JennyO, thanks for posting that commercial. I can see the humor {or humour} in it. But I don't think that television stations would be permitted to air such a commercial here, given the puritanical nature of many Americans. I think that a comparable saying for "bugger" in the USA is "Oh sh**!" I mean, I rarely curse, and I can't even bring myself to write down that word, let alone say it in public or private. But I don't cringe when I write down "bugger" because that word reminds me of bugs and not crap.

I'm curious if other UnitedStaters think that a commercial like that Australian one would be accepted in this country.

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Jeri, I can identify with your last statement that "Personally, I just blurt out questions about things in a thread IN the thread, because sometimes, context matters. Then again, if there's a subsequent significant digression, oops."

The reason why I started this thread was that sometimes I have questions about things that are mentioned in a thread, or the general topic of a thread, but I don't want to blurt out the question because it would interrupt the flow of the discussion.

I also thought {and still think} that a thread for "infrequently asked questions" is a good idea since I figured other people might also have questions and those questions and their responses would be compiled together in one easily accessible thread. Of course, I didn't consider that I {and others I might add} would go off-topic in this thread, too. Though it beats me why I didn't think about that since going off topic is nothing new to me :o}

Anyway, I've found the discussion interesting thus far, and look forward to more interesting, quirky, insightful, and not terribly serious discussion to come.

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On that note, since I've come across this word on Mudcat, I've been wanting to ask this question- I've read some posts about "busking" and I found threads like this one: thread.cfm?threadid=51852#1229059 Any tips for a newbie street busker??

I believe that "busking" means playing an instrument, singing, dancing [?] or otherwise performing in public for money from people who happen to be passing by. Is that right? And I've seen some street entertainers in various American cities I've been to, though they are rare in my adopted city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I have the sense that busking may be illegal or at least discouraged in this city, and other cities. Is this not the case in the UK?

Also, I'm curious to know where the word "busking" and the phrase "street busker" comes from. And is this term used in other places besides the UK? And is there a comparable term for busker besides "street entertainer who wants people to give some money to him/her for his/her entertainment" in the USA?

Thanks in advance to anyone {or to "any twos or threes"} for your response/s to these questions.