Comments on: Sweet Tees Flow Softly (Black Friday Aftermath)

By: McEff

McEff — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 10:12:04 +0000

Hi David. I’ve been plodding over Northern England for more years than I care to remember, in fact this March will see my fortieth anniversary of plodding. I’m hoping we’ll be back in Andalucia sometime soon. It depends on events outside our control.
Cheers, Alen

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By: maromapress

maromapress — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 17:11:57 +0000

Liked your diatribe about the misuse of the English language, “eateries”, “in-store staff” etc. Seems like you have plodded over a good part of Northern England, but have yet to glimpse you again in exotic Frigiliana!

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By: McEff

McEff — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 17:21:04 +0000

Blimey, now that sounds interesting. You have rekindled my interest in rivers, Ash. I must dig out my Robert Louis Stevenson’s Inland Voyage.

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By: Ash

Ash — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 15:24:07 +0000

And there’s more……….How about “And Quiet Flows the Don” by Mikhail Sholokhov! When I first read this post this was the book I couldn’t remember & couldn’t find! Written in the 1920’s about the Cossacks at peace & at war the author eventually received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1965. He was a huge figure in Russia during his lifetime but I suspect not many have heard of him these days. He did write other books but I only read this one. I remember it as an epic rather like Tolstoy’s War & Peace.

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By: McEff

McEff — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 12:16:05 +0000

Thank you for that, Ash. Robert Gibbings is a chap I am not familiar with. Another name on the list of authors to investigate.
All the best, Alen

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By: Ash

Ash — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 17:29:37 +0000

Yes! Spenser, from “Prothalamion”: “Sweete Themmes! runne softly, til I end my Song”. And Gibbings book (1941) is full of his own beautiful engravings.

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By: McEff

McEff — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 17:02:08 +0000

Mark, I’m so glad someone picked up on that. My painstaking search for a subtle title was not in vain after all. The Ewan MacColl song, Sweet Thames Flow Softly, was what I had in mind, though the version with which I am familiar is the Planxty cover from the 1970s in which Christy Moore sings the words. I didn’t realise MacColl wrote the lyrics until I Googled it for the piece. I see Dick Gaughan also recorded the song. And now I’m going to have to familiarise myself with Robert Gibbings and his Sweet Thames Run Softly. Life is an education.
All the best,. Alen

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By: beatingthebounds

beatingthebounds — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 23:00:31 +0000

Surely everyone shouts at the television? Or they aren’t watching the news, party political broadcast or live sport?
I’m going to take a different tack Alen: the post’s title? It resonates with me because I like the books of ‘Robert Gibbings’ and his most successful (in commercial terms at least) was, I believe, ‘Sweet Thames Run Softly’, but I thought that he was quoting Spenser, so I looked for the source of the quote, and an internet search led me to a song by Ewan MacColl and to the fact that Eliot also quoted Spenser in ‘The Wasteland’. So: were you thinking of all of them, or none of them, or one of them in particular, or are you going to tell me that the line originally dates back to a poem written by one of the Brigantes, (i.e. from the North)?

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By: McEff

McEff — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 11:01:26 +0000

Hiya Greg. Good to hear from you. I agree with you on every one of those examples. I find myself shouting things at newsreaders, because their standard of English has deteriorated over the years. Or perhaps I???m getting less tolerant. Here are some other irritating things that have crept into the language in recent years:
???Enjoy??? ??? as a one-word substitute for enjoy it, or enjoy yourself.
???No problem??? ??? this is the shop assistant???s favourite expression. My inclination is to say: ???I???m glad it???s not a problem because you???re just doing your job, but I get the impression that you do have problems during the course of your work so perhaps you should consider a career move.??? But I don???t, of course, because I???m a nice person.
???No worries??? ??? as above.
???Amazing??? and ???awesome??? ??? because they are used when people can???t think of anything else to say.
Well, that???s got me off to a grumpy start on a fine Saturday morning.
Cheers, Alen

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By: Greg Kaye

Greg Kaye — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 07:11:37 +0000

I thought I was the only one irritated by ‘in store.’ I’m not as good with words as you Alen but these get on my nerves as well:

How are you ? I’m good. Should it not be ‘I’m well.’
Pronouncing words with ‘th’ in them as f. As in ‘I fink I can do that’
9 am in the morning. Presumably as opposed to 9 am in the afternoon.
Asda’s old slogen, ‘ permanently low prices forever’
When did a chocolate bun become a muffin?
When did Eddie Stobart (as in stop) become Eddie Stoebart?
When did Christmas dinner become Christmas lunch? Even Radio 4 etiquette expert says this is pretentious nonsense.
Just getting old I guess.

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By: mountaincoward

mountaincoward — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 10:25:07 +0000

women are obstinate – didn’t you know? ????

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By: McEff

McEff — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 10:08:44 +0000

It’s fine. Sharing views and music is what it’s all about.

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