Not many people know that ..........

Dorsetmike

Member
The English word window is a corruption over the years of "wind hole"

Add your pearls of useless wisdom here. :rolleyes:
 

Soubasse

New member
The title of this thread wouldn't happen to be a doffing of the cap to one P. Sellers and his impersonation of one M. Caine now would it? ;)

In which case, my trivial contribution for the moment would be that it was not Michael Caine who first used the phrase "There's not many people know that" but actually Peter Sellers impersonating Michael Caine. The phrase was later used by Caine as an in-joke in the film Educating Rita.
 

teddy

Duckmeister
To follow Mikes original post the French and Welsh words for window are almost identical.

teddy
 

Soubasse

New member
Best way to be, Mike!

Teddy, I noted with interest when in Wales, that the Welsh and French words for "church" also have a striking similarity.
Eglise and Eglwys (I'm sure I don't need to point out which of those two words is the Welsh one, the absence of vowels should be a big enough clue ;) )
 

teddy

Duckmeister
An interesting language Welsh is it not Soulbase. Welsh lessons were compulsory when I was at school, but I can barely remember enough to say hello or be rude. Bye the way the Welsh are masters of the veiled insult. Luckily I still can pronoince the names and awkward words, which so infuriate my American cousins.
teddy
 

teddy

Duckmeister
There are no poisous snakes in Jamaica

Most of them belong to the epicrates family
 
Best way to be, Mike!

Teddy, I noted with interest when in Wales, that the Welsh and French words for "church" also have a striking similarity.
Eglise and Eglwys (I'm sure I don't need to point out which of those two words is the Welsh one, the absence of vowels should be a big enough clue ;) )

No Vowels? I would like to hear the pronounciation of the word.
 

Contratrombone64

Admiral of Fugues
The author of this thread needs to lookup ellipsis as strings of dots are ugly, methinks.

And no, had no idea of window's origin, but it makes sense I guess.

And as to the Welsh use of the alphabet and your arrogant observation, I think they might still be burning houses owned by the English, yes? Good for them.
 

teddy

Duckmeister
Being Enlish Welsh, Italian and French can you imagine the problems I have when the international rugby is on. There is no doubt that the Welsh language is very different from anything else spoken throughout Europe in its pronunciation. It helps to have a bad cold. lusaka I would like to help you out on the pronunciation of Eglwys but the phonetic interpretation would be just as bad. Mike, you can hide but you can't run. (Much more appropriate for our age group). The amninosity between the Welsh and English is very similar to that from the Scots and the French. Considering how we subsidise all these people it really is biting the hand that feeds. Burning down someones house is never an option in my mind, particularly when the property concerned belongs to a friend who happens like me to be part Welsh.

teddy
 

OLDUDE

New member
The sexual urge of the camel,
Is greater than anyone thinks,
He's been known in the Spring and the Autumn,
To have a good go at the Sphinx,
But the Sphinx's posterior orifice,
Is bunged up with the sands from the Nile,
Which accounts for the gloom of the camel,
And the Sphinx's inscrutable smile.

Not many used to know that
 

Dorsetmike

Member
Not quite the exact wording I used to know, [nitpicking] always thought it read "hump of the camel", not gloom [/nitpicking]

Made me smile anyway!
 

Soubasse

New member
Well FWIW I loved Wales - the scenery, the castles, the singing. What I did find amusing was all the bilingual road-signage, and the fact that in South Wales it has the Welsh printed underneath the English, but in North Wales it's the other way around :lol: (no prizes for guessing which part of the country is more protective of their language :D). Met some really nice people there (and some eccentric ones too!).

Err, right, something trivial, let me see ...

All I can recount for the moment is something from the inestimable Kenny Everett:

"Did you know that the South American aardvark catches moths ... by leaving it's porch light on?"
 
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