REALLY obvious things you've just realised

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Clive Brooker
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Clive Brooker »

Mark James wrote: Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:51 pm
Marc Meakin wrote: Tue May 08, 2018 10:30 am I've just found out that certain Irish names are pronounced nothing like their spelling like Niamh (neeve )
Padraic (porik) Eidlah (ailey )
They are pronounced how they are spelled. When you're taught how certain letter combos are pronounced in the Irish language they make sense. Certainly more sense than things like Worcestershire or Leicester or Featherstonehaugh. How is that last one fanshaw? Even when you learn the rules of pronunciation in English they don't make sense.
Bicester, Gloucester, Worcester, Leicester and many others - I don't think these are as illogical as you suggest. If you take away the -ster, you'd struggle to pronounce what you're left with as anything other than a single syllable, and suddenly they start to look more sensible.

The only example I can think of which appears to buck the trend is Cirencester. Maybe it's the only one with an extra syllable. Consistency could be achieved with Sirenster, but I don't think anyone says that.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Ben Wilson »

The Nissan Sunny's name is derived from reversing the syllables of Nissan.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Ian Volante »

Ben Wilson wrote: Thu Jul 18, 2019 3:51 pm The Nissan Sunny's name is derived from reversing the syllables of Nissan.
That's not at all obvious.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Marc Meakin »

Ian Volante wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 12:44 pm
Ben Wilson wrote: Thu Jul 18, 2019 3:51 pm The Nissan Sunny's name is derived from reversing the syllables of Nissan.
That's not at all obvious.
Is that like when you repeat a two syllable word over and over.
So my surname would sound like kinme
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

I used to think that the crown jewels were just the jewels in the queen's crown. In fact, I don't think it's that obvious that they aren't, but apparently they aren't. Most of you are probably finding out for the first time that they aren't.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Fiona T »

Gavin Chipper wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2019 10:07 pm I used to think that the crown jewels were just the jewels in the queen's crown. In fact, I don't think it's that obvious that they aren't, but apparently they aren't. Most of you are probably finding out for the first time that they aren't.
What did you think the Elgin marbles were?

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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Mark Deeks »

Not obvious until someone tells you, but, listen carefully - Lady Gaga doesn't say "pah-pah-pah-poker-face-pah-pah poker face", but "pah-pah-pah-pah-poker-face-pah-pah fuck her face".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bESGLojNYSo#t=1m13s
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Mark Deeks wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 5:30 pm Not obvious until someone tells you, but, listen carefully - Lady Gaga doesn't say "pah-pah-pah-poker-face-pah-pah poker face", but "pah-pah-pah-pah-poker-face-pah-pah fuck her face".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bESGLojNYSo#t=1m13s
If anything I think it still sounds more like "puck" rather than "fuck".
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Paul Worsley »

Not obvious until someone tells you, but in the song Feel Like Making' Love by Bad Company, they actually sing "Feel like bacon, love?"
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by sean d »

Every, or nearly every, car dashboard has a little triangle beside an icon symbolising a petrol pump. This tells you what side of the car your petrol tank is.

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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Marc Meakin »

Probably obvious to the stalwarts here but I've only just discovered that Stewart Holden started this very forum
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Marc Meakin wrote: Mon Nov 11, 2019 8:33 am Probably obvious to the stalwarts here but I've only just discovered that Stewart Holden started this very forum
Well he started c4countdown the Yahoo group, but it had been taken over by Charlie by the time it migrated here. So it depends on whether you consider this to be the "same forum".
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Marc Meakin »

Gavin Chipper wrote: Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:32 am
Marc Meakin wrote: Mon Nov 11, 2019 8:33 am Probably obvious to the stalwarts here but I've only just discovered that Stewart Holden started this very forum
Well he started c4countdown the Yahoo group, but it had been taken over by Charlie by the time it migrated here. So it depends on whether you consider this to be the "same forum".
I'm only quoting from the Wiki which suggested the forum c4countdown was started by him
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

When I first started getting stuff from the Huffington Post in my Facebook feed, I would sometimes confuse it for a joke site like Daily Mash or Newsthump because it's got a joke-sounding name. Did no-one consider this drawback?
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Here's one that I think fits the theme of this thread perfectly.

