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Subject: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 17 Apr 07 - 05:57 AM There I was, doing my housework in the middle of the morning, when I heard someone in the distance but coming nearer, shouting. It wasn't ordinary shouting but had a chant to it. I went to the window and up the street walked a man calling "Any scrap? Any old iron?" He drew out the first "Any" Then put an emphasis on the second. It was melodic and really rather beautiful. A sudden sound from the past in the middle of a humdrum day. Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: George Papavgeris Date: 17 Apr 07 - 05:59 AM Oh, yea, Lynne! You'd hear them on any market day from stall holders, and occasionally from shop keepers. It's part of the atmosphere. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 17 Apr 07 - 07:20 AM That's just led me to thinking..... as a grower and seller of herbs, or herbwife as I would once have been called, perhaps I could find some of the old cries and use them...or even make new ones. I have a very thin book which I think was actually aimed at kids, telling about street cries and there is a bit in there about herbwives' cries. Does anyone know of any books on the subject, or better still recordings of old cries? Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 17 Apr 07 - 07:24 AM I remember some which were still used in my childhood: "Any old rag bo-un!" was one. The rag and bone man used to come round with a horse and cart. And of course the ones you still sometimes hear on markets "I'm not asking £5. I'm not asking £4.."etc. In Australia in spring the streets of Perth were full of the lovely smell of boronia, a small, insignificant looking brown flower with an incredible perfume. Boronia sellers would be sat at the corner shouting "Sweet scented borOnia!" (You have to imagine the Ozzie accent there) and the paper boys still shouted too. Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Big Mick Date: 17 Apr 07 - 07:27 AM With all the horror going on just now here in the States, Lynne, your thread has brought me a bit of cheer. I can hear the cries in my head. I hope you do try using the old cries. It would be preserving a wonderful bit of heritage. All the best, Mick |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,Martin Ryan Date: 17 Apr 07 - 07:32 AM A friend of mine sings an Enlish song of which the chorus is "Artichokes! Fresh artichokes!", basically as a street cry. He is often teased (or "slagged" as we Paddies say) with requests of "Give us the one about the asparagus!"! Regards |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Waddon Pete Date: 17 Apr 07 - 07:44 AM Hello, Yes...this brings back memories! There used to be a rag and bone man (sorry recycled goods operative), who used to come down our road with a horse and cart. His cry could only be interpreted as "Ram..bo" (This being in the days before such films of course). I can hear him now..... Best wishes, Peter |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,Darowyn Date: 17 Apr 07 - 07:46 AM Do you live in Malvern Lynne? If not it's a coincidence, because last week for the first time in many years, a man drove down out street in a Transit Pickup, blowing a bugle and shouting "Scrap Iron, Any Scrap Iron?" He played "The Last Post" at one stage, which I thought showed a nice reverence for the ultimate fate of the old washing machines and lawnmowers on the truck. Cheers Dave PS How long before someone complains that traditional street cries should not include instruments, so this should not count? |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Dave the Gnome Date: 17 Apr 07 - 07:50 AM Our rag-bone man's cry sounded more like Bo-own. Long since gone now but going round out local market you still get the barkers trying to sell stuff. Even in Manchester you get the street vendors shouting out their wares or the newspaper sellers chanting "Eve-ening new-es". Glad some traditions survive:-) We were talking about the rag-bone man only the other day. Everyone is into recycling so much - surely someone could start up this service again? We also had a 'pig bin'. A metal bin into which all old veg and peelings would go. The local pig farmer would collect them every week and use them as part of the pig feed. In return you got a joint of pork around Christmas. Cheers Dave. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,Martin Ryan Date: 17 Apr 07 - 07:55 AM I remember (early 50's?) a cry of "Rags, bottles or ???. Any rags, bottles or ???". Damned if I remember what the third one was. Th other cry, of course, was "Cooooooo-aaal blocks!, Cooooooo-aaal blocks!" Regards |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 17 Apr 07 - 08:04 AM No, I don't live in Malvern but far away in Leicestershire. Perhaps this is a sign that street cries are coming back? It did make me wonder where this man got his cry originally. He didn't look much like a keen student of social history to me (Though you never know!) so perhaps it came to him from his background. A lot of the scrap iron trade seems to run in families. If so it may have been an unbroken line from the past...true and living folk in fact. Round here you rarely even hear cries on markets any more, and certainly not in town streets. I think I'm going to research this more fully. Yes Mick, it cheered me too. If we can revive some of these things perhaps it will bring cheer to other people? Or maybe they'll just complain about the noise! Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: EBarnacle Date: 17 Apr 07 - 08:11 AM Dover Press had a slim volume, New York Street Cries in Rhyme. It may still be available. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST, Topsie Date: 17 Apr 07 - 08:17 AM Didn't the rag'n'bone men used to pay a few pence for the rags, bones, scrap metal etc.? Nowadays I just get people wanting to charge me £60 for taking stuff away (which they CLAIM is much cheaper than the council - they say they cleared some rubbish for someone down the road who said it was really cheap) but I suspect that rather than recycling it they would just dump it in a layby. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Waddon Pete Date: 17 Apr 07 - 08:23 AM Hello, This got me thinking...although whether these are strictly street cries, I'm not sure... When there were such things as bus conductors many of them used to cry out the route as you went along....road was usually pronounced to rhyme with herd...there were often social commentaries as well! Then there was the station porter who always announced that this train was for London Bridge, Waterloo and Charrion Cross (instead of Charing Cross)... Happily we still have market cries in Suffolk! Best wishes, Peter |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: George Papavgeris Date: 17 Apr 07 - 08:27 AM "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme..." seems a good cry for a start. