It’s still Friday somewhere in the world.
I was taken back to my school days in the lab last week. We have a visiting post-doc, originally Geordie but attenuated by years of living in Leeds. He referred to someone as a spacker, which, along with terms such as ‘spaz’ and ‘div’, you probably really had to grow up with to appreciate. ‘Spacker’ is probably more offensive than ‘spaz’ — one of my teachers used to call us that when we were being particularly stupid (or ten years old: sometimes difficult to tell the difference) and when we called him on it he claimed it was short for ‘spasmodic’.
I thought no more of it, until I saw that Kate had bought this:
whereupon I had a silent fit of giggles.
Here, the equivalent but reasonably non-offensive term (unless you’re from Newcastle) is Bogan. Jenny tells me that in the US, Polyfilla is generically called spackle (although wikipedia fails to mention that Polyfilla is cellulose-based and hence superior to the original spackle-based Spackle, which is now also cellulose-based and therefore the same. Or something).
The other thing that Australians do different is cheese.
I can’t bring myself to say it, let alone buy it.
How’s Bogan prouncounced? In Scotland, Boggin (short o sound, as in bog) means “shite”.
boe’gn.
I still remember, but a few days after arriving in Sydney, laughing in a kind of bewildered horror at a TV commercial lauding “that big Coon taste.”
This one has slightly different interpretations on either side of the Atlantic. Don’t know how it translates into
convictAustralian.A pictures is worth a thousand words
I just splorted my kimchi all over the keyboard.
I once resorted to a childish chortle when I discovered a scientist called Dr Wank. ‘He has a colleague, you know’, said a fellow Nature inmate, ‘A Dr F**k’.And the Offspring never fail to be amused by the fact that there is a prominent sientist called Professor Poo.
I’ve always wanted to use the restriction enzyme SexA1, or work on the Vit D. receptor Fok1.
And that reminds me of an anecdote/joke-type thing.
Do tell.
Well, so this WW2 fighter pilot is invited to—
damn. My glass is empty.
I apologise, Dr Grant.
Lane? Lane ! (drat, where is the fellow?) – please be so kind as to get Dr Grant another fino. Thank you.
This is probably going to cause even more giggles, but Fanny is also a Dutch girls name. The most famous one is from my hometown
It’s pronounced differently, though. It sounds like the general TV-American pronunciation of “funny”
We’ve got raccoons on our continent, so that word isn’t automatically unsayable.
Is it just me, or is spackling deeply satisfying? I love rawlplugs. I only recently learned that some people call them “wall plugs”, a nomenclatural difference which you just know originated from a misunderstanding. Possibly with someone with a minor speech impediment. (Alas, it’s not true: they were invented by someone called Rawling.)
I love rawlplugs
So do I. Especially the sort that kind of magically expand behind plasterboard.
Ooooh.
I’ll have to go and lie down.
Spackling sounds more fun than Polyfillaing.
But polyphyling is something that polyphyles prefer you to enquire about before commencing.
I think I need spackling.
Ahem.
Where were we?
There’s an NHL hockey referee called Mick McGeough – pronounced Magoo.
Seriously.
So… my glass is still empty (it just evaporates in this climate you know) but here’s the anecdote.
Yhis WW2 fighter pilot is invited to give a talk to the nippers at a school, tell them a little of his experiences and explain just why we should remember ‘The Few’, etc.
The moustachioed gentleman is describing a particular event. He says,
“So, I peeled off, and got this fokker in my sights—”
when the teacher interrupts. “Children,” he says to the giggling classroom, “a ‘Fokker’ was a type of German aeroplane.”
The pilot raises an eyebrow, and continues,
“Anyway, this fokker was flying a Messerschmidt …”
Rawlplugs. I love saying ‘rawlplugs’. They’re rather nifty little pieces of kit, too.
Fanny Blankers? I’m sorry, I think I’m going to lie down now too.
Another Geordie here attenuated by Leeds… Haven’t heard that word in a while.
I don’t think we need to know the “traditional recipe”…
We went out for Kimchi and Korean barbecue last night. The menu warned that the pictures might look different from ‘real food’. We were not tempted by ‘small’ or ‘large intestines’.
Mrs Gee is rather partial to Mat Kimchi. Made of cabbage. Not mats. Nor intestines, of any size.
Sorry about the sherry, Richard. I’ll have to see what Lane is up to. Can’t get the staff these days, what?
