The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #41062   Message #591798
Posted By: Dead Horse
13-Nov-01 - 03:25 PM
Thread Name: Donkey Riding - What's Hong-ki-kong?
Subject: RE: Donkey Riding - What's Hong-ki-kong?
Thanks to Nancy King, I will never be able to sing that line again without an inward chuckle. As a piece of hedication for them whats higgorunt, Hieland Laddie pre-dates Donkey Riding by some hundred or so years. It was a Scottish whaling shanty of course. Donkey Riding was an expression used by *proper seamen* to poke fun at those who used the donkey engine to do their work for them, but was turned around by said *lubbers* who got in & out of port quicker, loaded cargoes, weighed anchor and set sails, etc. & so managed to keep their ships profitable, while the old die hards found themselves *on the beach* and jobless.