The Night Mail

[JohnDMJ]

5 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Not Cockney per se, but rather the use of a certain slang term for a cigarette.

 

How, these days, can a reference to the LGBT etc. society be considered offensive?

[Tony_S]

As I managed find the space for a decoder in the blue Merchant navy loco I thought I would have a go at fitting one into a Hornby shunter I have had for ages. I even found the decoder I bought for it ages ago too. Allegedly for Z scale so wasn't a problem. The Canadian Pacific has been shunted off the rolling road.

[rockershovel]

A propos various aforegoing...

 

A fag may also refer to a system of using junior boys as gofers in English public schools. 

 

At least 50% of "Cockney rhyming slang" derives from a popular form of humour amongst them, consisting of telling the inquisitive or gullible anything they are thought likely to believe, with a straight face...

 

A good test of word-matching censors is to try to send the name of the Head of the Metropolitan Police, which produces a rich crop of euphemism in the BTL comments in the "broadsheet press"

 

 

[rockershovel]

Re air rifles, the Scouts had a badge called "Master at Arms" and my old troop used to do this en masse at the school's indoor range - a popular winter activity. 

 

 

[Stubby47]

Just thought I'd throw a bit of modelling into the conversation.

 

 

Not quite finished yet, needs some details adding and some light weathering, then it should be ready to send to the client.

 

It's a model built from my own 7mm scale scratch-aid laser cut kit.

[Tony_S]

6 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

some light weathering,

I have seen your “extreme weathering” photo on your website.

[Oldddudders]

1 minute ago, Tony_S said:

I have seen your “extreme weathering” photo on your website.

A skill Stu honed in his sympathetic renditions of vitreous china....

[rockershovel]

7 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

A skill Stu honed in his sympathetic renditions of vitreous china....

Now I can't unsee that... 

[Tony_S]

14 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

A skill Stu honed in his sympathetic renditions of vitreous china....

The image I was thinking about looked more like arson…

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

A skill Stu honed in his sympathetic renditions of vitreous china....

 

I lived near the town of Barrhead (colloquially Boarheid). Barrheid achieved international recognition as the location of the famous "Shanks Of Barrhead" lavatory equipment manufacturer. As I travelled around the World it was always reassuring to be able to sit on something familiar.

[PhilJ W]

Had a successful morning at the toy fair today. One trader was selling Relco electronic track cleaners for a pound each. I've heard mixed reviews of these devices and they can damage  motors. Are there any instances where they are  not advisable to be used?

[Dunsignalling]

35 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Had a successful morning at the toy fair today. One trader was selling Relco electronic track cleaners for a pound each. I've heard mixed reviews of these devices and they can damage  motors. Are there any instances where they are  not advisable to be used?

Avoid using them with coreless motors which they overheat and may cause internal arcing. Also any DCC-fitted locos that will also run on DC; if exposed to the output of a Relco, these will quickly cease to work on either. GOODBYE MR. CHIP.

 

It is also alleged that they shorten the lives of almost all modern low-current-draw motors.

 

TBH, their use is really best restricted to locos with motors that have replaceable brushes, 1970s or older....

Edited November 7, 2021 by Dunsignalling

[Dave Hunt]

Talk of the difference between word meanings either side of the Atlantic reminds me of one of my most embarrassing moments when in a crowded bar in San Diego one happy hour I called to my mate further along, "Hey, Mike, can I bum a fag?" The sudden silence was deafening until an American colleague standing next to me said, "He's a Brit, they speak differently - means he wants a cigarette." Even then I continued to get some very funny looks.

 

Dave

 

PS - obviously this was quite a few years ago before what an American buddy called the Nicotine Nazis had banned indoor smoking

Edited November 7, 2021 by Dave Hunt

[jamie92208]

It worked they other waybround when a devout Christian friend of mine whonwas heading to Norfolk to help lead a sailing holiday for part of the scripture union. He was showing some American friends round London and announced the he ws "Off for a week on the Broads".

 

Jamie

Edited November 8, 2021 by jamie92208

[AndyID]

Newly arrived in the US in 1982 I was setting up my cube with stationary etc. I went to Nancy our department admin and asked her if she had any rubbers.

 

Her face went very red. My new colleagues had to explain to me what I had just done.

[Stubby47]

Many years ago, we were talking to some American colleagues about needing to write a quick, unsophisticated program to manipulate some data - in our parlance a Mickey Mouse program.

 

However, to them, such a named program was considered the cream of coding.

