The Vernacular of Pistonheads
Discussion
theres also different words used by PHers from different countries. I'm a kiwi and had never heard the word "chav" until i ran across this site. Think I get basic idea of what a chav is but there seem to be a few different uses for it. and also what exactly is "burberry?"
<excuse the ignorance of one who lives in the colonies>
<excuse the ignorance of one who lives in the colonies>
GravelBen said:
theres also different words used by PHers from different countries. I'm a kiwi and had never heard the word "chav" until i ran across this site. Think I get basic idea of what a chav is but there seem to be a few different uses for it. and also what exactly is "burberry?"
<excuse the ignorance of one who lives in the colonies>
This pattern:
They cover themselves in it, hence the term "burberry ape"
Phil
GravelBen said:
theres also different words used by PHers from different countries. I'm a kiwi and had never heard the word "chav" until i ran across this site. Think I get basic idea of what a chav is but there seem to be a few different uses for it. and also what exactly is "burberry?"
<excuse the ignorance of one who lives in the colonies>
Even though I'm from the states I think I could come up with a decent definition of a chav for you.
But what the h
ll does "and Bob's your uncle" mean? Australian in origin?
Trooper2 said:
But what the h
This is a catchphrase which seemed to arise out of nowhere and yet has had a long period of fashion and is still going strong. It’s known mainly in Britain and Commonwealth countries, and is really a kind of interjection. It’s used to show how simple it is to do something: “You put the plug in here, press that switch, and Bob’s your uncle!”.
The most attractive theory—albeit suspiciously neat—is that it derives from a prolonged act of political nepotism. The Victorian prime minister, Lord Salisbury (family name Robert Cecil, pronounced ) appointed his rather less than popular nephew Arthur Balfour to a succession of posts. The most controversial, in 1887, was chief secretary of Ireland, a post for which Balfour—despite his intellectual gifts—was considered unsuitable. The Dictionary of National Biography says: “The country saw with something like stupefaction the appointment of the young dilettante to what was at the moment perhaps the most important, certainly the most anxious office in the administration”. As the story goes, the consensus among the irreverent in Britain was that to have Bob as your uncle was a guarantee of success, hence the expression. Since the very word nepotism derives from the Italian word for nephew (from the practice of Italian popes giving preferment to nephews, a euphemism for their bastard sons), the association here seems more than apt.
Actually, Balfour did rather well in the job, confounding his critics and earning the bitter nickname Bloody Balfour from the Irish, which must have quietened the accusations of undue favouritism more than a little (he also rose to be Prime Minister from 1902–5). There is another big problem: the phrase isn’t recorded until 1937, in Eric Partridge’s Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Mr Partridge suggested it had been in use since the 1890s, but nobody has found an example in print. This is surprising. If public indignation or cynicism against Lord Salisbury’s actions had been great enough to provoke creation of the saying, why didn’t it appear—to take a case—in a satirical magazine of the time such as Punch?
A rather more probable, but less exciting, theory has it that it derives from the slang phrase all is bob, meaning that everything is safe, pleasant or satisfactory. This dates back to the seventeenth century or so (it’s in Captain Francis Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue of 1785). There have been several other slang expressions containing bob, some associated with thievery or gambling, and from the eighteenth century on it was also a common generic name for somebody you didn’t know. Any or all of these might have contributed to its genesis.
Trooper2 said:
theres also different words used by PHers from different countries. I'm a kiwi and had never heard the word "chav" until i ran across this site. Think I get basic idea of what a chav is but there seem to be a few different uses for it. and also what exactly is "burberry?"
<excuse the ignorance of one who lives in the colonies>
Even though I'm from the states I think I could come up with a decent definition of a chav for you.
But what the h
Australian in origin?
Another vernuacularism I have been known to utilise is "Jobs a carrot". Means basically the same as "Bob's your uncle" or "Robert's your dads brother".
I particularly enjoy shoe-horning new & interesting words & phrases into everyday conversation with clients, strangers, in fact pretty much anyone, at every conceivable opertunity & completely at random.
Extra points can be had for originality, subtleness and use of pointless, unnecesserily long words.
Twice winner of the inter office "Lets call a spade a manual earth redistributing implement award."
Trooper2 said:
Trooper2 said:
Thanks for the great replies Gravel Ben and Towman!
Philthy sits in corner grumbling to himself......
Sorry Philthy.
No need trooper, I didn't answer your question...just had a "precious" moment.
Really gonna have to show you a pic of me on the other thread now
Phil
wizzpig said:
I particularly enjoy shoe-horning new & interesting words & phrases into everyday conversation with clients, strangers, in fact pretty much anyone, at every conceivable opertunity & completely at random.
Extra points can be had for originality, subtleness and use of pointless, unnecesserily long words.
Twice winner of the inter office "Lets call a spade a manual earth redistributing implement award."
Well yes that is fun.....it can be rather amusing to see the look on someone's face when u quietly say something like "sweating like a paedophile in a kindergarten" )which I have been known to say from time to time). Any casual use of the word "masticate" is also worthy of a chuckle.
GravelBen said:
Well yes that is fun.....it can be rather amusing to see the look on someone's face when u quietly say something like "sweating like a paedophile in a kindergarten" )which I have been known to say from time to time). Any casual use of the word "masticate" is also worthy of a chuckle.
Another fun game after a night out on the pop is the "ya-c
t" game. After many ales have been consumed & a suitable eating establishment has been chosen, often a kebab house or KFC, subtly interjecting "ya-ct" at various points throughout the ordering process, can reep hilarious results.... 
"Yeah mate, i'll have the super mega woppa donner with salad, extra chillies, mayo and extra arse-like-the-Japanese-flag-in-the-morning sauce, and a double cheese burger with no tomato but extra cheese and fries and that sauce again with mayo please ya c***" Then stand there smiling politely whilst trying not to wet yourself at the expression on the assistants face as he looks at you thinking to himself "Did he just call me a c
t!?" Your only young once..... but you can be immature forever!
That'll be my coat then.....
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