Basic potato peelers work in both directions.
Also you don't even have to remove the peeler from the surface of the potato to continue peeling.
This has more than doubled my potato peeling efficiency, and feels a lot safer too.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Matt Morrison »

Jon O'Neill wrote: Wed Nov 20, 2019 6:30 pm Also you don't even have to remove the peeler from the surface of the potato to continue peeling.
I'd go so far as to say that if you do remove the peeler from the surface of the potato, you won't be able to continue peeling at all.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Marc Meakin »

Matt Morrison wrote: Wed Nov 20, 2019 6:44 pm
Jon O'Neill wrote: Also you don't even have to remove the peeler from the surface of the potato to continue peeling.
I'd go so far as to say that if you do remove the peeler from the surface of the potato, you won't be able to continue peeling at all.
I've never used a potato peeler.
Maybe I should post that on the correct thread
Although I do own one for carrots.
I like to just cut the peel off although more often than not I have Jackets or ready roast/ new potatoes
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Mark James »

Just found out today that the word is spelled prerogative and not perogative. I've never heard it pronounced prerogative in my 37 years. Also perogative comes up in my phone's predictive dictionary even though it's wrong.

Admittedly probably the only time I hear it pronounced is in the Bobby Brown song and he has to make it track lyrically but it just looks wrong to me and I'm going to make it my perogative to continue to spell and pronounce it wrong.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Marc Meakin »

Having recently damaged my right knee o ordered a walking stick from Amazon.
I opened it and started using my right hand with the stick
Only to realise that you use the hand on your good leg instead.
Totally counter intuitive to my brain.
But it works.
Am I the only one to not get it
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Those things you have at parties that you blow into and they unwind and make a noise don't have a standard method name.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Marc Meakin »

Gavin Chipper wrote: Thu Dec 19, 2019 6:02 pm Those things you have at parties that you blow into and they unwind and make a noise don't have a standard method name.
Along with those things you make out of a sheet of A4 with numbers and colours and choices where you put your fingers in and wiggle
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Elliott Mellor »

I only learnt about a month ago that it was Fred Astaire and not Freddy/Freddie Stair.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Fred Mumford »

Fred Astaire ate my hamster.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Marc Meakin »

Fred Mumford wrote: Sat Dec 21, 2019 8:16 pm Fred Astaire ate my hamster.
I used to confuse him with Red Adair.
Didn't Fred Astaire dance with the woman with gum disease..... gingivitis 😀
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Marc Meakin »

ASMR is a thing
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Ben Wilson »

'Do you wanna build a snowman' has the same number of syllables as 'teenage mutant ninja turtles'.

Edit: and 'harder better faster stronger'.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

There's no such thing as normal-sized pandas.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Johnny Canuck »

Ben Wilson wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 2:52 pm 'Do you wanna build a snowman' has the same number of syllables as 'teenage mutant ninja turtles'.

Edit: and 'harder better faster stronger'.
Enjoy your evening.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Thomas Carey »

Johnny Canuck wrote: Wed Mar 11, 2020 12:15 am
Ben Wilson wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 2:52 pm 'Do you wanna build a snowman' has the same number of syllables as 'teenage mutant ninja turtles'.

Edit: and 'harder better faster stronger'.
Enjoy your evening.
Whoops, was gonna mention this and forgot. Someone did a Twitter bit which finds Wikipedia pages that do it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/wiki_tmnt
cheers maus
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Why is this a thing, and in particular why Do You Want to Build a Snowman? I'd never even heard of this shit.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Fiona T »

Tom Hanks' wife is called Wilson

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(Perhaps not REALLY obvious, but amusing nonetheless)
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

What?

Edit - I mean, why is it funny and why is a picture of a football with that weird blood hand/face on it relevant? I'm not getting it at all.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

I used to wonder why an ass was sometimes a donkey and sometimes a snake depending on what the speaker felt like at the time, and how everyone just seemed to know which they were referring to. Turns out the snake was an asp. Still a stupid word to this day. I've never needed to use the word "asp".
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Thomas Cappleman »

Gavin Chipper wrote: Thu Mar 12, 2020 10:19 am What?

