me but still morph immediately into Hyacinth Bucket as she lifted the receiver.
Does yours 'carry over' as it were?
Does yours 'carry over' as it were?
It definitely used to do so. Oddly I don't think it does, or not as much perhaps, on my mobile phone. I haven't used my landline for a while, I actually don't have my telephone plugged in at the moment - redecorating - but I rarely receive calls on it. If I had to make a call to a supplier or an organisation I am a member of, for instance, I think my telephone voice would activate! As it would if I took a call from an unknown number. Not sure if it would when taking a call from friends or family. That said, I have an RP accent anyway so the difference would not be that great.
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One thing I find odd in emails is the tendency for some people to start the email with just a name, e.g.:
Zebs,
Blah blah blah...
I end up reading it as quite unfriendly / blunt / impolite. I always begin an email with 'Hi <name>', 'Hello <name>' or even 'Dear <name>' - never just bluntly the name itself.
Is it just me or does/would anyone else feel the same?
Zebs,
Blah blah blah...
I end up reading it as quite unfriendly / blunt / impolite. I always begin an email with 'Hi <name>', 'Hello <name>' or even 'Dear <name>' - never just bluntly the name itself.
Is it just me or does/would anyone else feel the same?
Gloucester isn't strictly South West, it's sort of South Midlands meets the West Country. It was in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia. That said, it is definitely the West of England. My family are from all over the place, including some from the local region (Forest of Dean) and when traces of accent reveal themselves it is usually Welsh or Scottish traces that people notice. I also speak Welsh, with a north-Walian accent for the most part.
I do drink cider though!
Definitely. I find it impolite, a lack of regard essentially. If I intentionally wish to express a straight-to-the-point tone in an email I will drop the "Hello", so I think the way you read it is possibly sometimes the way it was meant.
I do drink cider though!
Definitely. I find it impolite, a lack of regard essentially. If I intentionally wish to express a straight-to-the-point tone in an email I will drop the "Hello", so I think the way you read it is possibly sometimes the way it was meant.
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Apologies, my UK geography is actually terrible--which is odd as my world geography is top shelf!
When you say that you 'speak Welsh' is that 'notionally' or do you get regular opportunities to bust it out?
My Irish friend can break out in pretty fluent Gaelic (I think her mother used to teach it) and it sounds fantastic.
When you say that you 'speak Welsh' is that 'notionally' or do you get regular opportunities to bust it out?
My Irish friend can break out in pretty fluent Gaelic (I think her mother used to teach it) and it sounds fantastic.
Not regularly but I have spoken it in the workplace - a friend and colleague is Welsh, and also speaks. Different departments so it is not a regular conversation but pleasant to use it. I holiday in Wales so occasionally have other opportunities to speak Welsh, and I used it when I visited family in South Wales. Also my partner and I use it if we wish to speak privately, sometimes, though her Welsh is less than mine and I would not claim fluency.
A former colleague would always finish every sentence with "do you know what I mean?"
My reply was invariably "I always know what you mean" as it was rarely complicated. Not that it stopped him.
I once worked for a chap who finished every conversation with "Ah; from there". Sort of a vocal reflex action. Nice bloke though.
My reply was invariably "I always know what you mean" as it was rarely complicated. Not that it stopped him.
I once worked for a chap who finished every conversation with "Ah; from there". Sort of a vocal reflex action. Nice bloke though.
