The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: catspaw49
Date: 14 Nov 08 - 01:23 PM

Nah Stiggy......I think Gervase phrased it well.

Just to be sure though, I flipped through his crappy "poetry" backwards and once again it popped right out......
David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot........



So there ya' go!

Spaw

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Stu
Date: 14 Nov 08 - 10:10 AM

He's a wind-up merchant. I claim my £5.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 14 Nov 08 - 09:29 AM

I can understand Little Hawk's obvious disappointment here - all these years of hoping and praying for sentient, enlightened Extra Terrestrial Life and when one does show up, it's a gormless little shit like Wavy thus proving that there is no intelligent life out there... Australia? Balls to that! He's from Zeta 2 Reticuli - sent to earth to assimilate himself into English Culture, masquerading as an Australian Tourist-cum-Repatriate so as not to make it too obvious. I should have noticed it earlier - Zeta Reticuli is around 39 light years from earth, thus, when Wavy Zetan set off for England 11 years ago, his point of reference was, of course, the 1950s (taking into account the time it takes for radio transmissions to traverse 39 light years of cosmic vacuum, however so corrupted they might become en route). Not only does this account for Wavy's present confusion, ignorance and bewilderment, but also his general air of impotent anachronism manifest by his dress sense and comb-over. It also accounts for his totalitarian inhumanity and his confidence that one day Planet Earth will yield to his iron will...

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Stu
Date: 14 Nov 08 - 08:25 AM

http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/19731

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Stu
Date: 14 Nov 08 - 03:45 AM

Stop being a spoilsport LH. You obviously don't know what you're talking about so just let everyone else get on with their deconstruction of the character of WAV.

There are standards of decency, propriety and commonsense to be upheld, and that means winkling out these racists with our winklers; we'll all be damned of we let this Aussie immigrant tell us what to do in our own country!

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Gervase
Date: 14 Nov 08 - 03:25 AM

It's precisely because David Franks posts his stuff without moronic hostility, dreadful spelling and poor grammar (well, some of the time) that he's a problem. It's easy to deal with the sort of morons who clutter up the YouTube comment section - you just ignore them. But when someone like Franks comes on and starts making assertions they need to be countered, lest the morons out there take him seriously.
I don't think he's bright enough to be doing the whole thing as a wind-up, and I appreciate he might well see all these posts as slights to be endured on the road to martyrdom, but his absurd assertions (backed by the strength of four technical certificates) can't go unanswered.
I would far rather the Mudcat didn't have a racist in its midst, but as it does, and he's a thick-skinned and prolific poster, then he shouldn't go unchallenged.
I concede that it's a bit sad; here we have an unemployed nobody posting largely drivel, and around the world there are people devoting time to pointing out that it is drivel. If the clock were turned back 20 years then he wouldn't have his status as global village idiot, and it would be down to someone in his adopted home town to tell him to feck off and take his pencil away.
But this is the internet, and everyone's voice carries as far as the next person's even David Franks. And because this forum is - by and large - populated by reasonable folk, people like Franks risk gaining spurious credibility by association.
For all those who are tempted to misquote Voltaire on the right to free speech, I'd counter with Churchill (or even Mark Twain or good old Anon); "a lie can get halfway round the world before the truth has a chance to get its boots on."

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 14 Nov 08 - 01:10 AM

Little Hawk, you don't understand me, and some others here, at all. Nor, I believe, do you really understand what's going on here, even though you think you do. So why don't you give your kibbitzing a rest until you figure it all out, okay?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 11:34 PM

Ah...but this is not real life, Don. This is the internet. The only way you'll ever find out what David Franks is like in real life is to meet him in real life and talk to him across the table and take some time about it. Until then we're all just blowing bubbles here as far as I'm concerned.

You want to find something REALLY obnoxious in the digital world to get upset about? Open up just about any video on Youtube about any song or subject whatsoever and read the "comments" section. There you will find a certain number of people who personally attack other people in ways so rude, vicious, and uncalled for...accompanied by such dreadful spelling, moronic hostility, and lack of good grammar...that a page or two of those comments may cause you to despair for the entire future of humanity.

David Franks is not a big problem, Don. He's quite mild in comparison to what the Net is polluted with. He's just a convenient problem for a few denizens of this forum who have decided to pursue him on a daily basis here until he either recants, commits suicide, or goes away.

And if he's doing it all for laughs....then what?

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 08:20 PM

And he is not really a "closet racist." He's right out there in the open, telling us what he really wants the world to be like. Not only that, he wants the United Nations to enforce his view of what the world should be like (a place for everybody and everybody in their place).

