Hello there. Reports of my exit from the blogosphere have been greatly exaggerated!
Whilst it’s true I have been something of a lazy slug recently, I hope to post a bit more than I have been doing in the past couple of weeks. If you don’t mind, I intend to expand the content of this organ to include sayings, phrases, mottoes, quotations and anything else I feel is word-related. Do you mind? Really? Great. Then I shall begin…
The word ‘motto’ itself comes from a contraction of the Italian word muttum meaning a muttering. The motto is the text found on the scroll of a traditional heraldic coat of arms. Famous mottoes you may have encoutered would be: “In God we trust”, “Honi soit qui mal y pense”, “Ich Dien” and “It was like that when I got here”. The real reason I have shoehorned this subject into my Word du Jour is that The Times newspaper (UK) asked their readers to vote for a five-word motto that the new Prime Minister, Mr Gordon Brown, could use to sum up the country he wishes to build under his magnificent five-year plan leadership. Of course, as Mr Brown is a Scot (and ergo not English) we have to accentuate the Britishness of things. True to form, as when Paula Radcliffe wins something, she’s a Brit – lose and she’s a useless Jock. People not hailing from the UK may have trouble with this, as they tend to believe we all still have tea together at 4.00 in the afternoon. Some of the entries were predictably jingoistic, some pathetic and some hilarious. I quite liked mine: He looks foreign – shoot him! – but that somehow didn’t make the list… Here’s a selection:
Britain: my country, my home (sappy)
I respect who you are (untrue, but well-meant)
Britain will always be England (ooh! Satire)
At least we’re not France (old habits die hard. Six words, in fact ’cause of the hyphen)
We apologise for the inconvenience (how very true)
There were many other entries but many people seemed to be under the impression that “five” was an approximate figure and not to be taken seriously. How very British. The clear winner for me (and for The Times, who used it as their headline) was dipso fatso bingo asbo tesco. I will be happy to explain any of these to non-Brit readers (I know you’re out there hiding). In the meantime, why not make my blog stats look good and post a motto of your own?
How about this one, Tom? Seven words, but still very appropriate.
‘Don’t let the bastards grind you down’.
Do I win a T-Shirt? ;-D
I think you’ve had your fair share of my t-shirts, young man…
A good effort, though. If, however you’d used the (practically) correct Latin (not the mock “illigitimus non carborundum” one) it’d have been five words dead:
“Noli nothis permittere te terere”
So close – but no cigar. Or shirt!
Hi there, Tom. One needs to be lazy slug once in a while (I mean, other than blogging, there are so many interesting and necessary things to do). Sayings, phrases, mottoes, quotations and anything else you feel is word-related, do bring it on, please!
A clear winner indeed! I have been tesco-shopping and played bingo, heard about asbo in Vicki Pollard and have seen a lot of fatsoes over the Channel but I had to look up the word dipso… and found it. Come to think of it, it sounds like “dipsa” (‘d’ like in ‘this’ – er, yes, sorry, that’s a Greek-related word meaning thirst). But with all that, I can say nothing but… United Kingdom, oh la la… Anyway, high five, folks!
You’ve been to Tesco, Minky? You lucky thing! I have a bit of a soft spot for the store because they are always doing BOGOF’s (Buy One Get One Free). Whenever I pop across to the UK, Mme Joad is always surprised to find I have brought back two of something we don’t need. I should know better by now but I can’t resist.
And yes, yet another Greek word – when will they ever run out?
No comment on my motto then? Oh well…
Never, they never run out. I forgot to tell you (in fact, it just occured to me) that ‘dipso’ means I’m thirsty – but dis time, accent tonique sur la dernière syllabe. What’s your etymology for this dipso word, Tom, how come Brits use it?
Yeah, I’ve been to the UK several times… My sister took me to all kinds of shops and supermarkets last time I visited her, Milton Keynes was my favourite shopping place. Here in Belgium, I always take advantage of BOGOF actions, but I’m very reasonable so I only buy the things I need.
You buy things you need? That’s just crazy! I just love a bargain too much…
I really can’t see your motto being adopted by Mr Brown. Any sign of anything French in the UK and get all nationalistic. That’s why they are called chips and not French fries
Dipso- is from the Greek as it happens. It’s a contraction of ‘dipsomaniac’ – i.e. someone who loves to drink (alcohol). It’s an old word that has seen something of a renaissance recently.
“Britain : merely a geographic entity”
Has the advantage of being verifiably true.
Ian Paisley wouldn’t like it though…
You have a point there, Ché – and Ian Paisley would not like it. Mind you, he doesn’t seem to like anything much.