The book I am reading

[moi]

I am currently reading No Smoking, a hilarious book by Will Self.

Tom is on holiday on an exotic island with his wife and four children. Having decided to give up smoking, he is standing on the balcony of their holiday flat, sucking every last nanogram of nicotine out of his last cigarette, before flicking the dowp over the balcony.

The dowp (fag end) falls on the bald pate of an old man sunbathing on the balcony below. Tom finds himself facing a charge of attempted murder in a country where the laws are very different from the UK .....

I haven't finished it yet, but can thoroughly recommend it.

P.S. I KNEW I'd written a capital I in the title, but when I posted it, it became a baby i. What's going on here? Have we employed dickywuh as editor-in-chief?

 

[Phillip]

How many pages is it? After having suffered through the latest Dan Brown book, that is an important question, since I am losing to many hours of my life to bad books.

 

[Mod]

P.S. I KNEW I'd written a capital I in the title, but when I posted it, it became a baby i. What's going on here? Have we employed dickywuh as editor-in-chief?

Perish the thought that it could have possibly been you that added a small i!

So what was the outcome of the flicked cigarette?

 

[moi]

How many pages is it? After having suffered through the latest Dan Brown book, that is an important question, since I am losing to many hours of my life to bad books.

Serve you right for reading Dan Brown - total crap! This book is 345 pages long, which is exactly the correct length!

Perish the thought that it could have possibly been you that added a small i!So what was the outcome of the flicked cigarette?

Twas not I who altered the size of the I!

I told you the outcome - I'm not going to tell you anymore in case I spoil the story for people who might want to read it.

 

[Phillip]

Agreed, 345 pages sounds just about right.

Unfortunately, with words like dowp and fag throughout, I may have to have my British English - to - American English translator close by.

 

[Mod]

Unfortunately, with words like dowp and fag throughout, I may have to have my British English - to - American English translator close by.

There are two English's?

 

[Phillip]

Believe me when I say that "fag" and "dowp" don't exist in the American English (well, fag does, but it means a turdburgler, if you get my drift).

 

[moi]

Agreed, 345 pages sounds just about right.Unfortunately, with words like dowp and fag throughout, I may have to have my British English - to - American English translator close by.

Well, I'm reading it in French so "dowp" and "fag" may not be in the original. "Dowp" is a Scottish word for a cigarette butt, while "fag" is simply a cigarette, and has nothing to do with men who prefer their own gender.

 

[BlueBeard]

Believe me when I say that "fag" and "dowp" don't exist in the American English (well, fag does, but it means a turdburgler, if you get my drift).

You might want to be careful with the use of the word 'fanny' as well next time you visit <_<

 

[moi]

There are two English's?

There are definitely two Englishes and they're getting further and further apart. The day will come when we need to put the subtitles on American films to understand them.

At universities in Europe students can choose between studying UK English or American English.

 

[Phillip]

Je ne c'est quoi.

 

[Phillip]

There are definitely two Englishes and they're getting further and further apart. The day will come when we need to put the subtitles on American films to understand them.At universities in Europe students can choose between studying UK English or American English.

Are you serious, Moi?

I feel good about your other comment, since it usually takes me about 15 minutes to get through the language barrier when I see a British film, which sometimes makes me miss something really good at the beginning.

 

[moi]

Je ne c'est quoi.

I'm assuming your "Je ne sais quoi" is with reference to Bluebeard's fanny (well not his personally, obviously)

A Yankee fanny is at the back, a UK fanny is more frontal. Get it?

 

[Phillip]

Do you mean a 'Jimmy Johnson'?

 

[moi]

Are you serious, Moi?I feel good about your other comment, since it usually takes me about 15 minutes to get through the language barrier when I see a British film, which sometimes makes me miss something really good at the beginning.

Yes, it's true - they are recognised as being sufficiently different to need separate study. If students are aiming eventually to work in the U.S. they will choose to study AmerEnglish.

 

[moi]

Do you mean a 'Jimmy Johnson'?

I have NO idea what a JJ is! A fanny is a c**t! In the PROPER sense of the word, not in the annoyingly pejorative sense that so many posters use it to describe anyone they disagree with!

 

[Phillip]

Oh, then I was wrong.

Jimmy Johnson is a famous Nascar driver (a poor man's Formula One, perhaps?), but unfortunately (for him) his name is kinda funny.

Jimmy is slang for "penis", and Johnson is also slang for "penis", so I (and maybe it is just me) say Jimmy Johnson when referring to that appendage.

 

[moi]

Oh, then I was wrong. Jimmy Johnson is a famous Nascar driver (a poor man's Formula One, perhaps?), but unfortunately (for him) his name is kinda funny.

Jimmy is slang for "penis", and Johnson is also slang for "penis", so I (and maybe it is just me) say Jimmy Johnson when referring to that appendage.

Like saying dickpecker!

 

[Phillip]

Yes, exactly. The book I am currently reading is 'Flint & Silver', which is a prequel to Treasure Island. Actually it is fairly good, and about 300 pages.