But of course, like all racists, he denies being a racist.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 08:00 PM

Hark! The Grand Lama speaks from high atop his mountain above the valley of Shangri-La!

"Virgil bade Dante feel towards those who have been damned because of their colorless neutrality: Non ragionam di lor, ma guarda e passa — 'Let us think no more about them, but look once and pass on.'"

Archie Bunker (played with bravura by Carroll O'Connor—"Connor's own politics were liberal, but he understood the Bunker character and played him not only with bombast and humor,but with touches of vulnerability") was funny because you knew he was fictional.

When you meet a bigot in real life, he is not funny at all!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 06:05 PM

LOL! Good response there, Smokey. I like your attitude.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 05:53 PM

Well strap me to a tree and call me Brenda - I never knew I had fine moral credentials.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 05:48 PM

C'mon...just admit it. You're all secretly delighted that you have found a closet racist to go after. It satisfies a deep inner need you have to know for certain your own righteousness by drawing comparisons to the despised one. A confirmation of your fine moral credentials. The best thing would be if a primetime TV show could be funded, along the lines of "All In The Family", with WAV playing the Archy Bunker role, and then the entire society could tune in weekly to laugh at how awful he is.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Gervase
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 05:41 PM

chromatic polymer English flutes
You have to laugh, I suppose. We all know them as plastic recorders.
How about taking a leaf out of WAV's book and, instead of Walkabouts Verse, substituting the phrase "The Endless Drivel of a Racist Imbecile"?
So, WAV, meet EDRI.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 03:22 PM

I think its kinda like the "Paul is dead" thing.....If you go through his life's work backwards it spells out over and over---

David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot, David Franks is a racist-bigot........


Spaw

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 03:12 PM

Aah - the WA Vinci Code! It's all coming clearer now...

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Stu
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 03:12 PM

Read all 230?

Fuck-ing-hell.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 02:49 PM

I think what you need to do is read all 230 poems carefully, then cross reference them for hidden clues. Eventually you will find the answer.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 02:37 PM

How come he just wrote 230 'poems' and then stopped? That's what I want to know.. It seems very odd to me, given the evident level of self-belief.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 02:21 PM

Will Fly - ever heard of "near rhyme"? And as for your "see" instead of my "sense" - it's common sense...there's also tastes, sounds, etc.

Near rhyme, eh? How near - about 13,000 miles perhaps? You just don't get it, do you, ignorant twat that you are. As for "sense", in the context of what you have written, you're writing about England "playing the host". It's just a stupid juxtaposition, which you can't sense because you have no verse sense. See?

Your "verse" is just non-verse - so much worse than verse. You haven't the faintest idea how to construct even the simplest of poems, whether free verse or conventional. You seem to write the first Good-phrase that comes from your Good-mouth and think it's a Good-poem, and I think you should give it a Good-rest FROM NOW ON.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 02:06 PM

Well, I've heard of "nowhere near rhyme"...

chromatic polymer English flutes, of course, are considerably less expensive than both.

Really? I've never seen an English flute advertised anywhere. Where can I buy this fine folk instrument?

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 01:58 PM

"chromatic polymer English flutes, of course, are considerably less expensive than both."

Recorder bands in schools? There's a groundbreaking idea if ever I heard one.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: s&r
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 01:49 PM

In your dreadful non-poetry non-rhyme non-scan non-sense are all used to telling effect as stylistic artifacts. Within the bewilderment that I as an English speaking non repat find is the query 'Why the word "good", sprinkled like currants therough the bun of your mind?' There are as many goods in your posts with as much value as the local junk shop.

Stu

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 01:31 PM

Will Fly - ever heard of "near rhyme"? And as for your "see" instead of my "sense" - it's common sense...there's also tastes, sounds, etc.

Pip - on my site, for what it's worth, poem 213 has italics (lost in copy/pasting) rather than capitals for emphasis - unlike laidback LH!

Ruth, etc. - it looked quite a sophisticated steel band set and I believe quite a lot of work goes into tuning suchlike but, okay, on average, they may be less expensive than our traditional Northumbrian pipes...chromatic polymer English flutes, of course, are considerably less expensive than both.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 12:19 PM

Y'know, I never thought I'd see it happen, but I believe this thread is rapidly mutating into an alternative version of the Mother of All BS Threads. I see the same forces at work here, only a different cast of characters, that's all. Can the forum really handle two such repositories of digital effluent and complete blathertwaddle?

