General Chit Chat

[Montreal Wanderer]

On topic, I tried to find something appertaining to the Nativity scene that used to be outside Bolton Town Hall in December and January. Used Google for "Nativity in Bolton" and got a link for a debate on here from last Christmas.

Try http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/li/distr ... y/?ref=arc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/942 ... _or_Joseph_/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TANGODANCER]

On topic, I tried to find something appertaining to the Nativity scene that used to be outside Bolton Town Hall in December and January. Used Google for "Nativity in Bolton" and got a link for a debate on here from last Christmas.

Try http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/li/distr ... y/?ref=arc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/942 ... _or_Joseph_/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cheers Monty. It was more back in the 1950/60 era I was looking for but I noted the "increased footfall" expression.

[Bruce Rioja]

Does anyone know (and Monty, I'm looking at you here ) why people from Yorkshire are called 'Tykes'?

[Bijou Bob]

Does anyone know (and Monty, I'm looking at you here ) why people from Yorkshire are called 'Tykes'?

I thought they were known as 'Miserable b@stards'

[Annoyed Grunt]

Does anyone know (and Monty, I'm looking at you here ) why people from Yorkshire are called 'Tykes'?

Unsure if correct, but.....http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_boar ... s/930.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Montreal Wanderer]

Does anyone know (and Monty, I'm looking at you here ) why people from Yorkshire are called 'Tykes'?

Sorry, just woke up.

The best authority - the Oxford English Dictionary - does not offer a definitive origin. It notes:

3. A nickname for a Yorkshireman: in full Yorkshire tyke.(Perhaps originally opprobrious; but now accepted and owned. It may have arisen from the fact that in Yorkshire tyke is in common use for dog.)
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew, Yorkshire-Tike, a Yorkshire manner of Man.
a1721 M. Prior Wandering Pilgrim in Misc. Wks. (1740) II. vii, Could Yorkshire-Tyke but do the same, Then He like Them might thrive.
1761 Brit. Mag. 2 464 I'se a poor Yorkshire tyke.
1820 Syd. Smith in Life (1884) x. 249 Give a tyke a bridle and he'll soon have a horse.
1856 H. H. Dixon Post & Paddock vi. 92 The tykes, who were very jealous of the honour of their jocks, did not relish their defeat.
1901 C. G. Harper Great North Road I. 268 By common consent, whatever its origin may have been, ‘tyke’, applied to a Yorkshireman, is taken in the complimentary sense.

More definitive though less probable is this:

According to Dr Arnold Kellett' s book 'The Yorkshire Dictionary', a tyke is another word for a dog or cur (from Old Norse tika, meaning bitch), especially a small mongrel terrier used for catching rats etc. From the common sight of a Yorkshireman owning such a dog, the nickname was commonly applied to anyone born and bred here. Arnold is a regular contributor to Dalesman Magazine.'

http://www.dalesman.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbb ... es;read=21" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If this is true they should be called whippets now.

Others seem to think the dialect is called tyke. Though it is not made clear which came first - though the vikings are blamed.

Oddly in Australia and New Zealand tyke is a nasty term for a Roman Catholic (probably from an antipodean mkishearing of the Ulster taig).

[Montreal Wanderer]

Oops - Grunto had already given the middle one. Apologies.

[Bruce Rioja]

Cheers Chaps. I'll report back.

[Dujon]

.Oddly in Australia and New Zealand tyke is a nasty term for a Roman Catholic (probably from an antipodean mkishearing of the Ulster taig).

That's quite true, Monty. Your 'probable' remark is interesting as I can inform that the term used to be - I haven't heard it for years - used as an alternative to Irish. I haven't done research so these comments are purely from my own experience. Nevertheless, 'Tyke' in either sense was not necessarily pejorative; like many other words it generally needed some sort of descriptor, if that's the correct term, to make it such. Of course the context or stress placed on the word can also make the world of difference.