Edit - I mean, why is it funny and why is a picture of a football with that weird blood hand/face on it relevant? I'm not getting it at all.
The volleyball's from Cast Away. Do you want to build a snowman? is from Frozen. These are both somewhat successful films.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Thomas Cappleman wrote: Thu Mar 12, 2020 11:02 am
Gavin Chipper wrote: Thu Mar 12, 2020 10:19 am What?

Edit - I mean, why is it funny and why is a picture of a football with that weird blood hand/face on it relevant? I'm not getting it at all.
The volleyball's from Cast Away. Do you want to build a snowman? is from Frozen. These are both somewhat successful films.
Actually, I just looked up the Wilson thing and was about to edit my post.

As for the other one, I'm still left thinking "So what?"
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Callum Todd »

I like the TMNT one. I now can't hear 'stronger' by Kanye West without hearing the lyrics 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' instead.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Peter Mabey »

That reminds me that "Mersey Docks and Harbour Board" goes exactly to this : https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/3629230/Th ... irzy+Doats
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Martin Hurst »

1) The song played at the start of Only Fools and Horses is a completely different song than the song played during the end credits

2) Americans don't say "and" when saying numbers (e.g they say "five hundred four thousand" instead of "five hundred and four thousand")
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Marc Meakin »

That the headline Kim Jong un dead , isn't suggesting the North Korean leader is a zombie
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Mark Deeks »

When the electric toothbrush stops spinning temporarily every 30 seconds or so, it isn't constantly suffering from a duff battery - it's telling you to change area.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Ben Wilson »

Martin Hurst wrote: Fri Apr 24, 2020 6:11 pm 1) The song played at the start of Only Fools and Horses is a completely different song than the song played during the end credits.
https://youtu.be/yaCg93od-qY just wait until you hear the original theme.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Marc Meakin »

Ben Wilson wrote: Sun Apr 26, 2020 5:37 pm
Martin Hurst wrote: Fri Apr 24, 2020 6:11 pm 1) The song played at the start of Only Fools and Horses is a completely different song than the song played during the end credits.
https://youtu.be/yaCg93od-qY just wait until you hear the original theme.
This brings me back to the rare occasion you had the same theme tune for two shows.
Briefly Grange Hill and Give Us a Clue had the same theme tune.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Ben Wilson wrote: Sun Apr 26, 2020 5:37 pm
Martin Hurst wrote: Fri Apr 24, 2020 6:11 pm 1) The song played at the start of Only Fools and Horses is a completely different song than the song played during the end credits.
https://youtu.be/yaCg93od-qY just wait until you hear the original theme.
Wow - that's awful.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Mark Deeks »

Sandra Bullock is niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Fiona T »

Not so much a really obvious thing, but something I've always done (and still do) that is now officially 'wrong'.

I dunno why I do it, or when it started, or who told me it was the thing to do, but I've always stuck two spaces after a full stop.

I didn't even know I did it until a friend I used to email regularly (before the days of whatsapp, messenger etc) made a sarcy comment.

I will endeavour to save spaces.

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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Ian Volante »

It's only in recent years that Civil Service guidance has changed, but it's a relic of mechanical typesetting, or something like that if I remember right. Still a good number of colleagues use them, I delight in finding and replacing them :)
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

It's a discussion that I've seen come up a few times recently. It makes sense that it might have been a thing with mechanical typewriters.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Fiona T »

Ian Volante wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 11:52 am It's only in recent years that Civil Service guidance has changed, but it's a relic of mechanical typesetting, or something like that if I remember right. Still a good number of colleagues use them, I delight in finding and replacing them :)
Ah my first job was Civil Service, and I hadn't really had cause to type anything prior to that, so guess that's where I picked it up. Wonder what "Mavis Beacon teaches typing" used to say...
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Fiona T »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x2jdQFGTj4

Two spaces - it's Mavis's fault!

