Subj : EatingDirt/FrenchGeograp To : James Bradley From : Miles Maxted Date : Thu Apr 21 2005 06:24 am G'morning James, JB> Must say, I enjoyed the first movie, but the comedy shows were the REAL JB> hoot! I can only imagine - the lack of accessible archives of TV programmes is a worry, generally - but particularly when such a series is mentioned and one cannot review them from the local library... MM> In NZ, there's nothing fatal - JB> Odd, how - what - a thousand miles can detox the wildlife. JB> I mean, for not even a BLue Ring to accidentally catch a JB> current on one unfortunate typhoon... Oh, now and then a sea-snake washes ashore; a shark knocks off a surfer; or a funnel-web spider is found inside an imported car - but very much once in five or ten years. MM> Obviously, neither an Ocker nor a Kiwi, therefore ! JB> Now I get beheaded or anointed? Anointed, probably - Kiwis are very impressed with overseas experts, particularly if they have North American or Bavarian accents... MM> Naw ... just surfeits of good grape at harvest time... JB> OK... Where's the translation dictionary? Where on earth do JB> you derive a word like "surfeits" to mean oodles? Being British (born and bred in Rugby, Warwickshire), I draw the word from the Middle English, which in turn flogged it from the Old French "sorfe(i)t" or "surfe(i)t" to convey the idea of an excess `at harvest' - particularly when I'm talking of stuff I drink... (hic) ...particularly when the first cork is drawn before dawn on birthdays. JB> So, you have colder climates to grow sweet grapes than us JB> Northerners would imagine? Yup - New Zealand is 1400 miles long, running from the sub-tropics to the deep South, with huge vineyards distributed up and down the coasts in the Middle Earth regions... MM> Our lot have passed that mark, and show no signs of allowing male MM> Kiwis any second chance of `equality' ever again... JB> The pendulum swung. See, if they were allowed some latitude JB> when subservient, you wouldn't have this backlash now. f/cover> Ain't no shielas here, mate, no reason to duck ! Some latitude, y'say ? Jeez, they were allowed to get the cows and the wood in, given the run of the kitchen - and all the kids they wanted - why'd they want to run the country as well ? At least it keeps them out the pub,,,, JB> You know where, "Drawn and quartered" came from? You can JB> watch another `Oggie' (How's my terminology?) movie JB> Braveheart to find out the first part. Or any good British history book .. Guy Fawkes was hung, drawn and then quartered... `drawn' being the disembowelling shown in Braveheart, `quartering' being cut into four parts, each part then dragged through the streets behind a horse to impress the public with the need to behave... and then his head left on a spiked staff in a main street for the same purpose... If you ever get to tour Warwick Castle, visit their dungeons; the equipment is original, and the displays leave nothing to the imagination over the administration of medieval justive... I'm trying to get our local government to resurrect the HD&Q trick for minor traffic offences; I reckon it'd suppress the careless use of SUV's very, very quickly.... (Mmmm ... NZ has 1000's of very dangerous SUV's, now I think of it!) MM> Which is why the bubbly is so important to me... JB> You need an excuse to say what you please, just to blame it JB> on the intoxicants, Miles? No ... I'm supposed to extend my extended existence by avoiding anything harmful - like bread and water; fortunately, some ocassions overwhelm the guardians and I get to reduce the stockpile in the cellar... :-) ___ MultiMail/MS-DOS v0.45 --- Maximus/2 3.01 * Origin: === Maxie BBS. Ak, NZ +64 9 444-0989 === (3:772/1) .