BS: Casting of clouts

Subject: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Sooz
Date: 14 May 04 - 08:01 AM

As I walked out this May morning I observed the may in full bloom in the hedges. Does this mean I can discard my liberty bodice and winter drawers or do I have to wait until June 1st?

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 14 May 04 - 08:06 AM

'fraid so

May be out = May is over ie: June.

With the weather as it is at the moment you may want to wait as late as August :)

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 14 May 04 - 08:11 AM

"Don't cast a clout 'til may is out" definitely refers to the hawthorne blossom rather than the month when it generally appears.
If you wait until 1st of June chances are that the snow will be back for cricket season...
Quack!
Geoff the Duck.

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 14 May 04 - 08:12 AM

My mum used to cast clouts in my direction no matter what time of year it was.............
Johnny :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 14 May 04 - 09:49 AM

When you do cast the aforesaid undergarments, do you intend replacing them with anything?
JGM

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 14 May 04 - 09:55 AM

Suzzies?? Mmmmmmmmm! :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Sooz
Date: 14 May 04 - 10:30 AM

My light-weight summer liberty bodice and parachute bloomers of course. What do you take me for?

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: muppett
Date: 14 May 04 - 11:19 AM

Well we've got shut of April, so I've got me shorts on now till at least October.

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 14 May 04 - 11:33 AM

Parachute bloomers!! Do they have cords which slow their descent, and control the direction of said descent?
Or do you pull a rip cord to get them to deploy?
And do you shout "GERONIMO" before pulling said rip cord?
Do you have to count the number of times you do this?
How many jumps have you made?
JGM
ps I have been known to take liberties!

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Sooz
Date: 14 May 04 - 11:46 AM

Just watch your step - I am a black belt in origami!

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 14 May 04 - 12:23 PM

I am a black belt chapaati.
JGM

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Megan L
Date: 14 May 04 - 04:30 PM

aye john an ye hae a black belt in haverin an aw

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Dave Wynn
Date: 14 May 04 - 05:57 PM

mmmmmmm Lipsmack lipsmack......just woke up from winter hibernation......whats a clout. An if castin em is a sport which pretty little oxfordshire village does it thrive in....Pooh..nearly June must put my morris dancing head on..........

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Micca
Date: 14 May 04 - 06:04 PM

Sooz, do I detect a Perishers fan?

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 May 04 - 06:12 PM

A clout is usually considered to be a vest (undershirt for our Transponder readers) which a body was sewn into in September/October and not removed until the danger of frost was over.

A clout can also be the raggedy loin cloth that most mediaeval beggars and torture victims are depicted as wearing.

I really MUST get myself a life!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: akenaton
Date: 14 May 04 - 08:59 PM

"Ne'er cast a cloot, till Maie be oot."
Often used by my grand parents.
Cloot (cloth)....any item of clothing.
Maie ....Definitly the month of May....Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: GUEST
Date: 14 May 04 - 09:02 PM

By all means! You have a duty to every horny boy to do that!

Woody

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: rich-joy
Date: 15 May 04 - 01:47 AM

My mum used to say -
"Don't change your undies till the first of June Sundays"
Yippee, only three weeks to go!

Poor Misery (partner of rich joy)

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 May 04 - 04:01 AM

Poor Misery - sorry, but EEEEEEUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGH!

Personally, I never bothered with 'clouts' after the age of 12. My mother, on the other hand, never shed hers until she was 53, and then only because we were in New Zealand and it was a bit warmer. I cannot remember a time when she didn't try to persuade me to wear a vest and a petticoat under my normal clothes. No wonder I was always hot!

Now I'll happily wander around Britain in sandals and a Tshirt even in February. Clouts have no place in my lifestyle!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 May 04 - 04:02 AM

Incidentally, I wonder if giving someone a 'clout round the ear' meant putting your smelly vest over their heads?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Sooz
Date: 15 May 04 - 04:30 AM

I'm rumbled, Micca! Nearly time for the eyeballs in the sky.

