Messages From The Heartland

[David In Indy]

Yup!



They take offense (offence   ) to the word over there. Alex told me to NEVER say that word to a British female unless I wished to have my ears boxed.

I think she let you off the hook easy, Chuck. It could have been a lot worse probably.

I never knew about the peace sign thing though. That's a new one to me. I must commit it to memory for the next time I'm in the UK.

[David In Indy]

What does "frigging" mean in England, Fiona? Now I'm really curious about it.

I'll try to google it for some answers.

[David In Indy]

Oh.

Oh my God!!

That's not what it means over here. Over here, as you probably already know, it is a "nice" way to say the F word.

[David In Indy]

Commercials on paid commercials. Now that's a new one!

I was watching CNN Headline News and for some reason they had a paid commercial (a very long one) and in the middle of this paid commercial they took a commercial break!

And just when I thought I had seen it all.

[optom3]

I wonder how it ended up becoming so different? I sometimes wonder about it. Maybe it has something to do with England and the US being separated by a huge ocean, and by the time modern transporation came around it was already too late to do anything about it.

But I know most Americans LOVE English accents. Australian accents too. And I've noticed many Americans beginning to spell things the British way... colour, neighbour, realise, etc.. Alex got me into the habit of using some of those spellings too. I still do it sometimes, until the spellchecker tries to correct me.

Yeah, fanny is a totally innocent word here. Parents will say it to their five year olds. I had to laugh when you mentioned your employee's fanny pack! I can't imagine what must have been running through your mind at the time!

When she said fanny pack I was struck dumb!!!  I remember thinking, well that's a bit personal in front of your boss !!!!

Most stuff these days is water off a ducks back.While in practice back In England I was told so many things under the category TMI I am mainly beyond shocking,but fanny pack was a new low, until I was told the true meaning !!!!!

[optom3]

Oh.

Oh my God!!

That's not what it means over here. Over here, as you probably already know, it is a "nice" way to say the F word.

Now you know why I was pretty shocked when my 8 year old daughter came out with it. Between fanny and frigging. I needed a large G &T  and a lie down !!!!

So if you visit Englands green and pleasant lands, no fannies or friggin, unless you want people to look at you as if you had grown an extra head. !!!!

[David In Indy]

Well, people often look at me like that anyway Fiona!

But! I will remember what you just told us. My ex was always telling me about those things too. But I never knew about the word "friggin" and the peace sign until you told me about it.

In other news, it's only 10 F outside! And I have to go run an errand in a little while. It's windy too. Really windy. I hope it doesn't blow my car off the road. We have some really nasty weather coming our way. On Friday they said it will only go up to 5 F. I'm scared to find out what the low temp will be. But I remember someone saying it will be well below 0. Blech! I'm really getting tired of winter.

[David In Indy]

Boy, I just checked the "Who's Online" and there was about 20 guests looking at the "Little People Big World Scandal" thread. I wonder why?

[David In Indy]

Have you ever wondered where the expression "Sleep Tight" came from?

Well I know!

I learned it one day on a trip to Conner Prairie Farm!

http://www.connerprairie.org/

It's an old pioneer expression.

Back in the old days, way before box springs and space age memory mattresses, the beds had ropes, crossed threaded under the mattresses to hold them up. But ropes being what they are would soon stretch out of shape and therefore several times a week it was necessary to tighten them back up in order to keep the bed mattress from sagging down to the ground.

So, if you "slept tight" this would indicate you had slept on a mattress supported by freshly tightened ropes, firm and flat rather than a saggy mattress dipping down to the floor.

And Yes, there really is such a thing as bedbugs.   They bite and itch (very much like chiggers) and they can often be found in  mattresses and unlaundered bed clothes. So now you know what the expression "sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite"  means. 

We learn something new every day, don't we?

[David In Indy]

It's a balmy 12 degrees outside. Right now! I don't know what that is in Celsius. Tomorrow it will make it all the way up to 3! Penguins and igloos. Then tomorrow night it will drop to -10 (there is a MINUS in front of that 10!). THEN! The next day, they tell us, it will reach a high of 8! Everyone is all excited because on Sunday the cold spell will be breaking and it will be in the 20s.

It's colder than a witch's titty out there.

Oh, and the snow is blowing around and it looks like a big white cloud descended on top of my house. I think they call this a "white out condition".