The Sage, GatesheadFRIDAY 4 JANUARY 2008
OUR COMMON LINGO
This all started with an annual seasonal competition run by America’s Washington Post to see who can come up with the most original re-interpretation of word-meanings - new meanings for old words, in fact. My favourites from their list are...
gargoyle - ‘olive-flavoured mouthwash’;
lymph - ‘to walk with a lisp’;
testicle - ‘a humorous question on an exam paper’;
willy-nilly - ‘impotent’; and
esplanade - ‘to attempt an explanation while drunk’.
You, however, have managed to trump those paltry efforts roundly. Amongst your gems of invention are....
reptile - ‘a travelling salesman’s hat’;
moratorium - ‘a temporary ban on Conservatives’;
manoeuvre - ‘a man who does the vacuuming’;
manhandle - ‘a fat bloke’s hip’;
dependable - ‘able to swim opposite the shallow end’; and
catastrophe - ‘prize-winning puss’.
A big thankyou to Stuart, Lorraine, Anne and Lawrence. Your efforts have made me laugh out loud several times and there a still quite a few I haven’t mentioned on air yet. Keep listening - and please keep sending them in to me.
Jim from Gateshead called to point out that this is also a game played on BBC Radio 4’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, of which he and I are both great fans. We spent some time discussing which - if any - of the other games on the show we could ‘adapt’. To be honest, there aren’t many but we could have some fun with your Cost-Cutting TV and Radio ideas: Only Fools, Jonathan Yards, Glance North.....
or - and old favourite, this one - specialised Film and Song Clubs. The north-east’s, for example, would include Move Over Darlington, You’ll Never Get to Hebburn or Blaydonrunner.....
Perhaps I should run Jim’s ideas up the flagpole on-air and see who salutes (to use a cliche I’ve been slating on the programme recently).
Mornington Crescent on the Nightshift is, of course, unthinkable. Isn’t it?
EMAILS
I have received a very strongly worded complaint from a listener who was deeply offended that I did not reply personally to emails he sent me. In fact, he formally withdrew his ‘best wishes for the New Year’ - something that’s never happened to me before. So that no-one else is under any illusions that I have banks of secretaries dealing with my correspondence.....I research, produce and present the Nightshift on my own (as I have said many times before) and, although I try to respond to as many emails as I can, it is simply impossible to reply to more than a handful. Please do not be offended if I do not reply to you personally; I just don’t have the resources to do so. And please - don’t let that stop you sending your emails to me. I read and value every one of them!
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
NOTE
Please bear in mind that the views expressed in this blog are my own and NOT the views of the BBC.
This all started with an annual seasonal competition run by America’s Washington Post to see who can come up with the most original re-interpretation of word-meanings - new meanings for old words, in fact. My favourites from their list are...
gargoyle - ‘olive-flavoured mouthwash’;
lymph - ‘to walk with a lisp’;
testicle - ‘a humorous question on an exam paper’;
willy-nilly - ‘impotent’; and
esplanade - ‘to attempt an explanation while drunk’.
You, however, have managed to trump those paltry efforts roundly. Amongst your gems of invention are....
reptile - ‘a travelling salesman’s hat’;
moratorium - ‘a temporary ban on Conservatives’;
manoeuvre - ‘a man who does the vacuuming’;
manhandle - ‘a fat bloke’s hip’;
dependable - ‘able to swim opposite the shallow end’; and
catastrophe - ‘prize-winning puss’.
A big thankyou to Stuart, Lorraine, Anne and Lawrence. Your efforts have made me laugh out loud several times and there a still quite a few I haven’t mentioned on air yet. Keep listening - and please keep sending them in to me.
Jim from Gateshead called to point out that this is also a game played on BBC Radio 4’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, of which he and I are both great fans. We spent some time discussing which - if any - of the other games on the show we could ‘adapt’. To be honest, there aren’t many but we could have some fun with your Cost-Cutting TV and Radio ideas: Only Fools, Jonathan Yards, Glance North.....
or - and old favourite, this one - specialised Film and Song Clubs. The north-east’s, for example, would include Move Over Darlington, You’ll Never Get to Hebburn or Blaydonrunner.....
Perhaps I should run Jim’s ideas up the flagpole on-air and see who salutes (to use a cliche I’ve been slating on the programme recently).
Mornington Crescent on the Nightshift is, of course, unthinkable. Isn’t it?
EMAILS
I have received a very strongly worded complaint from a listener who was deeply offended that I did not reply personally to emails he sent me. In fact, he formally withdrew his ‘best wishes for the New Year’ - something that’s never happened to me before. So that no-one else is under any illusions that I have banks of secretaries dealing with my correspondence.....I research, produce and present the Nightshift on my own (as I have said many times before) and, although I try to respond to as many emails as I can, it is simply impossible to reply to more than a handful. Please do not be offended if I do not reply to you personally; I just don’t have the resources to do so. And please - don’t let that stop you sending your emails to me. I read and value every one of them!
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
NOTE
Please bear in mind that the views expressed in this blog are my own and NOT the views of the BBC.
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