quote:

Originally posted by dance girl: "The game is not worth the candle" gave Muir the chance to tell the story of "The gay Miss Knotworthy-Kendall".
A similar line was "The gay Miss Harp" for "The game is up". (Note Muir's tendency to use "harp" for "up".) [/i]

Excellent examples, dg. As an aside, does anyone other than me mourn the loss of the word 'gay', one of the lovely words in the English language? Impossible to use nowadays in its original meaning for obvious reasons, but so pretty...

Hi Ritzmar.
Yes, a great shame the way the word 'gay' was purloined without any consultation with the rest of the world...
For writers, poets, etc, it is an easy word to rhyme, and there are times when it suits the thought pattern perfectly, but because of this irresponsible misappropiation it is no longer used.
English singer-songwriter Clifford T Ward had a hit in 1973 with the song 'Gaye,' which phonetically of course, sounds the same, and consequently has become one of those 'nudge-nudge-wink-wink' songs to anyone who doesn't know better.
For the community in question, I'm sure a better word could have been found.
Oops! Husha ma mouth.
Love and peace

Only in Britain! Those interested can watch a cheddar cheese, Wedginald, mature over webcam :

Cheddarvision

Note what seems to be a local newspaper to prove the date Not sure how that helps. You can't read the printed date and the banner headline in local West Country newspapers is unlikely to reflect world events.News that,say, a tractor has been stolen in a village in Devon may not be referable, by outsiders, to a date

So are the British having an identity crisis? I never saw the necessity for a statement of what it means to be British. After all we just ARE, aren't we? Centuries of tradition, pomp and ceremony, peculiar laws, all mixed with our own inimitable eccentricities, seem to me, to speak for themselves.
But apparently this is no longer enough.

Prime Minister, Gordon Brown asks as part of a more general look at the British identity, "What does it mean to be British?"

The London Times then proposed, tongue in cheek, a motto writing contest, to sum up the essence of Britishness.

Among the suggestions:

“Once Mighty Empire, Slightly Used"

"At Least We’re Not French"
and,

"We Apologize for the Inconvenience" ( that's so British!)

And the winner was,

"No Motto Please, We’re British.”

The government’s plans also include,

coming up with a definition of British citizenship; formulating a “bill of rights and duties” for citizens; and even considering writing down a constitution (it is currently unwritten, an accrual of precedents). There is also talk of a “British Day,” similar to Independence Day; a “museum of Britishness”; and a revisiting of the national anthem, “God Save the Queen,” one of whose later verses advocates annihilating the “rebellious Scots,” which is not very nice to the Scottish.
New York Times

Good grief!
This is all too much change. Please, someone tell me, this isn't being taken seriously by anybody but the government.

dg, this nonsense, a little joke (lost on foreigners e.g the writers of the New York Times) was ages ago

Me, I liked the motto "Dipso, Fatso, Bingo, Asbo, Tesco" which finished second in (our) Times' poll: "Drunk, Fat,Bingo -playing, Anti-social behaviour ordered, shoppers at Tesco supermarkets" rendered into 'Latin'.Says it all, really. It pithily sets out everything we are proud of

The joke about the National Anthem verse is because the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, is a dour Scot.

Our government has a sense of self-mocking humour.

There is already a Britishness test for intending citizens. It consists of lots of questions, the answers to which are of varying utility.It's helpful to know that dialling 112 [the pan-European number] or 999 gets the emergency services and that an employer cannot dismiss you or refuse to employ you for belonging to a trade union. (Wal-Mart now owns ASDA, another supermarket chain. It has noted this fact, we assume ) It is not so useful to know,approximately, what the population of Wales is. The bulk of the questions are of that quality. When tested by some national newspapers the only people who passed were foreigners. None of the native Britons passed !

By the way: 'nemo me impune lacessit' does not mean 'nobody attacks me with impunity' (New York Times ) It means 'nobody irritates or provokes me with impunity'and is illustrated by the national emblem of Scotland the thistle because you don't disturb a thistle much without getting stung .(Hence, incidentally, his lordship's translation as 'don't sit on a thistle' in the NYT link. Another joke the NYT missed )

A measure of how much 'Britishness' we want is that the Scots motto is on the edge of some one pound coins. 'How proud am I of my country' in Welsh and taken from the Welsh anthem,so the country is Wales, is on others. The English have only 'an ornament and a safeguard', in Latin, on others. There is no Northern Irish version: the Irish couldn't agree on anything!

Seems like I need to spend more time in the UK, Fred. I'm losing my British sense of humour.

On that subject, they just started showing a UK show called 'Extras' here. I haven't seen it yet. Is it any good?

Extras can 'grow on you', by all accounts.I never followed it much , and others on this site can give a better assessment. It is by Ricky Gervais, who created the original, British, version of 'The Office', a masterpiece. That's difficult to follow!In the first series the Gervais character is just that, an extra.Well known performers (by well known, I mean, they are well known in Britain) figure in main roles.In one he has a real faded star, who gives a really heartfelt (and brave) performance. Later, as you might expect, Gervais being Gervais, he got some quite big stars who didn't mind having the mickey taken out of them or being subtly mocked. The Gervais character is always hopeful of better things but....

Later on yet, Gervais lands himself a job as a comedian,a really bad one,Andy Milman,in a series. He has a truly bad catch phrase (and a worse wig)who, unaccountably, has some success.Then the fun is very largely the constant battles between him,still dissatisfied, and the incompetent, but sometimes perceptive, agent he has.

As in The Office, there is a deep understanding of human weakness. David Brent, his character in The Office, tries hard to impress but, we sense that, underneath, he himself senses that he is a failure. Well, there's something of that in Extras, though differently presented.

Thank you, and I'm going to give it a try. I loved "The Office," especially Gervais's character. He just made me cringe so much.

Dear old BBC. They are reporting the trial of an intending terrorist. He's been convicted of a plan, nasty enough in itself,but the BBC added, in typical po-faced BBC terms, " He had intended to go to Afghanistan to fight with the mujahadeen, but his wife wouldn't let him go".

Do you know, it's details like that that you don't get abroad

Don't know about these muslims not integrating in a society where women have greater rights.This one sounds as though he's become almost completely British !Substitute 'had intended to go down the pub/ to the match'and you've got the whole of British homelife

I see Harry's in Afghanistan.

I think Harry's days in Afghanistan are numbered.

On the BBC New they show Harrys Main Job

Hes in charge of a Radio being a Traffic controller !

My Nephew has Been out several Times Hes a trouble shooter for the Royal Engineers Installs and Fixes things on all sorts of Vehicles also acts as a Ferry driver bringing Vehicles to and From the UK He likes the responsiblity Despite Being a Corporal
Harry of course will be a Colonel in chief With his "experience" ...Wills Too when they pass out My nephew gets a pittance
of a Pension
plus a Campaign Medal

Traffic controller? Air traffic controller, in the limited sense that his duties include calling in and directing the planes to the targets he can see during attacks.He also patrols, same as the others.

Probably the safest thing now for the prince, and for those serving with him:

HRH Prince Harry will be withdrawn from Afghanistan, back to the UK following a decision made today, Friday 29 February 2008 by the relevant Chiefs of Staff.
Ministry of Defence

And will he be fed up! You can't even get shot at in peace when you're a Royal