No wonder I can’t get a phone mounted on the wall…I keep asking for expansion shields.
And god forbid you go to the hardware store looking for a high-quality caulk.
Sounds like something out of Star Trek.
caulk—that sounds exactly what it is. I’ve discovered you have to be very precise in asking for stuff here. It’s worse than finding lost files on your harddrive.
‘Rawlplugs’? Really? I had no idea. I would sometimes call them ‘wall plugs’ if pushed, but more usually, ‘anchors’.
While we’re on that topic, I use drywall compound for all my spackling needs. It’s a bit of a dusty mess when sanded, but I’ve always got a tub of it around.
Also – that Fokker joke was brilliant.
Thank you.
Is your experience representative of Canadia as a whole?
Regarding ‘Rawlplugs’ vs. ‘wall plugs’ – probably yes.
Regarding drywall compound – no, that’s just me.
Regarding your joke – if I like it, good bet a lot of other Canucks won’t.
Did that answer your question? I’m off to catch the bus. You know, the one that goes to…
Cath?
EvaÅsaEva?One more time, Grant:
I’M NOT CANADIAN YET
That’s right. You’ve got to swear allegiance to our Queen, haven’t you?
snerk
Yup. And sing O Canada (which I actually already have, several times, but only at hockey games).
p.s. Richard W, did you see the game on Saturday? Amazing stick-less breakaway by your guy there. Too bad your former captain sealed your fate though ;)
And she says she’s not Canadian.
Feh.
I’m not Canadian either! Far less so than Cath is!
I call those things “the little plastic things that screws go into”, and I don’t need them for my walls. (I put up my own bookshelf, which has books on it and lots of paper and a cat jumps on it several times a day, and it’s still up, without “rawlplugs”)
I don’t know about spackle or drywall or whatnot, because I rent and other people do all that stuff FOR me. My ceiling came down a while ago, and they did some stuff there with drywall (dryceiling?) but that’s not the same as filling holes and cracks (No, don’t go there…)
I married a carpenter so that I wouldn’t need to know these things. I’ll have to ask him what he calls them actually. I say Rawlplugs, but then I was brought up proper.
Richard, there were no questions about hockey on the test, which was a shame because I’d been studying that part of the syllabus for 7 years.
Come on Eva, you are doing nothing to dispel harmful sexual stereotypes. Get those shelves up properly! Rawl plugs! masonry bits!
bum cleavage!tea with milk and two sugars!And I didn’t, actually, accuse either of you of being Canadian. I simply asked your opinion. Or is the whole ‘living in Canadia’ thing just an illusion brought about by too much Labatt’s?
Cath (comments crossed) that’s outrageous. The Australian citizen test has only questions about cricket.
But my opinion on what things should be called, is irretrievably British.
And Labatts sucks. I tried this on Friday. It was delicious. Looks like Guiness, tastes like really top quality lager with a molasses finish. I was so amazed I took a photo, which I unfortunately don’t have with me right now.
Sorry, I meant your opinion of what those around you call things. (Unless it was in a private conversation of course.)
Ah, I see. Well, either rawlplugs don’t come up in conversation in my presence, or they do and I tune it out (extremely possible – I hear a lot of carpentry talk but couldn’t repeat much of it in any coherent way!) I’m afraid I have no idea.
I’m not touching the parenthetical part of your comment!
I have never had a conversation with a Canadian in which the little plastic things that screws go into even came up!
Hm. I tend to use the self tapping kind actually. Available from Amazon, who knew?
Cath – I’ve given up. The American Le Mans racing season starts soon.
@Eva: You’re doing it wrong.
Self tapping screws sound a bit onanistic, or is that just me?
Just you, Frank.
What am I doing wrong? The kind of conversations I’m having? =)
I was being vaguely lewd, I think. But not as lewd as Frank.
I thought you were being whimsical and jolly.
I prefer to think of it as ‘accessible’.
I played the Canadian national anthem on the fiddle, about 15 years ago, whilst touring round Alberta. It was fun, but just a bit less fun than playing the Argentine national anthem in Argentina. Imagine having a tango for your national anthem. Proper sexy and hearing it makes you want to dance! A proper national anthem. Not a funeral march. Cultural enough for you? Or should I just skip straight to the smut?
