MONDAY 5 NOVEMBER 2007
Bonfire Night

TRUCKSHUNTERS....
...thanks for your comments so far; they’re very encouraging. Please keep them coming and PLEASE encourage as many people as possible to view the blog and comment on it - even critically and even if they can’t (or won’t) listen to The Nightshift. That’s just in case I’m called upon to justify the time I spend doing it!

BOWES STEAM RAILWAY
For those of you with the good sense to visit the Bowes Railway on its Santa Special Days, the relevant dates are the weekends of 1/2 and 8/9 December. You can get more information from (0191) 416 1847. Enjoy!

EUPHEMISMS
No, Kev - posting a blog isn’t a euphemism for anything - although it’s fairly typical of the way we use our language that it could easily be taken for one. Hence, I suppose, the success down the years of the sainted Kenneth Williams and his ilk. Thanks to Victorian prudery - they apparently really DID cover up the legs of pianos - almost anything can sound like a suggestive euphemism; indeed, reprobates like the Tipsy Duchess - whom it is far too late for God to preserve - thrived on that very fact. How well I remember her arriving by boat in the Tyne one Saturday ‘surrounded by seamen and holding fast to their bollards, the Reverend Unseemly Dogposture waving something unmistakable on the quayside’. We got away with a surprising amount of smut in them days.
Many of the actions, things or feelings that the Victorians were over-sensitive of were not even ‘suggestive’; dying and death, for example, have bequeathed us (if you pardon the pun) passing over/away, being taken, funeral director, casket, pushing up the daisies, promoted to glory, six feet under, being with the Lord or in a better place, shuffling off this mortal coil.......and any others you may care to think of. Modern (digital) versions include 'exported to a flat file' and 'sent to the archive'.
But it’s the toilet - and what we all do there - that has produced by far the largest number of euphemisms. Someone once reckoned there were over 170 of them. Where do you start? The littlest room, the boys’/men’s room, spend a penny, pay a visit, see a man about a dog, point percy at the snake pit, splash your boots......I’d be interested to hear how many more you can come up with. Let’s try and get as close to 170 as we can.
While we’re on the subject of euphemisms (and not smut)....I took a strange call from a listener called Edith this morning. In order to listen, she told me she had to set her alarm early and turn the volume on her radio way down so as not to wake anyone else in the house. Now that’s devotion! She called to add netty to the list of euphemisms for ‘toilet’ - itself, of course, a euphemism. But where does this peculiar - and very local - word originate. I know of at least two theories. Any ideas?

KNOW YOUR NORTH-EAST
The oldest railway in the world in continuous use is the Tanfield Railway, not far from Stanley in County Durham. It’s been working away uncomplainingly since 1725 - 100 years before the Stockton and Darlington Railway was opened. Its course includes the amazing Causey Arch - de facto, the world’s oldest railway bridge. If you haven’t been to the railway or the bridge (- it’s a very pleasant walk -) shame on you!
Today’s question is......there are very few places indeed that have ‘informal’ nicknames used by local people. West Cornforth in County Durham is one of them. What do local people call the village? Interestingly, North Ormesby (near Middlesbrough) has the same nickname.
If, by the way, you happen to know why this particular nickname has attached itself to these two places, TELL ME. Nobody seems to know.

GOING LOCAL
Today’s track was The Ballad of George Washington. I’ve liked it for many years and I hope you liked it too. Usually, opera singers sound awful singing ‘ordinary’ songs like this but, in this case, I reckon Graeme Danby makes a superb job of it. Even the backing of the Northern Sinfonia and Chorus adds to its charm.
If there’s a local track you would like to hear, get in touch in any of the usual ways.

TODAY.....
You probably know that I’m an Easington lad. In those parts, the only team to support is Sunderland. My brother has been subjecting himself to the emotional turmoil of Roker Park and the Stadium of Light for over 50 years and both he and his family are still gluttons for the same punishment. It was, therefore, with a certain undisguised satisfaction that I was able to mention - in the Today.... part of the programme - that it was on 5 November 1908 that Sunderland defeated Newcastle 1-9. This is still the biggest away victory of all time in the English First Division/Premiership.
Incidentally, comedian and tv presenter Russell Brand recently refused to call Sunerland ‘The Black Cats’ on the basis that the nickname is a pure invention and is in no way ‘traditional’. Is he right?

NOTE
Please bear in mind that the views expressed in this blog are my own and NOT the views of the BBC.

CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or contact me in any one (or more) of these ways....
ian.robinson@bbc.co.uk
text 07786 200954 (while the programme is on-air)
call (between about 0545 and 0630 Monday to Friday) 0191 232 6565
Ian Robinson, The Nightshift, BBC Radio Newcastle, Spital Tongues, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE99 1RN