Gordon Barlow

Another shrimp on the barbie... the power of fingers! It was interesting to me to see the winning jockey of the Melbourne Cup the other day give a two-finger salute at the end. To whom, I don't know, or why. What was interesting was that that specific salute has largely been superseded by a one-finger signal, copying the American custom. (The middle finger, usually, although I have seen a stand-alone pinky used to equal effect, in small groups.)

Finger-signs have a varied usage. We cross two fingers to give us good luck and to ward off bad luck and to justify lies. Priests use a two-finger blessing in church. Grandmas waggle index-fingers side to side to warn children not to do something wrong - and if the deed is done anyway, the waggle becomes a back-and-forward jab. My personal favourite is the "devil's horn" sign - the two middle fingers tucked underneath while the others are jabbed fiercely: a wonderful curse, that I learnt in Italy or Greece (I forget which). The same signal when held out of sight is a protection against a curse. A variant of the fingers-crossed signal, obviously.

Fink used to be an insulting dismissal of a person. (Remember "you dirty rat-fink"?) I wonder if there's any connection with "finger". Fickle and fiction may even derive from the same ancient source - but that may be just a fig-ment of my imagination. A fig-ure of speech, as we say.

brits1

Growing up in the north west upon leaving school to work (at first mainly in a men dominated workforce …which by the way I loved) I heard Wazzock, Flying Fig and quite a few other words which were cursing but not swearing lol I did not come across Pillock or Plonker until heading “down south” .

Gordon Barlow

I have a thread on Canada's Maple Leaf forum, called "Life's Turning Point", about - well - turning points in our lives; what else? The adventure below doesn't quite qualify as an LTP, but it's close enough to warrant some attention. I wonder how many other BE parents have something like this in their families, and would be brave enough to toss their shrimps onto our barbie.

My son and his girlfriend - both in their forties - are volunteers at an exotic yoga-camp for gringos, in the jungle somewhere in Ecuador. Maybe one day they will get on the payroll, but there's no guarantee. The camp is beside a native village, whose people participate in the rituals. My two quit their jobs in Norway and Cayman, respectively, for a six-month trial at this embryo retreat, and the friend created the website. (BE rules don't allow me to give an internet link; sorry!)

Can it be called a mid-life crisis, for people in their forties?

old.sparkles

I found myself using the word 'minging' in work today and ended up in fits of giggles with all the confused looks

Gordon Barlow

I envy my son his mastery of two foreign languages, as mentioned above. It's an envy that may well be shared by several BE members, I suppose. People say that Spanish is easy to learn, and I have picked up a little bit along the way. But I had a hugely embarrassing experience fifty-odd years ago that put me off it for life. Here's what happened. During a cheapo vacation in Central America Linda came down with a painful case of constipation. She stayed in bed in the grotty hotel while I ran down to find a pharmacy.

I won't go into gruesome detail: let it suffice to say that the English word "constipation" did not translate to Spanish "constipacion" , as promised by our Collins dictionary. At least, in this rundown part of San Salvador. I brushed aside the proffered nose-drops (!) (yes, I could see the connection, but...), and went into pantomime mode. It was all I could do, and I put my heart and soul into it. The performance attracted twenty or thirty people from the street, gathered at the door watching the mad gringo go through a routine of contortions. When the pharmacist finally figured it out - "ahhh, construenso!" - close enough - the audience erupted with delighted applause. Linda asked me what had taken so long, but I wouldn't tell her until a week later. She applauded, too, then.

old.sparkles

Hope you're going okay with the clowns next door

christmasoompa

That is an excellent word that I haven't heard for a long time. Conjures up images of 90's teenagers with dead straight hair flicking it, giving an eye roll and saying 'eeeew minging' at something. Swiftly followed by any phrase from Clueless which was the teen girls movie of choice in those days. 😂

old.sparkles

Ugh, as if!

Rainydaze

Here’s a controversy. ‘Minging’ was a term of disparagement in Northern Ireland when I was in my first year of high school, in 1984. No idea where/when it originated, but it’s obviously been a slow burner

old.sparkles

I would have heard it around that time in North Wales, maybe a little earlier. North Wales / Anglesey has ferry links to Northern Ireland so could have travelled in either direction.

Gordon Barlow

I've just posted a new thread about Canadian slang, in The Maple Leaf forum, so slang is on my mind. Australia's slang has changed quite a bit since I first left in the '60s. There were no bogans in those days, and I have no idea where that word came from. Can somebody here tell me? I know that "too-rights" aren't called that any more; I guess people stopped saying "too right", in agreement! Does the country still have "swaggies"? It has tradies and schoolies, which are new to me.

Does it still have garbos? That looks to be an English term, but Linda and I were the only people here in Cayman who ever used it. What else has disappeared lately?

Pollyana

Over here they are binmen/binwomen, rubbish collectors, refuse collectors etc. The habit of putting " o" or "ie" on the end of names like garbos and firies is 100& Australian (or playgroup) language.

Finknottle

Waste disposal operatives!

BristolUK

The Mob

Finknottle

So are female waste disposal operatives in Australia known as Gretas?