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The Pre-Grouping Pedants Weekly


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Which brings us back to Dante.  My cherished translation of the Divine Comedy is by Dorothy L Sayers (yes, that Dorothy L Sayers) and she describes the area between the gate if Hell and the river Acheron, where the fence-sitters, who never committed to either a good or evil life, are tormented in a sort of limbo. She uses the term "vestibule".  The date of the translation is 1949.  I'm pretty sure the area concerned is not part of a railway carriage! 

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A "Shooting Break" was a vehicle used to cart sportsmen and their equipment out to slaughter game birds.  Its synonymous with Station Wagon and latterly, the Estate Car.

 

According to Wikipedia, its an early 19th C British term and derives from a robust carriage chassis hooked to spirited horses to "break" them.

 

But had become, in English 'brake'. 

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Mrs Compound2632, or Beatrice if she must have a nom de chemin de fer, is a lexicographer by profession. She maintains that in current British English, use of the word vestibule is confined to its railway carriage sense.

 

I do hope your OH has not accepted that nasty Americanism "lobby" as a replacement for a hotel vestibule.

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EDIT: That's my wife you're talking about, so watch your step...

I had gathered from your pseudonym that you were a 'Midland  man' but I hadn't realised that you were actually married to one of their locos!  :O

 

Jim

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Which brings us back to Dante.  My cherished translation of the Divine Comedy is by Dorothy L Sayers (yes, that Dorothy L Sayers) and she describes the area between the gate if Hell and the river Acheron, where the fence-sitters, who never committed to either a good or evil life, are tormented in a sort of limbo. She uses the term "vestibule".  The date of the translation is 1949.  I'm pretty sure the area concerned is not part of a railway carriage! 

Given the overcrowding on sections of the modern railway, being tortured in a vestibule seems pretty spot on.

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Since French has had a mention, ‘break’ is the term for an estate car here, hence I drive a Clio Break. The brakes do work, but of course they are called ‘freins’.

That's just a fourgon conclusion...

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Which brings us back to Dante.  My cherished translation of the Divine Comedy is by Dorothy L Sayers (yes, that Dorothy L Sayers) and she describes the area between the gate if Hell and the river Acheron, where the fence-sitters, who never committed to either a good or evil life, are tormented in a sort of limbo. She uses the term "vestibule".  The date of the translation is 1949.  I'm pretty sure the area concerned is not part of a railway carriage! 

 

I've only read it right through in her translation, that being the Penguin available in the days when I had time for such things. She's very good on explaining Thomist theology but weaker on poetry. Now back in the pre-grouping era, if one read Dante, one had the leisure to do so in Italian.

 

I do hope your OH has not accepted that nasty Americanism "lobby" as a replacement for a hotel vestibule.

 

Despite intense lobbying... We don't discuss stations in our house, either.

 

I had gathered from your pseudonym that you were a 'Midland  man' but I hadn't realised that you were actually married to one of their locos!  :O

 

Jim

 

You were the one who mentioned your excitement at the sight of her safety valves...

 

Given the overcrowding on sections of the modern railway, being tortured in a vestibule seems pretty spot on.

 

Reading to Paddington. More purgatory than hell - the rigours of the journey have been willingly embraced for the sake of what lies at journey's end.

 

That's just a fourgon conclusion...

 

Très bien...

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The internet is much slower up at these latitudes

I've only just found this in order to check on spelling:

 

The Train - A.A. Milne

 

Let it rain, who cares?
I've a train -- upstairs,
With a brake that I make from a string sorta thing --
Which works -- in jerks,
'Cause it drops in the spring and it stops with the string,
And the wheels all stick so quick that it feels
Like a thing that I make with a brake, not string.
Let it rain, -- who cares? I've a train -- upstairs,
With a brake that I make from a string sorta thing --
Which works -- in jerks,
'Cause it drops in the spring and it stops with the string,
And that's what I make when the day's all wet,
It's a good sort of brake, but it hasn't worked yet!

 

But is Christopher Robin pre or post grouping?

dh

Edited by runs as required
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The internet is much slower up at these latitudes

I've only just found this in order to check on spelling:

 

The Train - A.A. Milne

 

Let it rain, who cares?

I've a train -- upstairs,

With a brake that I make from a string sorta thing --

Which works -- in jerks,

'Cause it drops in the spring and it stops with the string,

And the wheels all stick so quick that it feels

Like a thing that I make with a brake, not string.

Let it rain, -- who cares? I've a train -- upstairs,

With a brake that I make from a string sorta thing --

Which works -- in jerks,

'Cause it drops in the spring and it stops with the string,

And that's what I make when the day's all wet,

It's a good sort of brake, but it hasn't worked yet!

 

But is Christopher Robin pre or post grouping?

dh

 

 

It was all a very long time ago now, about last Friday.

 

It does sound suspiciously like the notorious Clark and Webb chain brake...

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With a brake that I make from a string sorta thing --

It's a good sort of brake, but it hasn't worked yet!

 

 

 

Excellent - About time we got onto the Clark & Webb chain brake system - One for Penlan, I think!

 

Possibly not such a concern if one is a dead fish, however.

It does sound suspiciously like the notorious Clark and Webb chain brake...

 

Snap!

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