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Den Date: 17 Apr 07 - 08:30 AM I always loved to hear the paper sellers in Belfast in the early evening, "sixth Tele, Telio, sixth Tele. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: sian, west wales Date: 17 Apr 07 - 08:30 AM Stephen Rees of Crasdant can sometimes be persuaded to include in their concerts a paper-boy call ... which is melodic enough to be considered a full-blown song. Great stuff. And there are quite few Welsh songs which are cattle herding, ploughing or dairy calls. The paper vendors in most big cities have their own 'branded' cries, don't they? Swansea has its EEEEEEVnin post, EEEEEEVnin post. Cardiff is 'e-CO, EEEEEVnin eCO' sian |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Moses Date: 17 Apr 07 - 08:36 AM My Dad used to take me into town sometimes (it happened to be Wembley which has changed dramatically in the last 40 years, but that's another story) on the back of his bicycle. This would be the early to mid 50's. No kiddy-seats in those days, just a flat carrier on which I clung for dear life with no resting place for my feet which had to be stuck out so as not to get toes caught in the spokes. The cry which I remember most from those trips was the newspaper-vendor "Star, News, 'n' Standard" with the pitch being lowered at the last syllable. He happened to be sited next to the fish-monger although I don't remember much about the fish-mongers calls (although I have a very vague memory of winkles being sold by the pint "laarvly winkles - a tanner a pint" or some such call. The call that remains most vivid, however, is that of my Dad shouting "C'mon, C'mon" and vigorously shaking the corn-tin to encourage his chickens which had escaped into Barham Park (across the Harrow Road) to come home for their tea! There would be carnage if it were tried today! Christine |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Dave the Gnome Date: 17 Apr 07 - 08:37 AM The rag-bone man I knew didn't pay money - You either got a bit of something for the kids (usualy a baloon or some such) or a donkey stone for the step. Now, there starts a whole new topic! D. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Bee Date: 17 Apr 07 - 08:43 AM Street cries are pretty uncommon in Nova Scotia, but I remember a newspaper seller who used to sell on Spring Garden Road in Halifax in the 60s/70s. He wore a blue wool greatcoat in all weathers, and was, I think, a little mentally fragile. His chant was a simple but melodic, endlessly repeated "Mail STAR, lady, Mail STAR, sir!", which I only once heard him vary: on the occasion of a young man making fun of him in passing by, the seller did not break his chant at all, but changed two words, calling "Mail STAR, Lady, F... YOU, sir!" Several people, self included, immediately bought papers from him. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Grimmy Date: 17 Apr 07 - 08:50 AM By 'eck, little old ladies donkey stoning on a Saturday morning as if their very lives depended on it! The last donkey stone factory |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 17 Apr 07 - 08:58 AM Our rag and bone man used to give a sweet away, though if you took a big bag of stuff you got a goldfish! There was,in my early childhood (late 50s) a knife grinder who came round. He used to call too, but I can't for the life of me think what he called. I think bus conductors cries definitely qualify as street cries. None of the cities I've been to in recent times even have paper sellers cries. Mind you I rarely go to cities...avoid them like the plague. What a sterile world we live in these days. The only thing you hear apart from traffic is the 'bible bashers' but I s'pose that could be counted as a kind of street cry too. As a stockman (and I use the term generically)I have a call to get the cows up from the field. Most dairyfarmers and cowmen have their own way of calling the cows. That will be another one which will be dead before very long since there will soon be no cows to call... Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 17 Apr 07 - 09:01 AM Fascinating stuff about the donkey stones! It's something I've never heard of, though, of course, I knew that housewives used to take pride in their doorsteps and scrub them. Perhaps donkey stones are purely regional? I lived in Middlesex and Kent as a kid and never came across the name. Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Bee Date: 17 Apr 07 - 09:04 AM Oh, now, Lynne. Sometimes cows come back to fields long gone to little spruce. My grandparents (long passed away) farm fields have cows again, for the past four years after forty years of cowlessness. The newcomers are pretty little Highland cattle, and it's just beautiful to see those fields look like proper pasture again. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Grimmy Date: 17 Apr 07 - 09:05 AM It did seem to be a particularly northern acivity (though I'm prepared to be proved wrong), most prevalent down the rows of mill terraces. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,meself Date: 17 Apr 07 - 09:18 AM Bee - Thanks for that story about the newspaper vendor - can't recall the man myself, but I LOLed ... The only street cry that I recall would come with no warning from the living-room, kitchen or elsewhere in the house - "Fish! Fresh fish!" - as my father poked about his business ... no, not selling fish; it was just something that had made a great impression on him in his childhood in Sydney, NS ... |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 17 Apr 07 - 09:19 AM Oh Bee, I'm really glad to hear that. Where are you? Round here dairy farmers are giving up at a rate of one a day. In 1981 I became an artificial inseminator travelling round the farms. Last I heard there were only about 15% left of the dairy farms that were around then. Used to see fields of cows all over the place when you drove around the countryside. Now it's almost a rare sight. Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Snuffy Date: 17 Apr 07 - 09:44 AM What had the poor donkeys done to deserve stoning? Had they been "taken in adultery"? |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: rich-joy Date: 17 Apr 07 - 09:51 AM Hi Lynne! I recall that cry from the young lads selling "The Daily News" on city street corners in Perth, West Aussie in the 50s and 60s : "Pay-eee-o-ope, Pay-yope!!" was it??!! ... I used to be amazed at the powerful sound emanating from these small chaps!! The local Bottle-O (Marine Collector) had a call too, but that now escapes me (though I still remember his fierce guard dog .......) :~) Cheers! R-J |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,Raggybones Date: 17 Apr 07 - 09:52 AM Street Cries |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: rich-joy Date: 17 Apr 07 - 09:54 AM Aaaahhhh ... that sweet smell of Boronia too - sure do miss that, Lynne!!! R-J |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Wyrd Sister Date: 17 Apr 07 - 10:11 AM We never donkey stoned on a Saturday! It was Monday, after the washtub had ben emptied down the back steps to do two jobs at once. (urban Yorkshire, 1950s) Our rag-and-bone man used to shout 'AAAAny old rags, anyold bo-ones!'Attempt there to reproduce rhythm! And the paper cries always remind me of the Morecombe and Wise 'Morny Stannit' sketch. