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Posted by The Wanderer on February 29, 2008, 3:55 am
On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:16:39 +0100, Ursula Schrader wrote:
> "The Wanderer" wrote...
>> On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:04:54 +0100, Ursula Schrader wrote:
>>
>>> "The Wanderer" wrote...
>>>> On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:59:39 +0100, Ursula Schrader wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> since my days in the cabinetmaker's
>>>>> workshop.
>>>>
>>>> Oh, do tell!
>>>>
>>> Nahh, I can't! <Blush>
>>
>> <snipped but read>
>>
>> Err, so is there another meaning in your part of the world to the phrase
>> 'in the cabinetmaker's workshop'. In my innocence I thought you'd had an
>> unusual start for your working life....... :-)
>
> Oh, I don't know if it was so unusual, after all, those were the 80s and we
> were all so emancipated that you'd be looked at very strangely if you had
> 'raising a family' among your life aims and typical feminine jobs were
> definitely looked down on (I'm still a bit uncertain about what is typically
> feminine, although I'm pretty sure that typically male is standing while you
> p... ;-)
Rumour has it, even that is under threat these days! :-)
> Anyway, since I was an apprentice in the municipal workshop of one of the
> Ruhr area's cities, we used to be unencumbered by such minor trivialities as
> rentability etc. and thus were a merry lot that had one or another party on
> other than official occasions like Christmas in the workshop, the boss not
> knowing or turning a blind eye as long as nothing happened. My friend was an
> apprentice in the local theatre and we'd see eachother every week at
> vocational school and exchange goss... I mean, important information. She
> was what you'd call life of the party and could drink quite a lot, although
> she tended to act rather peculiar under influence. But that's another story.
>
> Nobody cared about PC (not even we did) and the break room was plasterd with
> interesting prints of the female anatomy. We just turned to be as sexist as
> the guys were and didn't feel too bad, after all, nobody would harm us.
> Words would fly and it sharpened my wit and tongue considerably. And one or
> the other kiss might have been exchanged on those parties, but it was mostly
> fun and laughing about absurd things (I wish I could remeber what we laughed
> about...). Well, I learned to dish out in the regional slang then, and never
> quite found back to the German equivalent of Oxford English, which is a
> pity. A funny thing: if I have to deal with posh folks that turn up their
> nose on me for whatever reason, I tend to slip into my worst dialect
> possible if I don't pay attention.
'S funny. As someone who was born and bred in Oxford, I can put on the very
best accent if the occasion demands, although increasingly, I find such an
accent quite pretentious.
I find myself increasingly happy with a mixture of rural dialects from
around the UK. I'm told I normally speak with a pronounced 'west country'
accent, although I've never lived there, and now that we live in Norfolk, I
find I'm picking up some bits of the rural Norfolk dialect.
OTOH, I can be very pedantic about written English......
> Uh, I'm not sure if that novel answered your question, and I'm dead sure
> that it's miles OT, but fortunately, nobody here will tell you off for it.
Thanks, it did. My curiosity was aroused when you mentioned the cabinet
maker's workshop. Now I understand (I think!). :-)
--
Richard - The older I get, the better I used to be!
the dot wanderer at tesco dot net
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