Slang usage
The CBB -> Anything Else

#1: Slang usage Author: RachelLocation: Plotting in my lair PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 9:21 am


I heard the term "four-flusher" used this week!

OK, so it was in an spisode of M*A*S*H when Hotlips was berating Frank yet again for something or other, but I got so excited at hearing a CS term in it!

Anyone able to find any other uses of this particular term?

 


#2:  Author: Kathy_SLocation: midwestern US PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 2:15 pm


Only the one I've quoted before:

"Mr. Coston called Mr. Dawson a pie-faced rubber-necked four-flusher." -P.G. Wodehouse, PSmith, Journalist, 1915.

(The characters in question were supposed to be New York gangsters. Still have never heard a bona fide American use this phrase though, and wondered whether EBD actually swiped it from fellow Brit Twisted Evil .)

 


#3:  Author: JennieLocation: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:17 pm


Do you think that EBD had been watching American cartoons, or did she just make up most of it?

 


#4:  Author: SecondhandGirl PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 2:59 pm


EBD must have tried to find the oddest combinations of words for "slang". Using slang was pretty shocking, what would the mistresses have thought of the things schoolgirls today come up with? Twisted Evil

 


#5:  Author: EllieLocation: Lincolnshire PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 3:27 pm


It's in the dictionary, so it must be real -htttp://www.thefreedictionary.com - defines it as
"Noun 1. four-flusher - a person who tries to bluff other people
bluffer
beguiler, cheater, deceiver, trickster, slicker, cheat - someone who leads you to believe something that is not true"

and offers this quote " "When I say cowardly skunks, I mean just that,--cowardly skunks. They set up for a lot of gamblers, and there ain't one in a thousand of them that's got the nerve to be a gambler. They're four-flushers, if you know what that means. They're a lot of little cottontail rabbits making believe they're big rip-snorting timber wolves." from 'Burning Daylight' by Jack London.

There is also, believe it or not, a Four Flusher Cocktail but since it's written in a language unrecognisable to my uneducted brain I can't tell you what's in it, apart from Barcadi Rum.

 


#6:  Author: Rachael PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 3:36 pm


Darn - we could have made them at the SG!! Wink

 


#7:  Author: LulieLocation: Middlesbrough PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 3:40 pm


post the recipe, Ellie. Perhaps we could translate it between us!

 


#8:  Author: EllieLocation: Lincolnshire PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 3:40 pm


Well if you can translate Rachael;

Ingredienser:
3 cl Bacardi rom
1½ cl punch
1½ cl Noilly prat dry
1 stænk Grenadine
appelsinskive is

Fremgangsmåde:
rystes med is og serveres i højt cocktailglas
pynt med appelsinskive





But I won't be there to try them Sad

 


#9:  Author: LulieLocation: Middlesbrough PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 3:55 pm


Ellie wrote:
Well if you can translate Rachael;

Ingredienser:
3 cl Bacardi rom
1½ cl punch
1½ cl Noilly prat dry
1 stænk Grenadine
appelsinskive is

Fremgangsmåde:
rystes med is og serveres i højt cocktailglas
pynt med appelsinskive





But I won't be there to try them Sad


Shocked well grenadine is a kind of syrup and I would assume that a cocktailglas is a cocktail glass!

 


#10:  Author: NellLocation: London, England PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 3:56 pm


Definately Scandinavian...possibly Danish...

300 ml Bacardi
150 ml punch
150 ml Noilly prat dry
1 dash (?) grenadine
some kind of ice I think made from apple juice

and I think it says all you do is mix it together serve in a cocktail glass over the ice!

But then again I could be very wrong, its a long time since I had to use my Danish and it was never reallly that good anyway!

ETA: also seems to make quite a lot...large cocktail glass needed!

 


#11:  Author: VikkiLocation: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!! PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 4:04 pm


Well, I could bring the grenadine if other people can bring the other ingredients? Wink

 


#12:  Author: LulieLocation: Middlesbrough PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 4:09 pm


*impressed with Nell's knowledge of Danish*

Wandering off topic a bit ( Shocked ) I wonder how many languages the CBB can speak between them?

I have a very small amount of French, can get by in German, say 'yes', 'no' and 'thank you' in Russian and I can also swear in Greek!

 


#13:  Author: VikkiLocation: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!! PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 4:13 pm


I have GCSE French and German (whether I can remember any of it is another matter...... Embarassed )

And I know a few uncomplimentary words of Afrikaans.... ooooh! And a couple of Turkish swear words too if I can remember them!

 


#14:  Author: EllieLocation: Lincolnshire PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 4:32 pm


I learnt French at school, but have forgotten 99% of it, Italian at college, forgottem 85% and I bought a Danish Dictionary and a Teach Yourself Danish book once as I meant to teach myself Danish before I went on holiday. Somehow, I never got round to it. Oh, and I used to know a few Swahili swear words, but I've forgotten them too.