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 15 May 04 - 04:37 AM

"It are wicked to mock the afflicted" BH [Calcutta] Failed.
JGM

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Flash Company
Date: 15 May 04 - 09:21 AM

Totally true story, A good friend relates that, long after she was married, an old aunt seeing her in a strapless dress ready to go out for the evening said 'You're no goin' oot wi'oot your vest on, are ye?'

Fc

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: GUEST,Secret Admirer
Date: 15 May 04 - 10:43 AM

LTS says: (Some other stuff, then...) "No wonder I was always hot!"

Awww, Liz, to me you're still hot!!!!!

SA

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 15 May 04 - 01:47 PM

Not the hot flushes already is it Liz?
John

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 15 May 04 - 06:47 PM

Liz - in our neck of the woods a dish clout is still what you wash your plates with.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 15 May 04 - 06:57 PM

And of course a "Clout Heead" is somebody lacking in thought power.
Cloth ears is somebody who doesn't listen.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 May 04 - 07:12 PM

Dqang, and I put it down to the quantities of gin!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Sooz
Date: 16 May 04 - 10:02 AM

Its really hot here today - I'm afraid they've had to go!

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 May 04 - 10:20 AM

A clout yed around here is a cloth head. Ie someone a bit wooly aboutthe brain. Clout heads on the other hand are the nails used for fastening floorboards to joists!

And I am in the May blossom faction - I always understood it to be May Blossoms which, incidentaly, can be either hawthorn or elder in these parts.

I wonder if the old Roman Catholic practice of crowning the Statue of Mary with may blossoms stems from an earlier pagan ritual?

Oh Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the angels and queen of the may...

Eeeee - I remeber my old school days just like the were my old school days...

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Jim McLean
Date: 16 May 04 - 01:36 PM

A clout was also a nappy (diaper?) as in the Burns song 'Oh wha my babie clouts will buy..'

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 16 May 04 - 03:05 PM

While we sit bousing at the nappy
An' gettin' fou and unco happy.

R Burns   Tam O' Shanter

A fou nappy, noo thaurs a thocht!

JGM

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 16 May 04 - 04:55 PM

Have you pulled, Sooz? :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 16 May 04 - 05:16 PM

I'm now very confused.

No change there then!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Pogo
Date: 16 May 04 - 05:28 PM

*puzzled* So let me get this straight...when May starts you're supposed to grab the first stupid person you see and throw them?

Hmm...Odd custom. Oh well...can't argue with tradition.

*starts looking about for clouts* |OP

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Thomas the Rhymer
Date: 16 May 04 - 05:49 PM

It's life's illusions I recall,
I really don't know clouts... at all.

Well Sooz... It kind of depends... on your affinity for exposure... I'm sure our opinion on this matter is a 'bit off'... and I'd prefer the off again, on again... with your comfort always in mind. ;^)
ttr

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: GUEST
Date: 17 May 04 - 04:19 AM

Quote from Brewer's Phrase and Fable:

Cast not a clout till May is out. An old warning not to shed winter clothing too early in the year. Clout here is a rag or patch, hence a piece of clothing. May is also another name for hawthorn, which blossoms in May. Thus some hold that the proverb means'Do not discard clothing until the hawthorn blossoms', but more likely it means 'Wait until the end of May'.

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 17 May 04 - 04:56 AM

It's probably a sort of warning against the other popular Mayday saying - Hooray, hooray, the first of May, Outdoor sex begins today.

This would give the risk of a child being born in February, a lean time of year when there was often not enough food, and the new crops hadn't reached an edible state yet. There would be a greater risk of the baby dying of cold and hunger, so it's a warning to keep your clouts on until June when a baby conceived would be born in March/April, thus having a better chance of survival.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Casting of clouts
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 17 May 04 - 11:29 AM

I have always known the proverb as 'Ne'er cast a clout till the may is out' therefore referring to the hawthorn. As a general rule it tends to bloom around mid to late May (probably where it got its name) but in a mild summer will bloom early so you can off load your woolly vest sooner!