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Susan of DT Date: 17 Apr 07 - 10:26 AM "Ma'am, I cash clothes" from Brooklyn NY in the 1950s. also a sissors sharpener, whose call I don't remember. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,KingBrilliant Date: 17 Apr 07 - 11:33 AM I've always got fond memories of the local Evening Post seller who sat with his kiosk on Broad Street shouting "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Po". |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,meself Date: 17 Apr 07 - 11:36 AM Used to be a scissors-grinder who would pass through the neighbourhood ringing a handbell - couldn't get a word out of him, though! |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Bee Date: 17 Apr 07 - 12:21 PM Lynne, the farm in question is in Cape Breton. Farmers here have problems making a go as well, but there are still quite a few dairy farms in Nova Scotia. I grew up around farms, first six years on a large dairy farm and have happy memories. My Grandfather was keeper of the Dept. of Agriculture bull in the thirties and forties, and my uncle was the district artificial inseminator by the fifties. I saw that job being done once when I was around five, and was quite horrified until it was explained to me! |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: The Sandman Date: 17 Apr 07 - 01:16 PM Iheard a busker the other day crying,I think from despair,he had a concertina in each hand and was crying dis pair.does this count. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 17 Apr 07 - 01:19 PM Den, I remember the 'Teleo!" call of the Belfast Telegraph sellers, but to me it sounded more like 'Telly up!'. There was a young lad on the Falls who sold the Irish News with a cry of 'Shnyooze!' And the coal-brick man who shouted 'coal... BREEK! coal...BREEK!' And the fishmonger who came round on Friday with a handcart shouting, 'Her'ns! Fresh Ar'glass her'ns!' Oh my God, A'm away wi' the fairies, so Ah am! Hope Alison chimes in with a few of her own. Seamus |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Surreysinger Date: 17 Apr 07 - 01:44 PM Gosh this brings back memories - on the housing estate I lived on in Guildford in the 50's we had visits from the rag and bone man on a horse and cart - never did understand a word of what he was shouting, but I would guess that the closest was the already quoted "Ram-bo"; also the knife grinder regularly came around - can't remember any cries from him; not quite the same thing, but the milkman delivered on a horsedrawn cart. Haven't heard or seen a rag and bone van in many many years though! As to previous cries, one of the most well known, of course, is "won't you buy my pretty lavender"... |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Bill D Date: 17 Apr 07 - 02:24 PM In Oklahoma in the early '40s, there was a tamale street vendor who called out something...but all I remember was the tamales. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Liz the Squeak Date: 17 Apr 07 - 03:04 PM There's a bloke in the market in East Ham who shouts something like 'Parnabuggernarn' which translated as 'a pound for a bag of bananas' LTS |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: cobra Date: 17 Apr 07 - 04:01 PM Lynne, I have had the same white van scrap man down my street! From another, much earlier time, I also recall the man who used to come round the Belfast streets looking for peelings etc. Arrr-A-Fews is how I recall it. Oh, and bus conductors..... Seamus, what was that guy on the Falls Road trolleybus called? The skelly-eyed one everyone tried to cheat in the mornings. His particular shout is not for a family board like this if'n you know\what I mean. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Goose Gander Date: 17 Apr 07 - 04:23 PM In and around my neighborhood you can hear "tamaaaleees! tamaaaleees!" |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: lady penelope Date: 17 Apr 07 - 05:08 PM Up Walthamstow market you can spend the morning listening to the strange cry " PAAAAAAAndahbol, PAAAAAANdahbol " Eventually you'll figure out it has nothing to do with black and white bears, but is in fact the information that each bowl (full of fruit or veg) costs a pound..... And there's nothing to proclaim that it's Saturday morning than hearing the words " SamoSAAAAAS " yelled at the top of the kebab van man's voice.... |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Herga Kitty Date: 17 Apr 07 - 05:16 PM Reminds me of Davey Graham singing Rags and Old Iron on Folk, Blues and Beyond! Kitty |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Geordie-Peorgie Date: 17 Apr 07 - 05:49 PM By heck! This teks uz back! Wor rag-man used ter come roond blowin' a bugle and yellin' "Rags a-willin'" - Aah never knew what the 'a-willin' but meant - he used te give the bairns a balloon or a penny Another one aah remember wez the fish-wife with her massive hand cart full of aall sorts of fish and ice and old newspapers to wrap the fish in when it wez bought. He traditional cry wez "Caller Herring" but in the local dialect it wez BELLOWED and came oot as "CALLA HAAARRRRN - Fresh fish and willicks" - Willicks were winkles that ye had te get the 'fishy bit' oot with a pin - looked and tasted like snot! Aa've nivvor liked shell-fish since. Me favourite street cry though? When me Mam yelled, "Geordie, hinny! Yer tea's ready, pet" |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 18 Apr 07 - 03:11 AM Just as a by-the-way here....why on earth did rag and bone men collect old bones?? Did they ever get any? Lots of people I knew took old clothes out to them but not bones. Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,Shimrod Date: 18 Apr 07 - 03:27 AM When I was in my teens, in the early 60s, I used to go and stay with friends of my parents who lived near Rochester in Kent. Me and the parents' friends' kids used to wander the streets of Rochester and enjoyed listening to (and occasionally mimicking) a local paper seller who used to shout "EEEEDOO BAA DAAAAA!". Never did work out what it meant! |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Mo the caller Date: 18 Apr 07 - 03:51 AM Moses, is Barham park the one opposite Sudbury Baptist Church? I never saw any hens there. I started life in Acton (London W3)and moved to the Sudbury Hill / S. Harrow area, and remember a similar paper seller cry "Star News'r STANDaaard" Yes the rag and bone man ("Rag iron or BONE") gave away ballooon or goldfish, as well as the fertilizer my Grandad used to collect for the allotment after the horse had passed. And I also wonder what he did with bones, could this be a survival from earlier times? I vaguely remember that London bricks were made from rubbish, and had bone in them. