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Usenet Posted 19 years ago
English in UK
Metonymous factors (or not) in humour
Yes, yes, yes, I'm now going to be looking for a specialist therapist who can help me with that intense sense of inferiority I'm feeling about not getting PSV (or whatever the vehicles are now referred to as) entitlement on my license...
...but something has occurred to me as cultural-linguistic factor in the arena of jokes be they as told by a comedian (one-to-many) to an audience or in various one-to-fewer settings such as from behind bars. I'm sure most regular posters will have heard this particular one before but I'm not sure it's ever been here as a topic. Here's a paraphrase of it:
Tommy and Jonny have been out on the beers to the extent they've left themselves with a long walk home and no money for a taxi. On their way home they walk past a 'bus depot and Jonny suddenly has a great idea.
I know, he says, why don't we nick a 'bus?
Ooh, I don't know, says Tommy, can you actually drive one? Can't be that difficult, it's not like they have preselection boxes these days.
So Jonny goes off and finds a way into the depot. By the time he gets back ol' Tommy's fallen fast asleep. Jonny gives the horn a bip.
C'mon on then Tom! let's go!
Tommy rouses himself from his sleep and looks at his watch.
Cor, BeJuggingJason Jonny, it's nearly 4AM. They'll be coming in to get the early 'buses running soon. What took you so long? Oh, it's the way they park them here. All the ones near the doors were the B and D routes, and they all go to the wrong side of town. It took me all my time to find the 37C service we need go past your place...
Now, given that I heard this joke a number of years ago the turn of the '80s, approximately, but am not really of the tram or trolleybus era, I am wondering whether the joke would've worked so well for so many people if that era, of railed and guided municipal transport, had not happened. Indeed, whether it would've been thought up.
I'm not expecting definitive answers, or indeed any at all, but anyone who might be able to comment authoritatively on what sector it came into currency from (E.g., Blackpool summer season, or Glasgow CIU circuit, if it originated in cabaret/stand-up) or can recall hearing a version and reliably narrow it down to a particular year, is particularly invited to follow up.
Follow-up has been set to
G DAEB
COPYRIGHT (C) 2007 SIPSTON
...but something has occurred to me as cultural-linguistic factor in the arena of jokes be they as told by a comedian (one-to-many) to an audience or in various one-to-fewer settings such as from behind bars. I'm sure most regular posters will have heard this particular one before but I'm not sure it's ever been here as a topic. Here's a paraphrase of it:
Tommy and Jonny have been out on the beers to the extent they've left themselves with a long walk home and no money for a taxi. On their way home they walk past a 'bus depot and Jonny suddenly has a great idea.
I know, he says, why don't we nick a 'bus?
Ooh, I don't know, says Tommy, can you actually drive one? Can't be that difficult, it's not like they have preselection boxes these days.
So Jonny goes off and finds a way into the depot. By the time he gets back ol' Tommy's fallen fast asleep. Jonny gives the horn a bip.
C'mon on then Tom! let's go!
Tommy rouses himself from his sleep and looks at his watch.
Cor, BeJuggingJason Jonny, it's nearly 4AM. They'll be coming in to get the early 'buses running soon. What took you so long? Oh, it's the way they park them here. All the ones near the doors were the B and D routes, and they all go to the wrong side of town. It took me all my time to find the 37C service we need go past your place...
Now, given that I heard this joke a number of years ago the turn of the '80s, approximately, but am not really of the tram or trolleybus era, I am wondering whether the joke would've worked so well for so many people if that era, of railed and guided municipal transport, had not happened. Indeed, whether it would've been thought up.
I'm not expecting definitive answers, or indeed any at all, but anyone who might be able to comment authoritatively on what sector it came into currency from (E.g., Blackpool summer season, or Glasgow CIU circuit, if it originated in cabaret/stand-up) or can recall hearing a version and reliably narrow it down to a particular year, is particularly invited to follow up.
Follow-up has been set to
G DAEB
COPYRIGHT (C) 2007 SIPSTON
Top answer
(snip) Which part did you feel was 'metonymous'? Blue Sow
- (snip) Which part did you feel was 'metonymous'?
- Blue Sow
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17 Answers
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[nq:1] Can't be that difficult, it's not like they have preselection boxes these days.[/nq]
Surely a pre-selector box makes it easier to drive?
John Briggs
Surely a pre-selector box makes it easier to drive?
John Briggs
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[nq:1](snip) Which part did you feel was 'metonymous'?[/nq]
Perceptions of "public transport" as a genre.