Well, yeah, I think it can... ;-)

But it's gonna take a long time for this one to catch up.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 11:52 AM

I work in the UK, robbing re-patriates of their Own Good Employment

Yes - and contributing to their Own Good Unemployment Benefit as well...

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 09:40 AM

Social to begin with, but I work in the UK, robbing re-patriates of their Own Good Employment, so I guess I'm part of the blight on English society.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 03:55 AM

Ruth - I much prefer travelling by car ferry to flying. You drive on, leave your car tucked up safely, and then just drive off the other side. Passport control and customs are a doddle. You can walk around, shop, eat and drink what you want and, if it's a little rough, there are plenty of convenient places to throw up in.

It's the only way to travel. Just don't let a ferry journey of several weeks put you off...

By the way, was your emigration economic/social, or was it just eco?

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 03:48 AM

A gas station burrito would be preferable to the shite they fed me on Air Canada last week. AND I had to change planes in Montreal on the way to NY, collecting my bags and going through security and everything all over again (what, security at Heathrow isn't secure enough?) with barely an hour between flights. They were ever so helpful in the airport - no signs to tell you where to go, check-in staff who tell you that you "might" make your connecting flight, and security staff telling you not to get stressed when you're in danger of missing a connection on a journey that's already over 9 hours long.

I guess it serves me right for emigrating.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 01:21 AM

Enrish Frute.
The real inventor of the horseless cheese grater, and a proper gentleman.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 13 Nov 08 - 12:10 AM

Heh heh.. no, I think WavyFunkyWhiteBoyRacistTwat's idea of eco-travel involves making as little impact as possible on the culture and ecology of the places visited. Sort of like the 'prime directive'. Oh dear, I've just wet myself.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 10:23 PM

Ya' know Smoke, I've been wondering the same thing about Eco-travel. At first I thought he meant things like flying "Economy" class or something. That couldn't be it though as Economy has become so bad they never sell it out anymore.

Did you ever fly Economy? Last time I did that I got a seat behind the crappers and it was nothing but a folding chair with a rope for a seat belt. Even worse, the rope wasn't attached to anything but the folding chair itself. I could barely hear the Flight Attendant going over the safety instructions and when I looked up for the trap cover of the oxygen mask, there was just a note written on it in Magic Marker saying, "Hold Your Breath."

The Safety Card in the side pocket wasn't too encouraging either. There was a picture of my "Emergency Exit" which showed a crashed and burning airliner, broken into pieces, and the arrows directing me out where the breaks were. It also said, "After making emergency exit, Stop, Drop, and Roll."

The other side of the card covered crash preparation and was more succinct. It read, "When the Pilot flashes the Fasten Seatbelt Sign a Flight Attendant will shout 'ASSUME CRASH POSITION'--- Please lean forward, grab your ankles, put your head between your legs, and kiss your ass goodbye."

Fortunately nothing happened along those lines but the service wasn't any great shakes. The magazine selection consisted mainly of a couple of dozen copies of Disease Detection which had been donated by a hospital where they had been the single source of reading in the Emergency Room for the past 17 years. I leafed through one but when I realized they were so old that the main feature was on bloodletting I tossed it.

A guy asked what the movie was and he was shown a deck of cards which showed a stick figure running as the attendant riffled through them. Kinda' chintzy to say the least but then the meal came and it was actually tasty. Well at least it wasn't bland. The Economy meal was a gas station bean burrito and a double shot of tequila. About a half hour later though things really got to kickin' in the digestive tract and when I unroped and stepped forward I found the crapper doors all locked. It turns out that flying economy requires you to pay a $5.00 fee for each restroom usage. I ponied up just in time and blew a major load in their head. The woman sitting across the aisle didn't have the money and shit herself pretty badly. Then again, is there a good way to shit yourself?

It was a bad trip. I figure Eco travel of any sort just ain't for me. Or at least I ain't gonna' try any form of it again too soon, although I can see its the kind of thing that WavyFunkyWhiteBoyRacist would actually enjoy.....perhaps even wallow in, so to speak.


Spaw

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 08:01 PM

Sorry mate, you can't come back 'ere unless it's by means of 'eco-travel'. Er, whatever that is.. (cadging a lift from someone else, probably.)

