Whoops

[peterbirks]

"After all, it's not as if it's been cast in stone" is a favourite phrase of lazy dead-metaphor users, often CEOs. Unfortuately, when it comes to window-glass-engraving, it might as well be "cast in stone".

If you walk up from Charing Cross Station with St Martin's In The Fields on your left, past the marvellous sculpture of Oscar Wilde (quote engraved in marble; "all of us are in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars") then you pass a recently opened sports memorabilia store, presumably planned to cash in on World Cup fever/fervour. The glass here refers to "memorbilia", which is a bit of a bummer. I can't believe that the store owners haven't noticed it. But I guess that 12-foot square plate glass doesn't come cheap.

Then the café/takeaway next door to the office re-opened after a face-lift and expansion, booting the dry-cleaners to a new shop down a side street.

Not only does this café sell sandwiches, but apparently it also does "baggetts", or so the plate glass engraving informs me. I'm not sure whether they do croissants but, if they do, I suspect that it's a good idea that they chose not to advertise the fact on glass.

+++++++++

I've often felt that they should produce a computer version of Real Tennis, partly because, with all the fiddly bits involved in the game it is far more suited to a computer version than the boredom of lawn tennis. However, my main motive for wanting to see a computer version of Real Tennis is that you could call it "virtual real tennis", thus creating another oxymoron, one of my favourite quirks of the English language.

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Comments

[geoffchall.livejournal.com]

Tennis is already in a bad way etymologically speaking. The umbrella organisation is the Lawn Tennis Association and I believe the title of the sport is Lawn Tennis, despite the fact that only a handful of tournaments actually happen on grass and none of them take place on anything that might be construed as a lawn.

And when did Real Tennis become so-named? Was it a defensive label applied by those jealous of this Lawn Tennis upstart, or is it some corruption of Royal Tennis? And whatever became of Fake Tennis?

Real Tennis

[miserable-git.livejournal.com]

If you look in the sport sections of the Times post WW2, the Wimbledon results were under Lawn Tennis and the Tennis results covered the original.
As a Real Tennis player myself, I wonder if it would be possible to make a decent simulation and whether there would be any market for it?

Anyway Pete, what are the fiddly bits of Rael Tennis? Bisque?

[(Anonymous)]

There's a monument to the RAF on the Embankment that I've driven past many times. The inscription includes the line 'I bare you on eagles wings'. Every time I go past I want to scream 'It's BEAR not BARE'.

But this thread has prompted me to look into it and I've discovered that it's a quote from the bible. So I'll have to forgive the dodgy spelling.

see-

The memorial (http://www.raf-benfund.org.uk/RAF-Memorial)

[(Anonymous)]

Not only is it a quote from the bible, its not even dodgy spelling.

"Bare" used to be the past tense of "bear", instead of "bore". (Whether this usage is allowed today or not, I don't know - ask Lynne Truss.)

There's a clue in the full quote which can be seen on the link you provided.

I bare you on eagles wings
And brought you unto myself

This statement wouldn't really make sense if you substitute bear for bare, but it does if you substitute bore for bare.

An alternative interpretation has sprung to mind but the image of a naked man carried by an eagle is now in my head, so I have to go.

[jellymillion.livejournal.com]

A charity shop near us used to proclaim - on a hand-written sign, so not so good - "We're 'R' Open".

Better, although more on an Eats/Shoots/Leaves tack, when I worked for Abbey National I had to walk past a placard outside the Canary Wharf branch that announced "Now Open On Saturday's", under which someone (who clearly couldn't stand it any more) had scribbled in biro "you don't apostrophise plurals". They kept it outside for about another month...

Real Tennis

[(Anonymous)]

yes it's a corruption of Royal, I've always wanted to have a go, but at my advanced age, probably a computer version is my best chance, so there certainly would be a market of at least 1. John W

Re: Real Tennis

[(Anonymous)]

The Spanish word 'real' has two meanings, and can be translated into English as 'real' or 'royal', depending on context. If anything, 'royal' seems to be the more common meaning.

Example: the football team, Real Madrid.

-- Jonathan

Biblical quotations

[(Anonymous)]

As for misspellings in the Bible, there are a whole lot of editions from the seventeeth century, which are named after their best known printing/translation errors. The "Breeches" bible for example. There is even allegedly an edition in which the word "not" is omitted from the 6th (?) commandment, leaving God urging his people to commit adultery. John W