Elsa T. S. Vieira    765119 Fri, 05 Dec 03 04:47 PM Hello again, everyone - you've been so helpful I had to come back ;-) I'm still translating this book set in the twenties. See if anyone can help me here, with the meaning of the expression between "": (quote) He had intended to be a barrister, had "eaten his dinners", and taken on the job of temporary master only to tide him over a lean period. (unquote) The expression is between quotation marks in the original, so I assume it's some kind of phrase with a specific meaning, non-food related... Thanks in advance! Elsa T. S. Vieira Elsa T. S. Vieira Quotation Marks, Punctuation, Expressions

	Simon R. Hughes    765142 Fri, 05 Dec 03 05:11 PM Thus spake Elsa T. S. Vieira: "Hello again, everyone - you've been so helpful I had to come back ;-) I'm still translating this book set ... in the original, so I assume it's some kind of phrase with a specific meaning, non-food related... Thanks in advance!" To pass law school, one of the requirements is that the students eat dinner at their inn a certain number of times. If they don't eat their dinners, they are not called to the bar. Simon R. Hughes Simon R. Hughes Writing, Students, Numbers

	John Dean    765242 Fri, 05 Dec 03 05:20 PM "Hello again, everyone - you've been so helpful I had to come back ;-) I'm still translating this book set ... between quotation marks in the original, so I assume it's some kind of phrase with a specific meaning, non-food related..." Weirdly, it *is* food related. Full explanation of that and all the other fancy hoops the wannabe barristers jump through at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inn of court I believe the requirement has now been considerably relaxed if not waived all together / altogether. The requirement didn't apply to the guy who spelt 'barrister' wrong on the application form and ended up pouring cappuccinos at Starbucks. John Dean Oxford De-frag to reply John Dean Quotation Marks, Punctuation

	Elsa T. S. Vieira    765263 Fri, 05 Dec 03 05:24 PM "To pass law school, one of the requirements is that the students eat dinner at their inn a certain number of times. If they don't eat their dinners, they are not called to the bar. Simon R. Hughes" Really? I had no idea. Does it still work like this nowadays? Thank you very much! (it was food related, after all...) Elsa T. S. Vieira Elsa T. S. Vieira Writing, Students, Numbers

	Ross Howard    765330 Fri, 05 Dec 03 06:25 PM "To pass law school, one of the requirements is that ... are not called to the bar. Simon R. Hughes" "Really? I had no idea. Does it still work like this nowadays?" According to an interesting book I picked up second-hand the other day, called *The Bar on Trial*, it was still a requirement at least up until the 1980s. I think it's been relaxed now, though, largely so that non-London-based students no longer have to travel hundreds or thousands of miles several times a year just to eat a dinner, but most of the rest of the system of the system of the Inns of Court (barristers' guilds, more or less), with their "benchers", "pupillage" in "chambers", "juniors" and "silks" (QCs), etc., remains intact. "Thank you very much! (it was food related, after all...)" Really bad food, though, by all accounts. Ross Howard Ross Howard Countries, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Students

	mUs1Ka    765504 Fri, 05 Dec 03 08:57 PM "Thank you very much! (it was food related, after all...)" "Really bad food, though, by all accounts." Not according to what I've read: "...cream of vegetable soup, roast loin of pork and roast potatoes with broccoli followed by blackcurrant cheesecake. The cost, heavily subsidised, was £7.50." - 1997 The requirement to attend was abolished in 1997, I believe. m. mUs1Ka

	Simon R. Hughes    765651 Fri, 05 Dec 03 11:06 PM Thus spake mUs1Ka: "Not according to what I've read: "...cream of vegetable soup, roast loin of pork and roast potatoes with broccoli followed by blackcurrant cheesecake. The cost, heavily subsidised, was £7.50." - 1997" My Brother the Barrister said the food was crap. Cheap, yes, but crap. He used to force members of the family to accompany him up to London, and they said it was crap food, too. (He didn't ask me. Funny that.) "The requirement to attend was abolished in 1997, I believe." Ah. Barrister Brother was called to the bar in 1995, IIRC. Simon R. Hughes Simon R. Hughes Countries, United Kingdom, Great Britain

	Ross Howard    767684 Sun, 07 Dec 03 12:44 PM "Not according to what I've read: "...cream of vegetable soup, roast loin of pork and roast potatoes with broccoli followed by blackcurrant cheesecake. The cost, heavily subsidised, was £7.50." - 1997" That sounds like it could perfectly have been one of the vile school dinners (AmE lunches) of which I ate thousands in the Seventies (and most of which, miraculously, I managed to keep down). Don't let the yummy-sounding menu description fool you, as it did our gullible parents. Ross Howard Ross Howard