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: HuwG Date: 18 Apr 07 - 03:55 AM Damn ! WyrdSister beat me to the draw with the immortal "Morny Stannit" sketch. For USAians it went roughly as follows: Eric Morecambe: [as newspaper seller] Morny Stannit ! Morny Stannit ! Ernie Wise: [in pinstripe suit and bowler hat, shaking head] Morning Standard Eric Morecambe: Morning Stannit ! Ernie Wise: Morning *Standard* Eric Morecambe: Morny *Standard* ! Ernie Wise: [emphasises] *Morning* *Standard* Eric Morecambe: Mor-ning Stan-dard ! Ernie smiles, buys paper, looks at front page to see it actually reads "Morny Stannit". My childhood memory is of a bitten-off "Erp!", which actually meant "Scrap!", and "'resh 'krel!" ("Fresh Mackerel!") |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 18 Apr 07 - 04:01 AM Well bone is used in making china (Hence bone china) so perhaps they could sell them to potteries for a few pence? Or maybe they were ground down and used as fertiliser? The south east must have been (and sounds as though it still is) the heart of street cries. I lived in Wealdstone, not far from Harrow when my remembered rag and bone man was about. I guess London and surrounding areas have the wonderful heritage of barrow boys and costermongers which has managed to survive a little bit Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,mick Date: 18 Apr 07 - 06:21 AM The "ram-bo "sound people remember was a squashed-up version of Rag or Lumber according to a man I knew a long time ago whose family were once in the trade. Lumber as in something lying around the house that you are lumbered with and want to get rid of. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,Bruce Michael Baillie Date: 18 Apr 07 - 07:24 AM Street cries still exist here in Bradford, there's the guy selling magazines shouting "Biggish shoe", the beggars "Ave yer got twennypee" the various young thugs and their "Oy yer F****** B******!" and then later on at night the screams and cries of passers by being mugged/beaten/stabbed/shot. Don't believe me? I work for the local newspaper and some of the stories would make yer hair curl! |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST, Topsie Date: 18 Apr 07 - 08:06 AM Do wolf whistles count? That's something else I haven't heard lately - nor people whistling tunes while they work, come to that. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 18 Apr 07 - 08:41 AM No, I haven't heard any wolf whistles lately either but I figured that was more to do with my age.... So, Bruce, nothing changes really. The beggars have always been there. So have the muggers though they were once called highwaymen and cutpurses. I guess it's just the cries that change along with the language of the times Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: frogprince Date: 18 Apr 07 - 09:25 AM The most common "street cry" in Chicago for many years has probably been "pssst; wanta date?", commonly followed by "Ten dollars for fifty-fifty" : ) |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: frogprince Date: 18 Apr 07 - 09:43 AM Actually, I think that was usually "ten dollars for half and half"; it's been 25 years since I moved out of Chicago. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,meself Date: 18 Apr 07 - 09:44 AM I don't know - nor do I particularly want to know - what "fifty-fifty" is - but ten dollars does seem a more than reasonable price ... |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 18 Apr 07 - 10:34 AM Well I want to know! Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Alice Date: 18 Apr 07 - 10:45 AM When I lived in El Salvador, on the litoral, a coastal rural road, a man would walk down the road selling baked white bread rolls from a large basket. I would wait for his call "El Pan! El Pan!". |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Bert Date: 18 Apr 07 - 11:43 AM When we went to school by bus, a half hour or more journey, the conductor used to shout out the names of the stops. Most of them were by pubs and he used to give them nicknames. The Fox and Pelican became the Dog and Duck. The Black Fox became the Flat Box etc.. We used to give bones to the Rag and Bone man in exchange for Goldfish back in the early Fifties. As well as the uses mentioned above they are also boiled down to make glue and gelatine. When I was an apprentice Boilermaker I once built a digester tank for boiling bones. It had two perforated baffles made from 3/8" plate and I spent days drilling the holes in them. The guys thought it great fun to tell me "That's a boring job!". My Dad used to sing.. Ten a penny walnuts me Mary used to cry ten a penny crack 'em already taste before you buy fresh from Covent Garden won't you come and try won't you buy my ten a penny walnuts. Which I guess is a Music Hall of a street cry. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: frogprince Date: 18 Apr 07 - 01:27 PM MBSLynne, are you sure you want to know? I think it meant...ummm...a transaction begun upstairs, and completed downstairs... One evening in Chicago, I received such an offer from what may well have been the least attractive woman I've ever seen. Her hair hung in a visibly filthy tangle. The colors of those teeth she still had covered a remarkable share of the visible spectrum. I literally think that most people, if they saw a photo of her with her eyes closed, would have assumed that she had been dead for some time. Apparently my reaction to her proposition was visible, as she then said, "Whatsamatter, you don't like white women?" |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Cool Beans Date: 18 Apr 07 - 01:42 PM I remember the "I cash clothes" guys from Brooklyn in the 1950s. The one who came down my street with a big pile of clothes on his back would say, "Buy CLO-wuz! Buy CLO-wuz" (meaning "I buy clothes".) In Providence, Rhode Island, in the 1950s there was a fruit vendor who cried (forgive my Italian): "Water-meloni, cheap-a-cheap! Mangia! Beve! Lava la faccia!" (Watermelons, cheap, cheap! Eat! Drink! Wash your face!) |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Moses Date: 18 Apr 07 - 03:59 PM Mo the Caller - it was, indeed, the same Barham Park - at the time before the old mansion was pulled down (circa 1954?). They were Bantams, Rhode Island Reds and Black Leg Horns as far as I remember and they hid in the bushes near the Lodge which has also long since been pulled down. Needless to say they were not encouraged to escape and when they did they didn't stray much further than the area opposite Lynthorpe Avenue so I'm not surprised you never saw them. Christine |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Joybell Date: 18 Apr 07 - 08:04 PM Such wonderful memories. In Melbourne Australia at the big Victoria Market you can still hear a few cries. As a child growing up in Melbourne, in the 50s, I heard a few cries. "eynn-ya-erald" - (buy your Herald) was the cry of the little boys selling newspapers on the corners. Men named for their cries were: "The Bottle-O" "The Ice-ee" "The Rubbish-O" Cheers, Joy |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: frogprince Date: 18 Apr 07 - 08:32 PM "Eat! Drink! Wash your face!" Love that, 'Beans; it reminds me of a farm kid, in old worn overalls, no shirt or shoes, sitting on the porch with his face in a big cold slice of watermelon. (Guess what farm kid). : ) |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 18 Apr 07 - 09:29 PM Phillipines - to this day.