Just to mention Four Flushers again, briefly, they also appear in a song title
THE DOOBIE BROTHERS - "Double Dealin' Four Flusher"

 


#15:  Author: RayLocation: Bristol, England PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 4:33 pm


Lemme see...

German - AS-Level (I got a borderline B/C; my teacher reckoned had I done the full course, I'd have got an A - I did a two year course in one year)
French - GCSE (I started to do this at AS-Level and dropped it half way through, bored because I knew twice the amount of French that everyone else did on the course despite having a lower GCSE grade than they did!)
Russian - I can order beer, say thank you, yes, no and goodbye
Irish - I can ask for the door to be shut and say thanks
Japanese - I can order beer
Welsh and Fahsi - I can swear...

Ray *woman of many talents*

 


#16:  Author: VikkiLocation: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!! PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 4:42 pm


Oooh! just remembered!! I can say 'Kiss my arse!' in irish gaelic.......

 


#17:  Author: KathyeLocation: Laleham PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 4:43 pm


Vikki wrote:
Well, I could bring the grenadine if other people can bring the other ingredients? Wink


I can sort out the Bacardi and bring ice cube trays for the ice, but what does it mean by punch !!!

 


#18:  Author: VikkiLocation: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!! PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 4:48 pm


I haven't got the foggiest!!!!
Maybe Ellie's book has a recipe earlier on for 'punch'?
Ellieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee??

 


#19:  Author: AllyLocation: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!! PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 5:06 pm


Some other recipes call for Swedish punch, which seems to be a rum based drink mixed with other alcohol such as wine, sweetened, and spiced with cinnamon.

 


#20:  Author: ChelseaLocation: Your Imagination PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 5:15 pm


I googled it and all the recipes for the cocktail are on non-English (Danish?) sites. I cannot find a translated version.

 


#21:  Author: JackieJLocation: Kingston upon Hull PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 6:37 pm


Ray wrote:
Lemme see...

German - AS-Level (I got a borderline B/C; my teacher reckoned had I done the full course, I'd have got an A - I did a two year course in one year)
French - GCSE (I started to do this at AS-Level and dropped it half way through, bored because I knew twice the amount of French that everyone else did on the course despite having a lower GCSE grade than they did!)
Russian - I can order beer, say thank you, yes, no and goodbye
Irish - I can ask for the door to be shut and say thanks
Japanese - I can order beer
Welsh and Fahsi - I can swear...

Ray *woman of many talents*


Oooh... the language thing.

German - quite good. I would have done GCSE if my school hadn't only offered it in the same time slot as music, but I do know I managed okay when we were over there the year before last.
French - your basic early school stuff, plus many many ballet terms and the words of the Habanera from Carmen.
Italian - basically food and music terminology.
Japanese - I know quite a few words, as I have a number of books on Geisha and I've absorbed various words.
Latin - I do quite a bit of singing in church, so I've picked up a fair bit of latin, coupled with what I've picked up from CS books.
Welsh - Erm, No and Jesus Christ. I do keep saying I want to learn more though.

I think that's it, unless Hullish is counted as a different language Very Happy

JackieJ

 


#22:  Author: RayLocation: Bristol, England PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 9:30 pm


*chuckles*

Hullish only counts if I can add American English, Xenexian, Huttese, Klingon and Double Dutch...

Ray *has learned a great deal of American slang while writing various fanfic and feels that some of it genuinely does count as a different language to the one she speaks!* *is prepared to duck and run if Kathy_S and any of the other board Americans would like to shoot me for that statement...*

 


#23:  Author: JackieJLocation: Kingston upon Hull PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 9:34 pm


In that case I'd have to add Buffy-speak, oh, and theatre-technician speak. There's nothing like understanding what someone means when they ask you to pass them the oojamaflip! Very Happy

JackieJ

 


#24:  Author: RayLocation: Bristol, England PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 9:40 pm


The oojamaflip by the thingamabob or the one by the doohdahwatsits?

And yes, I can speak Buffy, too - though I haven't yet descended to the geekiness of actually learning one of the demon languages. (I should add, incidentally, that I haven't actually learned in full either Huttese or Klingon - but I do know enough to swear!)

Ray *Smile*

 


#25:  Author: LulieLocation: Middlesbrough PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 9:42 pm


Thanks Jackie - I'd forgotten theatre-techie speak, and theatre-speak, which is another language entirely!