I think the Americans and French have the best anthems. The British and Canadian anthems are rather dirge-like. A tango sounds like fun too.
p.s. accessible FAIL – she didn’t know what you meant ;)
Smut is good. I prefer Rule Britannia for an anthem though.
The Dutch anthem is as dirge-like as the British and Canadian, but on top of that it has FIFTEEN verses that nobody knows the words of. (It’s an acrostic )
Semi-serious question. What is the point of a national anthem? Is it meant to stir the soul? Make steadfast hearts of oak? Or be a kind of crossword puzzle?
I have a recording of Rule Britannia sung at the Royal Albert Hall on the Last Night of the Proms. It brings a tear to this cynic’s eye, it really does. Wheres God Save the Queen sends me to sleep—however, even the latter is improved when it’s sung out of tune by fifty thousand voices at Twickenham (what is it with having professional singers singing anthems at sporting fixtures? Misses the entire damn point, what?)
This is the Indian poppadom brand my mum uses.
…you are doing nothing to dispel harmful sexual stereotypes. Get those shelves up properly! Rawl plugs! masonry bits! bum cleavage! tea with milk and two sugars!
I tend to do the painting and decorating at our gaff simply because I like doing it. While I could use the drill and put the thingies in the wotsit I ask Richard do it as he likes playing with the power tools.
Now she tells me. Sheesh.
I like playing with power tools yes, but for fun stuff. You can put up the next set of shelves. pout.
Kate, you should not admit to liking these things right before a big move.
Too late Eva.
I’ll be watching the cricket.
…you should not admit to liking these things right before a big move.
Hmm possibly not, but there is always the possibility of a ‘power cut’ just as thingy bowls to whatsit to win the match. Or phoning up while the Bledisloe Cup match is on (yes, I know that’s rugby) and saying “ooh, there is a really nice lounge suite on sale may I get it?”
heh heh worked too…
Mmmmmmmmmm. Worth emigrating for.
ooh, there is a really nice lounge suite on sale may I get it
Asking permission? Goodness me. Such things just appear around my place. It’s nice to come home and be surprised.
@Cath – the Italian anthem is quite fun too, in a silly, over-the-top, marching band kind of way. Especially fun when played after certain automotive sporting events at Monza.
Richard: well it was the teensiest bit more than the budget so I thought it was only fair…
Mind you, worth every penny as it is still going strong 14 years later.
@Richard W. — mp3!
Look, do you two want to get a
roomplane?Ok, I’m sorry.. but this classic Danish licorice is one of my favourites. And I won’t say anything else about it.
Chortle
‘Chortle’?
Come on Henry, you can do better than that.
Not at 05:40 on a pitch dark and deserted station platform in the middle of nowhere, I can’t. However, I am now at the office, so would ‘Guffaw’ do?
‘Gaffaw’ is pretty good, yeah.
Gosh, I’m glad we cleared that up, then.
We
shoot to killaim to please.Graffito seen next to a urinal
We aim to please
You aim too, please.
Was that written just above “Post-docs: enter future career aspirations here”?
:)
Q: What’s the thing that a humanities graduate is most likely to say to you?
A: ‘Do you want fries with that’?
I am giggling like a loon over Steffi’s licorice box. And what the hell is depicted on it, anyway?
Answers on a postcard, please, to anybody but me. And we thank you.
@RPG – if you’re not careful, I’ll link to an mp3 of that version of a certain classic rock song. Then you’ll be sorry.
And what the hell is depicted on it, anyway?
Why, Richard, it’s a spunk of course. They are shy little creatures that live in the deepest, darkest
woodsbushesok I’ll stop and leave that to Mike.Richard—please, be my guest. I’ve been after a copy for ages.
Oh ye gods and little fishes (oh, sorry, that’s another post). Here you go then, and don’t say I didn’t warn you. mp3 at the end of the post. Eva may take note since she’s interested in scientists and music (which this almost isn’t).
Oh! That one. No, I was thinking of something else that fit the description.
What, like the reggae version of Dark Side of the Moon_? Yes, reallyMoon.
We have that album! My husband loves it. I prefer this one.
I guess I should contribute to this most wonderful blog post by saying that my wife would not be happy if I began to eat this on the weekends:
Just keep your toad away from any holes.
I just surfing on the net.
I founds your blog so interesting to read about differences in cultural.
Your blog also had so much responses on such different topic.
Rakesh
http://www.cabbagetreesolutions.com