About 5:00 a.m. the venders with the long, bamboo pole slung across their shoulders and neck, will come with the hot buckets - one-on-each-side of the pole crying......
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 18 Apr 07 - 10:13 PM Cobra - the potato peeling guy was contracted to sell his "wares" to pig farmers, and the actual words were "Any oul' refuse?" "Arrr-A-Fews" is how it came out. The bus conductor was called 'Google-eye.' Good memory. Seamus |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST Date: 18 Apr 07 - 10:22 PM Mr. Keneddy -
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 19 Apr 07 - 12:10 AM Wha'? Seamus |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 19 Apr 07 - 03:06 AM Oh yes...I remember the bottle-o in Perth! I think they were already stopping their cry by the time I remember which was the early 60s. Mostly they didn't need to because the kids would go round collecting all the old bottles and taking them to the bottle-o for the penny or two deposit. I know our local bottle-o always wore little black footie shorts with his beer gut hanging over, a white singlet and thongs. (Translated for the poms.. black football shorts, a vest and flip-flops) Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST Date: 19 Apr 07 - 06:21 AM I think it was Benny Hill, but it was a brilliant sketch of a newspaper seller shouting "EvnnnStannit" as they do. A posh city gent came up and tried to correct the pronunciation without success. When the gent bought a paper, of course the newspaper heading said EvnnnStannit. And of course, in South Yorkshire, schoolkids delight to the man on the corner who spends all afternoon shouting "Green'Un". Snot funny and it'snot clever!. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Leadfingers Date: 19 Apr 07 - 07:02 AM Probably NOT actually a street cry but - The Akela of our church attached Cub Pack also sold the Church newpapers after mass on a Sunday - Universe and Catholic Herald - My brother was 'voounteered to help one sunday , and got a lot of smiles by shouting "City Final Argus!" |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,North East England Date: 19 Apr 07 - 08:02 AM Still get the Rag 'n' Bone man every fortnight in a white transit van with the caller walking 50yds in front shouting ' RaaagBo'. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Geordie-Peorgie Date: 19 Apr 07 - 01:46 PM The local newspaper up on Tyneside wez The Evening Chronicle (another wez The Waallsend News) Aah remember the newspaper lads standin' in the street caallin' EEEEEEEVNIN' KRONNIE KALE Aah wez helpin' a mate flog papers one Saturday when some bloke says, "If ye get yer hair cut, Aah'll buy a paper" Me mate sez, "If ye get yer throat cut aah'll gi'e ye one for nowt" EEh! We laughed aall the way te the infirmary. Eeh! Anybody knaah if the RVI (Royal Victoria Infirmary) still has a 'Newcastle Broon Dryin'-Oot Ward' |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST, Pisces Date: 19 Apr 07 - 02:57 PM When I was a lad aged about 8, I used to help my Mum sell wet fish in a London street market. She sold the haddock, I was in charge of the kippers. " KIPPERS - SHILLING A PAIR: " was my cry. I didn't understand why everyone found it amusing at the time. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,ChicagoBoy Date: 19 Apr 07 - 03:17 PM We lived at my grandma's house on the far south side of Chicago, c. 1949. There were still many vendors going up and down the alley with horse/donkey carts crying their wares. The one i remember in particular was "Rags-a'lyin'" (rags and old iron). |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Grimmy Date: 20 Apr 07 - 11:47 AM Coincidence or what? Ebay (UK) items |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: pirandello Date: 20 Apr 07 - 12:06 PM Can someone explain why a 'street cry' is being treated here as some kind of precious folk tradition? Where I grew up in London it was just a way of advertising your presence; it's not as if it was some finely honed skill! We had trams. Once. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Snuffy Date: 20 Apr 07 - 01:05 PM Only once? |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 20 Apr 07 - 01:13 PM A bit like traditional folk music and song then really pirandello? I notice you speak about it in the past tense? Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Waddon Pete Date: 20 Apr 07 - 01:16 PM Hello, ...I thought we were having a wander down memory lane...and some places still have trams! Actually, I guess you would have to be a confident sort of person to do it skillfully...and yes...it is advertising, but I would call it a custom rather than a tradition! You've probably heard the one about the paper seller standing on the corner and calling, "20 caught by Newspaper swindle!" A chap comes up and buys a paper. As he walks away he hears the seller calling, "21 caught by Newspaper swindle!" Best wishes, Peter |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: pirandello Date: 20 Apr 07 - 02:07 PM It's ok, I was just having a senior moment. I'm alright now; have I been to the toilet yet? |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,City Boy Date: 20 Apr 07 - 02:14 PM "Eeeeeeev-(ah)-Ninnnn Tiiiiiiiimes!" "Foh-pance-a-pahnd-pehhs!" |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,SINS at work Date: 20 Apr 07 - 03:15 PM We dn't even have callers at the ball parks anymore. How i wish the old man with the bcycle cart would go by ringing his bell. My knives and scissors need sharpening desperately. Of course, I am once again ready to shoot the ice cream man who plays Turkey in The Straw up and and down and up the streets ad nauseam. SINS |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Dave Higham Date: 20 Apr 07 - 03:38 PM The decrepit old bloke who sold newspapers on Wilson-Peck's corner in Sheffield (anyone know where that was?) used to just shout FEEENOOW! I think it was 'Final', short for 'Late Night Final'. The rag-and-bone man who came down our street shouted DOOOORK-ISS-TOW! He meant Donkey Stone. Bet you don't know what that was. