Today I'm neither Angry nor Happy about....

[Bijou Bob]

You're not wrong Bruce. Pity he wasn't with me at the Reebok yesterday, when the club rep told me I'd missed the St dead line and would have to pay an extra forty quid.

[Bruce Rioja]

14 British phrases that confuse Americans, apparently.

To know your onions
To lose the plot
A right cock-up
At Her Majesty's pleasure
Away with the fairies
Swings and roundabouts
Horses for courses
Dawn chorus
Bob's your uncle
A chin-wag
Donkey's years
Having a butcher's
It's brass monkey's
Up the duff

[bobo the clown]

^^ & "let's meet at 8.30pm in the bar". Anything which means being out after about 9pm was seen as extremely edgy.

Oh, and "No, Belgium IS a country all of its own".

[boltonboris]

"If my auntie had a dick she'd be called Brian"

Was one from our USA sub office when I gently enquired as to how they'd managed to balls up an order so badly, that we lost our second biggest client.

Yes, they're in New York

[Montreal Wanderer]

14 British phrases that confuse Americans, apparently.

To know your onions
To lose the plot
A right cock-up
At Her Majesty's pleasure
Away with the fairies
Swings and roundabouts
Horses for courses
Dawn chorus
Bob's your uncle
A chin-wag
Donkey's years
Having a butcher's
It's brass monkey's
Up the duff

I'm not to clear on a couple myself! 'Away with the fairies' could mean anything from living in a dream world to marching in the Gay Pride Parade to me. 'It's brass monkey's' conveys little to me, though we do use the phrase 'It's cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" - is that the same?. 'Having a butcher's' is Cockney rhyming slang so while I know what it means I understand why it should puzzle Americans. I am also unfamiliar with 'up the duff' which, without context, I cannot make a guess.

[LeverEnd]

Bun in the oven Monty.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Bun in the oven Monty.

Thanks. I can't imagine the etymology - clearly nothing to do with Homer Simpson's favourite beer.

[Bruce Rioja]

Tubbed up, Monty.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Tubbed up, Monty.

God! It's like another language. Actually I suppose it is.

[Bruce Rioja]

Tubbed up, Monty.

God! It's like another language. Actually I suppose it is.

I believe that your generation referred to it as being a lady finding herself 'In the family way', Monty. I bet that they wouldn't understand that one over there either.

[TANGODANCER]

It's been the Pudding Club as long as I can remember.

[Montreal Wanderer]

It's been the Pudding Club as long as I can remember.

Well, I've looked up the etymology and it is claimed that duff is a pronunciation of dough which was another word for pudding. I imagine there are hundreds of euphemisms from knocked up to a bun in the oven for that particular difficulty.

[Prufrock]

This Tim Hunt stuff is fecking depressing. Normally v proud about having gone to UCL but this had been shabby.

[Montreal Wanderer]

This Tim Hunt stuff is fecking depressing. Normally v proud about having gone to UCL but this had been shabby.

I assume you mean UCL has been shabby.

[Bijou Bob]

This Tim Hunt stuff is fecking depressing. Normally v proud about having gone to UCL but this had been shabby.

It seems the bloke is just a product of his generation. He holds sexist views and has voiced them carelessly in the wrong arena in an age where social media can destroy a career in minutes. Sadly, he's the arbiter of his own downfall. It's very sad and no one comes out of the story well.

[Prufrock]

This Tim Hunt stuff is fecking depressing. Normally v proud about having gone to UCL but this had been shabby.

It seems the bloke is just a product of his generation. He holds sexist views and has voiced them carelessly in the wrong arena in an age where social media can destroy a career in minutes. Sadly, he's the arbiter of his own downfall. It's very sad and no one comes out of the story well.

Does telling a lame, mildly sexist joke mean you actually hold sexist views, or just said something you thought would be funny and wasn't?

It was shit joke, but he's hardly James Watson. Do we want to live in a world where everyone loses their job everytime they tell an even slightly off colour joke? I don't! And I certainly don't think it reflects well on a University that prides itself on its supposedly liberal, progressive values.

[bobo the clown]

^^ Pru and bobo agree shocker !!

I 72 yr old bloke tells a bad one-liner which reflects nothing of his life & career and the Hounds of Hell are set on him. Ridiculous. We need a more tolerant society, not a lesser one.

I know nothing of him, but have read into him since this blew and he seems victimised.

The speed it all tumbled down suggests someone had him in their cross-hairs.

[Bijou Bob]

Would you tell a lame joke about people of colour and not expect to be labelled racist? It may well have been a joke, but the fact he felt it was okay to voice it to a professional audience tells you something about his attitude towards women. Do I want to live in a world where someone loses his job everyone he or she tells a joke in poor taste? No. Do I expect intelligent people not to be racist, sexist or irrational in front of their peers? Yes, I do.

On the other hand, I agree that the reaction has been sensationalist and his career damaged with little or no support from a long term employer who has benefitted from it's connection with him. Like I stated, no one comes out of this well.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Would you tell a lame joke about people of colour and not expect to be labelled racist? It may well have been a joke, but the fact he felt it was okay to voice it to a professional audience tells you something about his attitude towards women. Do I want to live in a world where someone loses his job everyone he or she tells a joke in poor taste? No. Do I expect intelligent people not to be racist, sexist or irrational in front of their peers? Yes, I do.

On the other hand, I agree that the reaction has been sensationalist and his career damaged with little or no support from a long term employer who has benefitted from it's connection with him. Like I stated, no one comes out of this well.

I'm not sure making a sexist remark necessarily makes one a sexist. If this were so the remarks in the FIFA women's world cup thread would condemn several here. A number of eminent women of science have leapt to Hunt's defence stating how much he helped their careers and mentored them. This witchhunt is a complete overreaction (PC gone mad if you like). Surely he should just have been given a chance to apologize and move on - I feel certain his wife would have made him apologize!

[TANGODANCER]

I'm not sure making a sexist remark necessarily makes one a sexist. If this were so the remarks in the FIFA women's world cup thread would condemn several here. !

That's probably because we keep it in context Monty. Nobody is really insulting anyone else. it's just humour and I don't hear anyone complaining?