 


#26:  Author: Kathy_SLocation: midwestern US PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 9:43 pm


*makes comment about people in glass houses*

*considers liberating Ray's whistle and repeating this in Morse code*
*at full volume*

 


#27:  Author: RayLocation: Bristol, England PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 9:59 pm


It goes both ways - I've taught most of my American friends more English slang than they ever wanted to know, and I did take a great and malicious delight in using English slang on every occasion while taking a tour of Downtown Philadelphia last November. (Though that was more to do with the incautiously disparaging remarks the tour guide made on the subject of the English, and then again to see if I could get a reaction out of the extremely well preserved specimin who ran the shop at the Betty Ross House [largely because I wasn't convinced she was a real person until I'd heard her gasp in horror at me discussing buying rubbers...])

Ray * Twisted Evil *

 


#28:  Author: VikkiLocation: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!! PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 10:17 pm


Ray!!!!!
That is evil!!!
You could have given her a heart attack from shock..... Twisted Evil

 


#29:  Author: RayLocation: Bristol, England PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 10:19 pm


Ray *evil and loving it* *though my friend was equally evil - SHE made me explain why the woman had blushed to her to kids...*

 


#30:  Author: VikkiLocation: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!! PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 10:29 pm


LOL!!!
Served you right! Wink

 


#31:  Author: Rachael PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 8:06 am


I have rum, Noilly Prat and ice cube trays

As for punch ... well, we have imagination and my drinks cabinet which is full to over-flowing with weird and wonderful bottles purchased for one speific recip or as a holiday souvenir ... Ratspus anyone?!!

 


#32:  Author: NellLocation: London, England PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 10:51 am


*thanks Lulie for being impressed at her Danish* Embarassed

its not really that good - I can just about translate menus as long as theres nothing too complicated, can count to 20 and can say excuse me, thank you and hello/goodbye - and thats about it! Did come back from three months in Copenhagen to discover I knew less Danish than when i went out because my accent was so terrible they all spoke English too me...

Can also translate menus/order food and beer/wine/water in Italian, German, Polish, French, and can do the beer in Chezch and Spanish too! Seems to be a certain theme in my languages...

Learnt French at school but have forgot lots of it, did a terms Italian so know a little more than menus and drinks but not much, German was all picked up from the CS or holidays in Austria and trips to Germany! Laughing

ETA: sounds as though we could have some fun Rachael!

 


#33:  Author: Sarah_LLocation: Leeds PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 12:00 pm


I've got Spanish A Level and I know a few words of Czech from my recent visit to Prague.

 


#34:  Author: MissPrintLocation: Edinburgh PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 2:00 pm


Ellie wrote:
Ingredienser:
3 cl Bacardi rom
1½ cl punch
1½ cl Noilly prat dry
1 stænk Grenadine
appelsinskive is

Fremgangsmåde:
rystes med is og serveres i højt cocktailglas
pynt med appelsinskive




Appelsinskive is orange peel, unless I'm very much mistaken. It isn't swedish, but it's close enough, and appelsin is orange.

 


#35:  Author: NellLocation: London, England PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 2:35 pm


Thanks MissPrint - I had second thoughts about it being apple but had forgotten it was oranges!

 


#36:  Author: MissPrintLocation: Edinburgh PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 3:37 pm


Languages, oh I love them! I so wanted to go to the CS and speak as many as Joey. My collection is rather shorter than hers:

Italian and French fluently enough to enjoy reading a novel, watch telly and generally converse.
Spanish up to A level, but have forgotten most of it now. Could read it, but not speak it I fear.
German; can follow a converstaion, but not really participate much, hopelss at reading it, but listening is fine. Would not dare to put pen to paper in German.
A little Sweedish, mostly used to talk to children so it's of the "look at that" "have an orange" variety
Smatterings of Portugese, Greek, Japanese, mosly of the "where is the toilet" variety, though that is a very useful phrase. Nell, you are like my brother in the fact that he considers ordering a beer the most important phrase to learn.
Went to Gaelic lessons, didn't really like the language (heresy, I know)
And BSL of course, not a great amount, but I enjoyed learning it lots.

And no daft Sci-Fi languages or Elven ones, not like my daughter who has neglected her French to study not one, but three Tolkein languages. She did say yesterday that she regrets not becoming more fluent in French, and playing up in the Italian clases at primary school (paid for by the Italian government as there were more native Italian speakers in the class than any other school in the city)

I'd quite like to have a go at a non-european language.

 


#37:  Author: EmmaLocation: Lichfield PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 8:56 pm


Hum, everyone seems to be so much better at languages than me, I have problems with English sometimes especially after a good session in my local...

I did French and German at school but I couldnt remember any of it!! I know bits and bobs of Welsh as well but only because all the documents we publish at work have to be in English and Welsh! Smile

 


#38:  Author: SusanLocation: Carlisle PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 9:45 pm


Gosh - runs and hides behind nearest wall - I only speak English!