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 20 Apr 07 - 04:40 PM If you read the earlier messages on the thread Dave, you will see that we all now know what donkey stone is even though we might not have done so before! My Mum tells me that the guy who came round with the ice-cream in her village when she was a kid between the wars made his own ice-cream and trundled it round in a hand cart, stopping every so often to ring a large hand-bell. Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,petr Date: 20 Apr 07 - 05:10 PM I noticed in Japan, there were folks with a pushcart that sell baked mountain yams,, they say something like ishi yaki imo (baked yams) oishii desho! (its delicious) also there is supposedly a tradition of toilet paper salesmen going around selling their wares.. (althoug I admit I didnt see one) the excellent film 'Lies My Father told me' - (about growing up in Montreal in the early part of the century) featured a grandfather who was a rag & bones man.. who sang Rags, bones . bottles (the first two were an octave and then a fifth?) |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Dave Higham Date: 20 Apr 07 - 05:26 PM Sorry Lynne, I have to admit I hadn't waded through all the messages. There y'are Dave. That's wot yer ger get fer bein' clever! |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Joybell Date: 20 Apr 07 - 07:51 PM Then of course there used to be the oggie man. (Cornish pastie seller.) His cry was, "Oggie, oggie, oggie, oi, oi, oi!" Nowadays he's been frogotten as the originator of the Aussie chant. Cheers, Joy |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Soldier boy Date: 20 Apr 07 - 10:42 PM I have enjoyed reading through your thread MBS Lynne. This has awakened some old memories. I can remember the rag and bone man as well, with his horse and cart, crying "Any old iron?" My mother used to refer to him as 'the gypsy' but never meant it in an unkind or hurtful way. I remember helping my dad to carry out a fire grate, washing tub and the old wringers that used to squeeze the water out of freshly washed clothes after using the blue dolly bag,one day. We also used to have a mobile grocer in a battered old green van who used to call out "Lovely fresh greens - best of the day." And an ice cream man(before the annoying musical jingles)who would call "Ice cream,ice cream,Mr Softy ice cream" All of this was in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire,England. My grandfather once told me about 'The Pop Man' who used to sell pop from a cart in the street and only called out "Pop Man,Pop Man" He sold delightful brews such as Dandelion and Burdoch and Cream Soda and Ginger Beer and was the founder of the 'Ben Shaws' soft drinks firm from Huddersfield and always attracted large crowds of children. Going back even further, my grandfather told me that his father had told him about 'The Lant man'. 'Lant' is an old term for urine/piss and was once collected in the streets by the Lant Man. Not sure when but probably circa 1800 - 1860. Urine was collected because of it's ammonia content and was used to cleanse the natural properties of Wool and I think Cotton, so it was a trade carried out in Yorkshire and (I think) Lancashire and was an essential part of the textile trade to manufacture high quality cloth. I believe that in Yorkshire,and especially around Huddersfield,it was used in the manufacture of very high quality 'Worsted' cloth for which Huddersfield is famous. Please correct me if you know better. Apparently, housewives would get the household to fill the buckets/pails and leave them out in the street for the Lant Man to collect in the morning. They maybe got one old penny or tuppence (two pennies) a pail but it all added to the household income. Also apparently, pails should be full to the brim or else no payment would be made. This meant that sometimes housewives would cheat and top up the pail from water in the sink. But the Lant man would always know if they had cheated because he would dip his finger in the brew and taste it to make sure if was pure piss. If not he would reject it and declare that it was 'watered down'. A very interesting occupation but who would wish to kiss the Lant man after that?? I do not know what he would call out on the streets, but it might have been "Bring out your piss,bring out your piss,the lant Man is calling, bring out your piss!" Obviously you will not find the Lant Man on the streets today but what a great story! My grandfathers story inspired me so much that I actually wrote a song about 'The Lant Man'. I am not a natural song writer but I gave it a go. If you insist I might (modestly) show you the lyrics on this thread. And whilst I have a tune in my head,I am open to other,and hopefully improved, versions. So possibly over to you! What do you think? |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST, Topsie Date: 21 Apr 07 - 03:50 AM I have heard two versions about what the urine was used for. One, that it was used in the wool industry, and the other, that it was used to make gunpowder. Maybe both are true. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 21 Apr 07 - 06:32 AM The one about the wool industry is definitely true. In medieval times it was also used as a household cleaner for the big annual house clean, and I have a feeling I've heard that it was used in the leather industry too. Interesting...I drove past a lane called "The Lant" the other day, and it recalled several other such named roads, usually in towns. At the time I wondered what it meant. Now I wonder even more! I would love to hear your lant-man song soldier boy. Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Soldier boy Date: 21 Apr 07 - 01:24 PM OK Lynne if you insist. Here goes: The song is called: 'NEVER KISS THE LANT MAN' and was put together with the help of a good friend of mine; Bev Clarke. NEVER KISS THE LANT MAN As the dawn cock crows the Lant Man is calling, Collecting the buckets filled up overnight. His hobnailed boots trudge the streets in the morning, "Pure piss" he calls, "Pure piss - no shite!" CHORUS : The Lant Man is calling for buckets appalling, The Lant Man is calling for buckets of piss. The Lant Man has tasted to check it's not wasted, The Lant Man,dear Maiden,isn't one you should kiss. For the Lant Mans'collecting the urine thats melting The rivets of steel on the pails in each street. Ammonias' fermenting the brew that's digesting To treat the cloth to make worsteds so neat. CHORUS : For tuppence a pail the housewives are listening To hear Lant Man call as the morning awake. For tuppence a pail, the pail must be brimming, With piss to the rim - to the rim it must make. CHORUS : Some housewives cheating, find piss levels wasting So top up the bucket from the tap in the sink. But the Lant Mans' finger goes dipping and tasting, "Nay Missis - It's watered - It's thin to the brink!" CHORUS : Chris |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Geordie-Peorgie Date: 22 Apr 07 - 06:31 AM Hells bells, Soldier Boy! That is AWESOME!! Aah wad really love te hear ye dee that some day. In the meantime (with your permission) aah've saved the words till aah hear the tune AWESOME!! |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 22 Apr 07 - 08:15 AM Yeah, me too. Brilliant song. I want the tune! Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Mo the caller Date: 22 Apr 07 - 08:31 AM My husband remembers a Rag-man who used to go round Beverley with his wheelbarrow in spring (after spending winter in a warmer place) shouting "Out again and round again". There must be a song in that too. Moses do I remember right, did Barham park have a mulberry tree? |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Fidjit Date: 22 Apr 07 - 09:02 AM Seem to remember that my sister married a Rag and Bone man. He doubled as a meter reader for the Electricity company in Edmonton, London last years of WW2. Also remember getting the goldfish for the rags we gave them. There was a guy on a bike that sharpened scissors. Put the bike up on the stand so's the back wheel was free and then connected a strap of some kind up to the stone on the handlbars. Our coal man used to cry out something. Can't remember what it was though. I had the job of counting the sacks he tipped into the celler hole. So's we'd know how much to pay. Grey cells still working. Chas |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 22 Apr 07 - 11:00 AM Yes, our knife grinder had a bike too, which worked the grinder. Goodness, it was a different world wasn't it? Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Mo the caller Date: 22 Apr 07 - 11:04 AM A dofferent world indeed, though we didn't go out with jugs for the milk as my mother remembered doing. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 23 Apr 07 - 02:45 AM Yes, my Mother talks about that too. Straight from the cows into the churn and round the village into the jugs. Health and safety today would have a fit but the milk was far fresher than we buy it nowadays. I must ask my parents what they remember of street cries.... Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Waddon Pete Date: 23 Apr 07 - 04:50 AM Hello, When I was a slip of a boy my Nan could sometimes be cajoled into talking about her childhood. She used to say to me, "When I was first married there were cows at the bottom of the street where I lived." Yeah right, Nan. You lived in the heart of Camberwell! And there the remark lay for many years. Me in my, "Yeah right!" mode of thought and Nan, somewhere in my minds eye with an infuriating twinkle in hers. But further information, gathered slowly, sorted that one out and vindicated dear old Nan! Put together very simply it seems obvious, but, as you will know from your own researches, each piece of information is hard won! My Nan and Granddad are married. Their best man is the foreman of a local dairy . Granddad was a milk roundsman. The dairy was at the bottom of the street where they lived when they were first married and the dairy had…yes…you've guessed it…cows! Best wishes, Peter |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Fidjit Date: 23 Apr 07 - 08:24 AM My first pocket money was earnt helping the Milky at weekends delivering the, "Cow Eggs" as we called them. Chas |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Soldier boy Date: 23 Apr 07 - 09:58 PM Many thanks for your kind words Geordie-Peorgie and Lynne re: the 'Never Kiss The Lant Man' song. I really appreciate your comments and support. The trouble with providing the 'tune' is that I can't read music and don't know a music note from a pound note! So I feel a bit embarassed when I can't finish off what I started. Sorry. A bit like sex really! I can write a song and I always get a tune in my head but I am unable to express it on a thread like this which is very frustrating. All I can suggest is that you PM me and leave your phone number so I can whistle,hum,sing the tune I have in my head for you. But beware, I really can't sing either, so it could be a painful experience! What do other people do when they have a song in their heart but don't have the knowledge/training to communicate it to others,despite all the modern technology, and also can't sing well? It's so frustrating and perhaps it's meant for a different thread. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Don(Wyziwyg)T Date: 24 Apr 07 - 05:41 PM "I remember (early 50's?) a cry of "Rags, bottles or ???. Any rags, bottles or ???"." That would be Rags, bottles, and bones. I used to be woken regularly by that one when I was a kid. Of course I had a head start, living less than a mile from Latimer Road, "Steptoe and Son" territory. "Star, News, 'n' Standard" Oh yes, another childhood memory. It sounded like "STAAHNOOOSTANNITT". Ah, happy days Don T. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Geordie-Peorgie Date: 24 Apr 07 - 06:53 PM Soldier Boy! Divvent worry aboot not readin' music - It nivvor harmed Mark Knopfler and dozens of others. Anyway - Aah cannit read music either - Aah thowt when a song wez written in 3 flats it wez coz the writer cudden't pay the rent INHO not being able to read or write music gives you the advantage of NOT being restricted in your thinking of what ye want te say and HOW te say it - Aah had a canny chat with Mick Ryan once and he said that he used te tek the tune of a known song and play the chords into a tape machine, withoot hummin' a tune or labellin' the cassette, and put it in a drawer with loads of other tapes - Then a coupla weeks later he'd tek a tape oot - any tape - and listen to the chord structure withoot knaahin' what song it wez to. Then he'd build a tune & words aroond the chords! - Clever sod! Judgin' by what ye've written there, you're a canny wordsmith and should be proud of it - If ye can be a tunesmith an' aall then your laughing - If not ..... well see what bernie Taupin had te dee? |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,Arnie at work Date: 24 Apr 07 - 07:08 PM I remember the rag & bone man in Halifax in the early '60's. He used to shout 'Ragbone, ragbone'. He was as strong as an ox and used to pull his own cart rather than use a horse! Even in the middle of winter he only wore an open shirt and the icy blasts just did not seem to bother him. What I never understood was why he wanted bones? Certainly I don't recall anyone ever bringing him any bones, just rags. If we had a spare bone, then the dog got it! |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,petr Date: 24 Apr 07 - 08:52 PM regarding going for milk with a jug.. (when I was growing up in Czechoslovakia in the 60s) my grandad used to send me with a jug to get beer from the pub across the street.. I was 6or 7 at the time. And they knew who it was for and put it on his tab too. urine was used in the tanning industry - my dad recalled the public urinal - where the urine was collected (probably for tanning) but also for gunpowder - the best urine was from those who drank a lot. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,Arnie at work Date: 24 Apr 07 - 11:38 PM Petr - urine was also used in the cotton trade in Lancashire - raw wool was soaked in it as part of the preparation. Mill workers used to be provided with a small 'pisspot' and would leave this, presumably when filled, outside their door to be collected - I think they were paid for each pot. Don't envy the bloke who collected it each morning though! |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 27 Apr 07 - 03:41 PM Well Grimmy, thanks to your earlier post I have just bought the booklet of street cries on Ebay. Eagerly awaiting it's arrival Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Grimmy Date: 01 May 07 - 06:26 AM Hey Lynne, that's great! Perhaps you could post some of the 'lyrics' sometime (or are they copyright?!). |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Grimmy Date: 01 May 07 - 06:32 AM I've just notiuced that one of the titles is "A New Love Song Only Ha'penny a piece" - presumably a ballad hawker's cry? |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 01 May 07 - 06:52 AM Just received it this morning. It's in very good condition and has beautiful late 18th century colour plates illustrating each cry. It says the arrangements are copyright so presumably the words are ok to post. Each piece has a little bit about it. The New Love Song one says "In a London without music-halls, with few concerts and operas (which in any case were available only to those who could pay higher prices), the purveyor of love songs was a popular character. Entertainment was, for the most part, provided by the amateur performer, and a constant supply of cheap material was of great importance." The original folkies, obviously. I find this very interesting as my great great grandfather was described as a street musician in the 1861 census of Westminster. However, he was blind so wouldn't have been able to read it if written down. In fact, how many people could? I'll post some words later. Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Grimmy Date: 01 May 07 - 07:05 AM Thanks for that Lynne, that's great. The census enumerators were quite fastidious when it came to classifying trades, so 'street musician' suggests he was more than just a ballad singer, as they were regarded as little more than beggars/pedlars. Any idea if he played an instrument? |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,Tom Bliss Date: 01 May 07 - 08:11 AM When I was a lad in Alderney the milkman delivered 'loose' milk from the back of a battered ford van. Milko! Milko-o! He called, and we ran to the back door with a small white enamel churn. I can still see the milk bubbling and boiling as he slooshed it in from an oversized ladle, and still call up the slightly rancid but not unpleasant sweet smell of milk that was only minutes from the cow - which permanently permeated the cottage (there was no fridge, of course). If we were going out early (mushrooming, fishing or ormering) we left the churn hanging on the door jamb (north side of the house to keep it cool till we got back), on the same nail where we hung the seaweed that we used to predict rain! |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 01 May 07 - 08:44 AM Go on then...someone has to ask. What's ormering? I love that smell of new milk. When I was an inseminator, we had to work Christmas day and I always thought it was a wonderful way to spend a cold, bright Christmas morning in a warm milking parlour or cowshed full of the smell of cows and milk. Grimmy, in his later life my G.G Grandfather was a chapel organist. I wonder what instrument he played as a street musician? I know quite a lot about his life but his origins are cloaked in mystery. Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Grimmy Date: 01 May 07 - 09:08 AM Go on then...someone has to ask. What's an inseminator? Gah! Only kidding! Well, unless he was incredibly multi-talented, then we're looking for some kind of portable keyboard instrument that was around in 1861. My ignorance of such matters is of such profundity that I will leave it to wiser heads to offer suggestions. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Azizi Date: 01 May 07 - 06:10 PM I've enjoyed reading this thread though I can't remember any street cries at all. But I remember learning the song "Chairs to Mend" in school though it wasn't until I was an adult that I realized this was a song based on a number of street cries. The song was sung as a round. The words to the song are: Chairs to mend. Oh, chairs to mend. Mackarel, fresh mackarel Any old rags? Any old rags? -snip- "Go on then...someone has to ask. What's ormering?" "Go on then...someone has to ask. What's an inseminator? Gah! Only kidding!" I thought someone was going to answer these questions. Maybe I'm the only UnitedStater who doesn't know what ormering and inseminator mean, but I don't think so. So, what do these words mean? Thanks. |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: GUEST,Tom Bliss Date: 02 May 07 - 02:10 AM Ormers are the abalone of the Englsih Channel. A rare and now protected delicacy - basically a large limpet, with a shell shaped like an ear. The word Ormer is a corruption of Oreille de Mare - Ear of the Sea. In times gone by it was the staple diet of the Channel Islanders (along with rabbit - which is still called the land mackerel by local fishermen). The ormer's foot is hammered flat then fried, the guts are pounded then mixed with sugar and vinegar before being baked in the oven for three days to produce an irridescent khaki goo which is spread on bread, and the shell is cleaned and used to decorate walls all round the islands. The inside is shimmering mother of pearl. Ormers breed naturally in the wild. The male climbs VERY slowly on top of the female, and has no need for Lynne or her turkey-baster! Tom |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: MBSLynne Date: 02 May 07 - 02:58 AM Lol! Azizi, I used to be an artificial inseminator, travelling around the farms inseminating cows with bull semen to get them in calf. I won't go into the whys, hows and wherefores unless you REALLY want to know. Suffice it to say that I left the job after I got pregnant and you can imagine the jokes that went round! Tom that was an interesting explanation...thank you. Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: Street cries still exist From: Azizi Date: 02 May 07 - 07:16 AM Um...Okay...Ah...Well...then...Oh! Well,somebody had to ask, right? Thanks for those explanations. I get the jokes now. Best wishes to all and to all a good day. Azizi |
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