Jump to content

Disconsolate concertina


Stiamh

Recommended Posts

He went into the garden and filled a large basket with all the oranges he could find, half a dozen bananas and three or four watermelons; a bushel of peas; two saws and a chisel, left behind by Nigel; Karen's books from the hammock; and Christopher's concertina, which he found lying disconsolately among the cabbages.

 

I found this today while browsing, for no good reason, through the Style Manual for authors, editors and printers of Australian government publications, Third edition, 1981, which I have had on my shelf since my spell working in publishing in Oz in the early 1980s. The book is a very fine reference, incidentally. The above passage illustrates one of the situations in which the use of semicolons is recommended.

 

Goodness knows whether this intriguing sentence comes from a novel, or is the fruit of an inspired flight of fancy by one of the compilers of the manual. Google won't tell. But I thought you might enjoy it as much as I did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Zizi,

 

well, this begs one question; answers another. The answered question is simple; obviously I have no real concept of how to use a semicolon. The begged question is " Can a Concertina, or any other inanimate object, do something in a disconsolate manner?" ;)

 

Bonne Année!

 

Geoff.

Edited by Geoff Wooff
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can a Concertina, or any other inanimate object, do something in a disconsolate manner?

 

I don't know the answer to this, but I would be disconsolate if my concertina was found under the cabbages....

 

My concertina is consolate either in its case or in my hands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"It sits beside the Cabbages and "peas"....No wonder it's disconsolate!

(Marie Lloyd I think, although after complaints, was changed to "Sits beside the cabbages and Leeks")

 

It was most certainly Ms Lloyd ... herewith the excerpt from Wikipedia (I rather like the idea of her rendition of Come into the garden Maud" being immeasurably rude ... obviously a clever lady)

"

Lloyd's songs, although perfectly harmless by modern standards, began to gain a reputation for being "racy" and filled with double entendre, ("She'd never had her ticket punched before" for example) largely thanks to the manner in which she sang them, adding winks and gestures, and creating a conspiratorial relationship with her audience. She became the target of Vigilance or "Watch" committees and others opposing music-hall licences. She claimed that any immorality was in the minds of the complainants, and in front of these groups would sing her songs "straight" to show their supposed innocence. In one famous incident, she was summoned before one of these committees and asked to sing her songs. She sang "Oh! Mr Porter" and "A Little of What You Fancy" in such a way that the committee had no reason to find anything amiss. She then rendered the drawing-room ballad "Come into the Garden Maud" in such an obscene way that the committee was shocked into silence.

 

An apocryphal tale, though indicative of her reputation, suggests that when moralists objected to a song "I Sits Among the Cabbages and Peas", with its double entendre for urination, she altered the lyrics to "I sits among the cabbages and leeks

 

The following year she made her first visit to the United States. Her "blue" reputation preceded her and she quickly gave an interview to the New York Telegraph newspaper that carried her quote

 

They don't pay their sixpences and shillings at a music hall to hear the
. If I was to try to sing highly moral songs, they would fire ginger beer bottles and beer mugs at me. I can't help it if people want to turn and twist my meanings. —Marie Lloyd,
New York Telegraph"

 

 

 

Edited by Irene S
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Zizi,well, this begs one question; answers another. The answered question is simple; obviously I have no real concept of how to use a semicolon. The begged question is " Can a Concertina, or any other inanimate object, do something in a disconsolate manner?" ;) Bonne Année!Geoff.

 

Bonne année à toi, mon pote!

 

Tell me, would you object if I said your pipes sounded cheerful in a particular performance? Or melancholy?

 

There's more than enough dull literalness in today's speech and writing. I salute any compiler of govt style manuals game to show the odd flash of unbureaucratic colour. :)

 

Cheers

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Zizi,well, this begs one question; answers another. The answered question is simple; obviously I have no real concept of how to use a semicolon. The begged question is " Can a Concertina, or any other inanimate object, do something in a disconsolate manner?" ;) Bonne Année!Geoff.

 

Bonne année à toi, mon pote!

 

Tell me, would you object if I said your pipes sounded cheerful in a particular performance? Or melancholy?

 

There's more than enough dull literalness in today's speech and writing. I salute any compiler of govt style manuals game to show the odd flash of unbureaucratic colour. :)

 

Cheers

Steve

here's one that caught by the fact checkers proofing an encyclopaedia about 25 years ago

Valium: a medicine regularly prescribed by doctors to cut short a consultation. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

here's one that caught by the fact checkers proofing an encyclopaedia about 25 years ago

Valium: a medicine regularly prescribed by doctors to cut short a consultation. :P

 

Then there's Dr. Johnson's dictinary definition of oats: "A cereal which Englishmen feed to their horses, but which in Scotland supports the populace." :P

 

But why not "disconsolate concertina" or "merry pipes"? I never tire of pointing out that musical instruments don't make any kind of sound by themselves - they only do it in conjunction with a human being. And the human being introduces an emotional element into the music that is produced.

 

And then, of course, we have that lovely figure of speech, the synecdoche: using the part for the whole, or the whole for the part, or the material for the object made of that material. A frequently used form of this is to use the instrument for the player: "He was the first violin in the orchestra," or "Trombones, play a bit softer!"

 

We have to face the facts: we Forum members are no longer persons; we are concertinas! :lol:

 

Cheers,

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...