Edit: just googled it - the entire internet is blaming Mavis :D
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Paul Merton is older than Ian Hislop (62 to 59). OK, it's not REALLY obvious and I actually found out ages ago, but I still think it's worth mentioning. When I first started watching Have I Got News For You as a teenager, I saw Paul as the young "cool" one and Ian as the middle-aged uncool one. I would have been very surprised to be told that Paul was older at that point. But since then, Paul has definitely aged, whereas Ian looks largely the same as he ever did. So it might not be so surprising to new viewers.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Marc Meakin »

Gavin Chipper wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 11:16 am Paul Merton is older than Ian Hislop (62 to 59). OK, it's not REALLY obvious and I actually found out ages ago, but I still think it's worth mentioning. When I first started watching Have I Got News For You as a teenager, I saw Paul as the young "cool" one and Ian as the middle-aged uncool one. I would have been very surprised to be told that Paul was older at that point. But since then, Paul has definitely aged, whereas Ian looks largely the same as he ever did. So it might not be so surprising to new viewers.
A bit like Clive Dunn from Dad's Army....he used to have to dress and act older than he was and eventually he looked like Corporal Jones for real
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Johnny Canuck »

Fiona T wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 2:14 pm
Ian Volante wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 11:52 am It's only in recent years that Civil Service guidance has changed, but it's a relic of mechanical typesetting, or something like that if I remember right. Still a good number of colleagues use them, I delight in finding and replacing them :)
Ah my first job was Civil Service, and I hadn't really had cause to type anything prior to that, so guess that's where I picked it up. Wonder what "Mavis Beacon teaches typing" used to say...
“Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing” has the same syllabic rhythm as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Ian Volante »

Johnny Canuck wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 2:02 pm “Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing” has the same syllabic rhythm as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
I still don't understand why this is a thing.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Ian Volante wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 11:54 am
Johnny Canuck wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 2:02 pm “Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing” has the same syllabic rhythm as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
I still don't understand why this is a thing.
Me too. Basically it means they can chuckle to themselves whenever they encounter something with eight syllables.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Graeme Cole »

Gavin Chipper wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 11:59 am
Ian Volante wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 11:54 am
Johnny Canuck wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 2:02 pm “Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing” has the same syllabic rhythm as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
I still don't understand why this is a thing.
Me too. Basically it means they can chuckle to themselves whenever they encounter something with eight syllables.
It's not just the syllable count, the stress pattern has a lot to do with it as well.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by David Williams »

Gavin Chipper wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 12:01 pm It's a discussion that I've seen come up a few times recently. It makes sense that it might have been a thing with mechanical typewriters.
I can't see it. With a mechanical typewriter, the full stop occupies a whole space. With two more empty spaces, that's three spaces between the last word of the previous sentence and the first word of the next one. Modern full stops are usually much smaller anyway, and occupy very little space, so there's not much more than a single space between the two words. It would make more sense if there had only been one space in the olden days and now there were two. I blame ADHD myself. If you don't keep the words close together modern youth loses concentration very quickly.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Graeme Cole wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 12:01 pm
Gavin Chipper wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 11:59 am
Ian Volante wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 11:54 am

I still don't understand why this is a thing.
Me too. Basically it means they can chuckle to themselves whenever they encounter something with eight syllables.
It's not just the syllable count, the stress pattern has a lot to do with it as well.
"Do you wanna build a snowman" called.
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Peter Mabey »

Similarly, "Mersey Docks and Harbour Board" - familiar to Liverpudlians is exactly like "mairzy dotes and dozy dotes" and so needs "and little lamzy tivy" to follow :)
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Marc Meakin »

Also am I the only that says , who? after someone says The World Health Organisation on the TV
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Phil Reynolds
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Re: REALLY obvious things you've just realised

Post by Phil Reynolds »

Marc Meakin wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 7:54 am Also am I the only that says , who? after someone says The World Health Organisation on the TV
Probably.

That reminds me though, there was a great gag in the Catherine Tate/Lauren sketch which was easily the funniest item on The Big Night In. Her teacher, played by David Tennant, was correcting her random assertions about coronavirus transmission. "What are you?" she retorted. "A Doctor? The W.H.O.?"
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