OT: Somebody's got some 'splaning to do

[Doug Winterburn]

[Larry Jaques]

Maybe you should have asked for the "stand and shake it" room?

-- The United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world. -- Ayn Rand

[Han]

Larry Jaques wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Hey, I was young with good but limited knowledge of English, and certainly didn't know such idiom. I'm just a little better in that regard now ...

[Robatoy]

[e-mail]:

*disclaimer* Probably only funny to a Dutchman.

An uncle of mine (married to one of my dad's six sisters) wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. He had one helluva time with English after he emigrated to Canada in 1948. Years later, when taken along with his grand kids to the zoo in Detroit, he pointed out a large pachyderm to one of the kids and said: "Look! An 'oil-phant'. My cousin just lost it... she still can't tell the story without coming apart.

[Han]

Robatoy wrote in news:49a69c99-dbd5-4e02-8e68- [e-mail]:

This is standard lingo in our family (now extended to include moe or less native Americans). On New Year's Eve, my daughter cooks traditional Dutch Oilballs. . . . . . . . . . . . . Oliebollen are a traditional Dutch delicacy made by deep-frying a yeast dough that's somewhat like this:

Yummy, right, Rob?

[Leon]

During the last years that Nixon was in office, he brought the speed limit down from 70 to 55. So that all happened some where around 72~74. We were all going to save so much gas by doing this that it was beyond our realms of imagination.

[chaniarts]

then, there's this:

[krw]

Powered flight?

[Doug Miller]

No, indeed, not through Toronto. But then, I didn't say that. I said "most of the way in Ontario".

I think the road between Toronto and Ottawa had a 70mph limit back then. Of course, I could be wrong -- it's been a few years, after all...

[Doug Miller]

facto speed limit on I-65 in Tennessee was already 85mph -- I know that going

80 in the left lane, there were pissed-off drivers behind me who thought I wasn't going fast enough...

[Robatoy]

Yup, bullshit-powered flight.

[FrozenNorth]

Still doubting it. PPOSTFU.

There is no single multi-lane road from Toronto to Ottawa, if you are talking highway #7, forget about it, single lane in many spots, there is no way that ever had that limit. Totally unsafe at that speed as it goes through *many* small towns.

[Bill]

It's like that for a stretch when you go from I-69 onto I-94 (east) in Michigan. It's sort of exhilarating.

Bill

[Larry Jaques]

Also, the slang changes at such fast rates, who can keep up?

-- The United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world. -- Ayn Rand

[Lobby Dosser]

Interesting site, thanks.

[Lobby Dosser]

Ahhh, the joys of foreign toilets. First visit to Paris and I'm in the Gare du Nord and feel an urgent need to sit down. No problem finding the appropriate place, but none of the stalls had a "toilet bowl" just a hole in the floor. After much discussion I was assured that this was normal ....

The bidet in my hotel room was also a source of some confusion.

Then there was the woman mopping the men's room asking me to lift my feet as I stood at the urinal ...

[Lobby Dosser]

Montgolfier

[Bob Martin]

Wright brothers made the first manned, powered, controlled flight. Take out any of "manned, powered, controlled" and there were precedents.

[Larry Jaques]

Luckily, I've never seen those, just heard about 'em.

Who ever thought up a toilet which _pisses_back_?

Turn around, act surprised, and ask "What?" without stopping the flow.

-- The United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world. -- Ayn Rand

[Han]

Larry Jaques wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Larry, look this up up via a translation page (it's Dutch) "'s Lands wijs, 's lands eer"