Actually, it should be said that in general the Irish make splendid tea, with a devotion to hospitality to rival any in Derbyshire. And that's saying summat.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: The Sandman
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 07:03 PM

hilarious, WAV,criticises me for leaving England,forsaking poor old blighty.
I left Blighty never to come back
forsook poor Albion and the union jack

deserted albion fair,to the emerald isle I did repair.
one frosty day on the 15 january,I shed a tear.
said good bye to the red white and blue,
Christopher Robin and Winnie the pooh.
A traitor consumed with remorse
my music is tainted of course.
oh woe is me ,the muse has been stolen from me.
I must visit Buxton,and drink some tea.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 05:49 PM

Nice to have you back WaV, hope you managed to find a job yesterday. I see you managed to plant another link to your website and get everyone going again. By the way, you still owe me an apology, but I'll not hold my breath.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 03:38 PM

After a quick google, I have determined that a steel drum costs about £100. A beginners' set of Northumbrian small pipes will start at £500. Not to mention the cost of maintaining the instruments, which is far more complex than with steel drums - the expense of maintaining large numbers of instruments is what actually makes ensemble music cost-prohibitive for many schools.

Not to mention the difficulty of playing the pipes, which requires a level of musical ability not really required for the steel drums. in other words, if you are going to learn to play in an ensemble at school (ie, without your parents forking out for lessons and committing to making sure you practice at home) you need an instrument which is relatively easy to learn. Things like steel or African drums, through their very accessibility, offer an opportunity to make music for many kids who have not been fortunate enough to receive private musical tuition (and all instrumental tuition is private these days, in that parents have to pay).

So there are your reasons, Wavey. And please don't start arguing with me - this is my specialist subject.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 03:09 PM

"make it rhyme and scan as written."

They don't make that big a hammer!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 02:57 PM

It's bloody well impossible to make the original rhyme and scan as written! I would not even attempt it.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 02:54 PM

Thanks, LH. I meant "make it rhyme and scan as written" (hence what would otherwise be a rather reckless wager on my personal stash of bonus points), but that's good to read - after reading WAV's outpourings for a while you start to forget that it's possible to write poetry that not only tries to rhyme and scan but succeeds.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 02:49 PM

We have Tai Chi, and tennis too
Whilst lines are fine for saying "adieu"
We have good curry, jam, and toast
Whenever England plays the host
'Tis true that all the world admires
The tenors of the English choirs
But not so much as to refrain
When taking England's name in vain!

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 02:32 PM

I would really like to hear someone try to make that poem rhyme and scan. A million zillion bonus points for making it rhyme and scan and emphasising the WORDS in CAPITALS.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Don Firth
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 02:13 PM

Yeah, I was struck by the end-rhymes, "good wish" and "Eng-LISH" also and was going to comment, but Mr. Fly beat me to it. Well spotted.

David, you seem to be fixated on my "Engrish frute" bit of whimsy, undoubtedly hoping to brand this as some sort of racial slur on my part so you can divert attention from yourself. Sorry, Charlie! No joy there. You've mouthed off with your racist ideas much too much to get away with anything like that.

And as to "Enrish," yes, it was pretty funny (and in no way a racial slur), but you misspelled it. For someone with a BA in Humanities, I would have though you could, at the very least, spell better than that. You missed the "g."

Did it ever occur to you (since you seem to set great store by where people are from, especially if they—like you, I might add—came from somewhere other than England) that "Engrish" might refer to child born of one parent from England and the other from Ireland?

Keep your mind flexible, David—    Oh! Sorry! Obviously atrophy has already set it.

On another bon mot of yours (that's French, by the way), so you would prefer to deny the opportunity of attendees to Albert Hall the pleasure of hearing a steel band—the music of another culture—and offer them a Northumbrian pipe band instead (worthy in and of itself, of course), because it hews closer to your ideas of what does or does not constitute "good English culture." That smacks of cultural censorship, and that's the kind of thing that tyrants like to pull.   You more than amply demonstrate that your turn of mind is such that were you (God forbid!) ever to gain any kind of political power and begin to implement you ideas, that there is good reason for the comment, "When I hear the world 'culture,' I reach for my pistol."

I am also in awe of the way you blew off Eliza Carthy on the other thread, lecturing her on what is and isn't "E-trad."

David, you are a real piece of work!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Will Fly
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 01:54 PM

Captain Birdseye:
so lets have facts,how much did the steel bands instruments cost,and how much would have ben the cost of a northumbrian pipe band,FACTS Please WAV.

Spot on, Captain. Last time I looked, the cheapest set of small pipes was getting on for £1,000. How many kids in a steel band, do you think? Say 12, for the sake of it: £12,000 for a school pipe band.