[Annoyed Grunt]

Could someone get me this for my birthday......please

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dark-Knight ... ht+trilogy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Gooner Girl]

Could someone get me this for my birthday......please

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dark-Knight ... ht+trilogy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd already bought you this. Thought it was more you?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Little-Pony- ... ittle+pony" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Annoyed Grunt]

Could someone get me this for my birthday......please

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dark-Knight ... ht+trilogy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd already bought you this. Thought it was more you?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Little-Pony- ... ittle+pony" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well, the joke is on you.......I've already got it

[Gooner Girl]

Could someone get me this for my birthday......please

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dark-Knight ... ht+trilogy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd already bought you this. Thought it was more you?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Little-Pony- ... ittle+pony" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well, the joke is on you.......I've already got it

Ahhh well, i'll save it for bobo's birthday instead. Reckon he's a 'My Little Pony' kind of guy.

[Bijou Bob]

Ahhh well, i'll save it for bobo's birthday instead. Reckon he's a 'My Little Pony' kind of guy.

He may have the Colour Climax version on VHS

[bobo the clown]

Ahhh well, i'll save it for bobo's birthday instead. Reckon he's a 'My Little Pony' kind of guy.

He may have the Colour Climax version on VHS

Top loading beta max if you don't mind.

...& I'm allergic to horses, of any colour.

[Athers]

So these girls in Peru, who have finally owned up to the obvious, might serve some of their sentence here in the UK at a cost of £50k a year each.

Interesting thought whether to let said criminals serve their time in other countries. The thing is, the less 'civilised' a country the less likely it is to be bothered about prisoner treaties I suppose?

[bobo the clown]

So these girls in Peru, who have finally owned up to the obvious, might serve some of their sentence here in the UK at a cost of £50k a year each.

Interesting thought whether to let said criminals serve their time in other countries. The thing is, the less 'civilised' a country the less likely it is to be bothered about prisoner treaties I suppose?

I await their return to the UK, their repeated denials that they actually did it ... protesting that they only pleaded guilty to get a reduced sentence ... their 'exclusive' stories in the tabloids, their presence in Celebrity Big Brother and their gaining a pretty good income from all this in due course.

Some say I'm cynical.

[Montreal Wanderer]

We have all received spam from Nigerian widows, London lawyers with unclaimed funds and European lottery winning tickets. I got a new one today from Nita Underwood <[email protected]> revoking my license as a certified public accountant.

Revocation of CPA license due to income tax fraud allegations
Valued accountant officer,
We have been informed of your recent involvement in tax return fraudulent activity on behalf of one of your clients. According to AICPA Bylaw Paragraph 765 your Certified Public Accountant status can be revoked in case of the aiding of filing of a misguided or fraudulent income tax return on the member's or a client's behalf.
Please be notified below and respond to it within 7 days. The failure to provide the clarifications within this term will result in termination of your Accountant status.

Valued accountant officer indeed! I am neither American nor an accountant, but any CPA who falls for this deserves to lose their license. Dan, watch out for these people.

[Wandering Willy]

That just doesn't add up.

[thebish]

meanwhile - redundancy news...

A human resources manager who sacked thirty people is now wishing he hadn’t worn such a wacky tie during the redundancies.

“It’s one thing to be told that you don’t have a job anymore, it’s quite another to be told that you don’t have a job by someone wearing a Spongebob Squarepants tie,” said one man who had just been given a week’s notice by HR manager Sean Harris.

“It was one of the most harrowing experiences of my life, “ said another former worker.

“Getting laid off was bad enough, but the prick doing had the same fixed grin and wide glassy eyes as the Spongebob picture on his tie. It’s an image I imagine I’ll spend all of my redundancy money on trying to drink away.”

Harris maintains his choice of tie was appropriate and was intended to lift the mood, though he understands why some might have been offended. “It is a Christmas tie and some people do get upset if you celebrate Christmas a bit early,” said Harris.

“In hindsight I should have chosen something more sombre – like my Superman tie – then I could have bellowed ‘Kneel before Zod!’ in order to break the ice shortly before I sacked them.”