When I heard the joke VCRs were hardly commonplace, never mind the cliche that adults can't set them.
By which I mean many people think along the lines
(no pun originally intended) they are most used
to thinking along.
If the joke's comparatively recent then it didn't
Perceptions of "public transport" as a genre.
When I heard the joke VCRs were hardly commonplace, never mind the cliche that adults can't set them.
By which I mean many people think along the lines
(no pun originally intended) they are most used
to thinking along.
If the joke's comparatively recent then it didn't
00
[nq:2] Can't be that difficult, it's not like they have preselection boxes these days.[/nq]
[nq:1]Surely a pre-selector box makes it easier to drive?[/nq]
I wouldn't know. I've neither driven a vehicle
with one nor an automatic. Double de-clutching
took a bit of time to get used to after a sycnhro-
[nq:1] John Briggs[/nq]
G DAEB
COPYRIGHT (C) 2007 SIPSTON
[nq:1]Surely a pre-selector box makes it easier to drive?[/nq]
I wouldn't know. I've neither driven a vehicle
with one nor an automatic. Double de-clutching
took a bit of time to get used to after a sycnhro-
[nq:1] John Briggs[/nq]
G DAEB
COPYRIGHT (C) 2007 SIPSTON
00
[nq:2](snip) Which part did you feel was 'metonymous'?[/nq]
[nq:1]Perceptions of "public transport" as a genre.[/nq]
As the word "metonymous" probably doesn't exist, I suppose that's as good an answer as any. But what word did you really mean?
John Briggs
[nq:1]Perceptions of "public transport" as a genre.[/nq]
As the word "metonymous" probably doesn't exist, I suppose that's as good an answer as any. But what word did you really mean?
John Briggs
00
[nq:2]Surely a pre-selector box makes it easier to drive?[/nq]
[nq:1]I wouldn't know. I've neither driven a vehicle with one nor an automatic. Double de-clutching took a bit of time to get used to after a sycnhro-[/nq]
Do you always post on subjects you know nothing about?
John Briggs
[nq:1]I wouldn't know. I've neither driven a vehicle with one nor an automatic. Double de-clutching took a bit of time to get used to after a sycnhro-[/nq]
Do you always post on subjects you know nothing about?
John Briggs
00
[nq:2](snip) Which part did you feel was 'metonymous'?[/nq]
[nq:1]Perceptions of "public transport" as a genre.[/nq]
That would not be metonymic though, would it?
I note that elsewhere in this thread it has been suggested that as you are inventing the word live on Usenet, it can mean anything you want it to mean. I cannot find it within myself to disagree - knock yourself out, as they
[nq:1]Perceptions of "public transport" as a genre.[/nq]
That would not be metonymic though, would it?
I note that elsewhere in this thread it has been suggested that as you are inventing the word live on Usenet, it can mean anything you want it to mean. I cannot find it within myself to disagree - knock yourself out, as they
00
[nq:2]I wouldn't know. I've neither driven a vehicle with one ... bit of time to get used to after a sycnhro-[/nq]
[nq:1]Do you always post on subjects you know nothing about?[/nq]
I know this joke exists and has done for 25 years
or so.
I can reword it without the pre-selector box detail if you would prefer. It makes no odds as to what I was hoping for some informed discussion abo
[nq:1]Do you always post on subjects you know nothing about?[/nq]
I know this joke exists and has done for 25 years
or so.
I can reword it without the pre-selector box detail if you would prefer. It makes no odds as to what I was hoping for some informed discussion abo
00
[nq:1]Tommy rouses himself from his sleep and looks at his watch. Cor, BeJuggingJason Jonny, it's nearly 4AM. They'll be coming ... people if that era, of railed and guided municipal transport, had not happened. Indeed, whether it would've been thought up.[/nq]
Can't help you with the provenance, but it works for me by virtue of the route numbers. Rails or guides are irrelevant - everyone know
Can't help you with the provenance, but it works for me by virtue of the route numbers. Rails or guides are irrelevant - everyone know
00
[nq:1]I'm sure most regular posters will have heard this particular one before but I'm not sure it's ever been here as a topic. Here's a paraphrase of it:(excised)[/nq]
You might want to bear in mind that in its original form, this joke was what would now be considered unseemly.
It targets the alleged ignorance and drunken habits of a certain nationality of individuals, represented in the
You might want to bear in mind that in its original form, this joke was what would now be considered unseemly.
It targets the alleged ignorance and drunken habits of a certain nationality of individuals, represented in the
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