 


#39:  Author: PatLocation: Doncaster PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 10:11 pm


I did French up till I took my options and gave it up - the French teacher was very strict even for the 60s!!!!
Picked up one or two german phrases when we lived in Germany - enough to buy veg in the market. I have forgotten most of it since that was nearly 30 years ago!
Did a year of Italian so oin theory I could book a hotel room order a meal and ask for directions (even follow the reply!!), but I have my doubts. I understood most of the Italian menu in Switzerland last year.

 


#40:  Author: JackieJLocation: Kingston upon Hull PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 10:19 pm


Ooops, forgot about that. Italian menus as well as music terms. That was definitely one of the most interesting meals we ordered in Germany. We went to a little Italian Restaurant in the village one night, but the menu was completely in Italian and German, yet somehow we managed to order everything safely without resorting to English once. I was quite impressed with us.

JackieJ

 


#41:  Author: NellLocation: London, England PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2004 9:13 am


MissPrint wrote:
Smatterings of Portugese, Greek, Japanese, mosly of the "where is the toilet" variety, though that is a very useful phrase. Nell, you are like my brother in the fact that he considers ordering a beer the most important phrase to learn.


Its partly that its usually an easy phrase!

 


#42:  Author: MissPrintLocation: Edinburgh PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2004 6:07 pm


Yes, I gather it must be as he says it so beautifully in French, though still managed to order a monkey steak when on holiday in the south of France a couple of years ago. The restaurant, though eager to please its patrons, was unable to supply his order and he got un steak saignant rather than un steak singe, which is what he had thought he had ordered. What price Grizel and her gaffe at the hairdressers? He said that the waiters, already on the snooty side treated him with complete contempt thereafter.

Fortunately he enjoys a joke against himself as much as we all do, and has been dining out on the story ever since.

 


#43:  Author: JennieLocation: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2004 8:38 am


My ex-father in law, when stationed in Germany, decided that he could do the shopping better than anyone else in the family. He walked into the butcher's shop and asked for 2 kilos of Kindfleisch.

He wanted beef.

 


#44:  Author: RayLocation: Bristol, England PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2004 8:59 am


Puts me in mind of the slightly less disturbing, but probably no less disconcerting incident involving a friend of the family in a Hannoverian restaurant.

She was there as part of the official Bristol City Council party (Bristol's twinned with Hannover fyi), and this was the first time the party had gone over there without the resident translator (my dad [note: My dad does not speak German; he just employs common sense - if it looks like an English word but is spelt slightly differently, chances are it IS the German equivalent cf: Karrotten - carrots!]). This lady had taken the precaution of learning German before their departure, and on their first trip out, insisted that she would order, in German. The rest of the party declined to have her order for them, and ordered in English, and got exactly what they requested (namely cups of coffee). She, however, ordered in German...

...and ended up with a giant, and complicated, ice cream sundae.

Now. The German for coffee is Kaffee (as all good CS girls know!); the German for ice cream is Eis. If anyone on this board can explain to me how you get from "Eine tasse Kaffee" to ice cream sundae...

Ray *puzzled*

 


#45:  Author: JennieLocation: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2004 3:43 pm


Perhaps it's better not to know, Ray, then you can occupy yourself with solving the mystery one night when you can't sleep.

 


#46:  Author: claireLocation: South Wales PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2004 6:16 pm


An inecream sundae is an 'Eisbecker' so can't see the leap (unless they brought you a COFFEE flavoured sundae (ein tasse being taken as eisbecker)

 


#47:  Author: RayLocation: Bristol, England PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2004 6:31 pm


That was my first guess - but apparently, no; the icecream wasn't coffee flavoured in any way shape or form, for one thing, I think some of the ice cream was pink! (so possibly strawberry or raspberry)

Needless to state, she tried to get the party to swear they wouldn't tell my dad (rightly guessing he'd laugh). As you can tell, that REALLY worked well...

Ray *puzzled but amused*

 


#48:  Author: JennieLocation: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 3:40 pm


Perhaps one of life's insoluble enigmas, Ray.

 


#49:  Author: MiriamLocation: Jerusalem, Israel PostPosted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:55 am


My mothers theory of the most important phrases in any language - and why

"I don't understand" : for when the waiter offers you snails
"No" : for when he brings them to you to demonstrate
"Where are the toilets?" : for when you realize what they were only after you've eaten them

I can't help wondering whether this is based on any experience of hers!

In terms of languages, I speak fluent English and Hebrew, bits of Aramaic (not actually a spoken language anywhere for the past 2000 years) a few words of Arabic, and have vague memories of FRench and German lessons a long time ago. I have also aquired a degree of expertise in understanding those from other countries who think they speak English. As Churchill said "Two countries separated by a commen language".

 




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