Set of oil drums, cut, heated and tuned: £1,000 each? I somehow doubt it. In any case, the kids would get to grips with steel band playing very much quicker than the small pipes. I love the Northumbrian pipes - my Billy Pigg vinyl album is one of the most cherished in my collection - but my buddy Derrick Hughes, who's been playing his pipes for 20 years, tells me that he's still learning...

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 01:30 PM

Yeah, Will. ;-) Well, it's pretty hard to match the Master of the craft.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: The Sandman
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 01:08 PM

ubject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: WalkaboutsVerse - PM
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 07:57 AM

Don Firth, perhaps trying to be funny : "Enrish frute" and "didgeridon't".
Last night a school steel band, on their way to the Albert Hall, made our local news, but at least the presenter was enough of a realist to mention that they are not traditionl instruments of NE England; I would have added that, probably for a similar cost, they could have formed a Northumbrian pipe band...

213 of 230: MORE AMOR PATRIAE

There is Tai Chi AND there is tennis,
    Line is fine BUT so is Morris,
There is curry AND there is the roast,
    And, when England is playing host,
It is the rest-of-the-world's good wish
    To sense culture that is English.

From walkaboutsverse.741.com
so lets have facts,how much did the steel bands instruments cost,and how much would have ben the cost of a northumbrian pipe band,FACTS Please WAV.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Will Fly
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 12:51 PM

Little Hawk:
We must nurture and encourage these sort of literary efforts for the benefit of future generations, I say!

I suppose so (sigh). D'you know, I'm almost looking forward to when the next offering drops on to this thread - it's so much fun to rip into it. Mind you, I wish WAV was even 1% as enthralling as MacGonagall...

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 12:38 PM

A jadrool is a worthless, witless, numbnuts jackoff. Yes, it's very similar to a mamalucca.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 12:36 PM

A stunning analysis, Will Fly. But think of the gifts required to turn out that sort of verse on a daily basis...reams and reams of it. Does it not strike you with awe? After all, most people can't do it. Or they don't. Or they wouldn't think of it. Or they're too busy earning a living. Or whatever... ;-)

We must nurture and encourage these sort of literary efforts for the benefit of future generations, I say! What would the world be without its William MacGonagalls and Julia Moores?

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 12:36 PM

Erm, what's a "jadrool" then? Is it like a mamalucca?

Crikey, I do wish you yankees would cut using the vernacular and speak bloody English.

Subject: RE: The Weekly Walkabout (part 2.)
From: Will Fly
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 12:31 PM

Ah, another offering from WAV (Wearisomely Abject Versifier) to dissect. Now, where shall we start...

213 of 230: MORE AMOR PATRIAE

There is Tai Chi AND there is tennis,
    Line is fine BUT so is Morris,
There is curry AND there is the roast,
    And, when England is playing host,
It is the rest-of-the-world's good wish
    To sense culture that is English.

...ah yes - the rhyming scheme. Well, what's it to be - is the thing to rhyme or not to rhyme? We have "roast" & "host", and "wish" & "English" (I'll deal with THAT particular pair in a minute), but what about "tennis" and "Morris"? Doesn't fit somehow, does it? I suppose you could have written "Line is fine BUT so is Dennis"...

On to scansion and metre. The line "And, when England is playing host" is just clumsy and would flow better, for example, by being re-cast as "And, when England plays the host". Understand?

In the line "It is the rest-of-the-world's good wish", the final emphasis is on the word WISH. Followed by "To sense culture that is English - where the natural emphasis is on the first syllable of ENGlish. So the whole couplet ends with a leaden clunk.

Now - why the bloody hyphens in "rest-of-the-world"? It's just unnecessary and thoughtless. Any why their "good" wish - and why use the word "sense" as a transitive verb with "culture" as its object? Why not use "see"? Much plainer and straightforward.

As to the sentiment, it's as puerile as ever. Tai Chi and curry and line dancing are just as much part of modern England as anything else. I personally don't care for line dancing, for example - but Tai Chi is, for me, much more preferable to tennis. Most popular English dish? Chicken Tikka Masala. Whether you like it or not. The point is, old cock, that there's just as much room in this country for curry as there is for roast dinners - and for hundreds of other things.

Final point: the language that you mangle with your crap so-called verse is a wonderful mixture of Brythonic, Roman, Saxon, Norman French, German, Scandinavian, Indian, Arabic, etc. - and it's called ENGLISH. The English language changes more than any other language and is able to assimilate words of foreign origin more than any other language and still remain ENGLISH. Got it? Got the metaphor?

I somehow doubt it.