[SM42]

An interesting  incendiary evening was had yesterday. 

 

Having finished off the stock of fireworks, we were sitting around the fire, enjoying a tipple or two and all was well. 

 

Around 2 hours  later shortly after a stiff gust of wind, my nephew noticed a fire  had broken out at the bottom of the garden in the pile of expended ordinance behind the lauch area 

 

Swift action soon brought it under control, but the bucket of water that was next to the pile had caught fire too. 

I wonder if we had left it, would it have self extinguished?

 

The lawn looks a little sick in that  area this morning and the bucket has a new pouring spout

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Not Cockney per se, but rather the use of a certain slang term for a cigarette.

 

Double entendres seem to slide by the censor quite easily. Something like this old ISIHAC joke “Samantha has to nip out to spend time with her new gentleman friend. They’re off on a driving tour of Wales. She says he’s looking forward to showing her Cardiff and Cardigan Bay, before going on to Bangor in the back of his van.” would never get picked up. I wonder if this is because the double entendre is very much a British institution and thus unknown to those in the US writing the censoring programs (assuming that the software is written by US programmers, which seems to be the case [but I could be wrong]) or would it be because it’s incredibly difficult to write an effective software that recognises words in context? Or perhaps a combination of the two.

I remember a friend of mine who announced he was going outside to smoke a fag, and the look from the New Yorkers we were with was priceless.

 

Edit: It worked again!

Edited November 7, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[Florence Locomotive Works]

16 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I wonder how many Airfix kits met the sort of end described in this forum? And was the dramatic fall off of Airfix kit sales attributable to the introduction of restrictions on the accessibility of air rifles to small boys?

 

Dave

I'm not very sure. I certainly never even considered doing that to any the kits I built, mostly because Airifx's and the like cost a significant amount of money these days especially for then 9 year old me. I also didn't have access to rockets though. 

 

Air rifles? Don't think so. Most boys round here have the real thing, and most will be darn good duck hunters by the time their 18.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

11 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Not Cockney per se, but rather the use of a certain slang term for a cigarette.

 

Double entendres seem to slide by the censor quite easily. Something like this old ISIHAC joke “Samantha has to nip out to spend time with her new gentleman friend. They’re off on a driving tour of Wales. She says he’s looking forward to showing her Cardiff and Cardigan Bay, before going on to Bangor in the back of his van.” would never get picked up. I wonder if this is because the double entendre is very much a British institution and thus unknown to those in the US writing the censoring programs (assuming that the software is written by US programmers, which seems to be the case [but I could be wrong]) or would it be because it’s incredibly difficult to write an effective software that recognises words in context? Or perhaps a combination of the two.

The double entendre is very much alive in US high schools of this you can be sure.

[zarniwhoop]

4 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

Many years ago, we were talking to some American colleagues about needing to write a quick, unsophisticated program to manipulate some data - in our parlance a Mickey Mouse program.

 

However, to them, such a named program was considered the cream of coding.

Same where I worked - anything one-off to fix things. More commonly referred to as a mickey program.

[polybear]

4 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Air rifles? Don't think so. Most boys round here have the real thing, and most will be darn good duck hunters by the time their 18.

 

Nooo.......Donald.......

[jamie92208]

8 hours ago, AndyID said:

Newly arrived in the US in 1982 I was setting up my cube with stationary etc. I went to Nancy our department admin and asked her if she had any rubbers.

 

Her face went very red. My new colleagues had to explain to me what I had just done.

We have similar ones here in La Belle France. I found out by accident that smoking a pipe has a totally different meaning.

7 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I remember a friend of mine who announced he was going outside to smoke a fag, and the look from the New Yorkers we were with was priceless.

 

Edit: It worked again!

I suspect thst the phrase meant the same as a pipe in France.

 

Jamie

Edited November 8, 2021 by jamie92208

[AndyID]

8 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

Many years ago, we were talking to some American colleagues about needing to write a quick, unsophisticated program to manipulate some data - in our parlance a Mickey Mouse program.

 

However, to them, such a named program was considered the cream of coding.

 

There are a few idioms that have completely opposite meanings between the US and the UK but that's a new one on me. Are you sure they weren't just winding you up? 

 

There's a great joke about Mickey and Minnie in divorce court where Goofy is the third party but it doesn't really work in print and it would never get past the censors here.

[AndyID]

3 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

I suspect that the phrase meant the same as a pipe in France.

 

Probably more sinister. In that context it would usually mean he was going to shoot somebody