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This is a discussion thread.
Latest post Mon, May 9 2005 4:11 AM by x.mehrdad. 10 replies.
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x.mehrdad
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97541
Mon, 09 May 05 04:11 AM
Snapshot
Down on your porch,
At the break of day,
Idle and indolent, I lay
My head hanging loose down the rise
A hazy moon is waving in my eyes
There, in Cassandra like presence of narcissi
The painter’s pallets are the whores in ecstasy
And on a pond somewhere nearby
A water lily vanishes in agony
I hear the percussion of your sole
The April breeze plays on the strings of my soul
The waning night is brimming over with your perfume
And the fireflies are dancing in delirium
The percussion stops
You touch my burning lips
And, I sip you dry, through your fingertips
Then, the mute conversation of the eyes
And my ignominy for all my lies
The warmth of your lips on my eyelid
And your soft whisper in my ear
‘Lily is dead and the pond is dry
It’s time to fly, butterfly’
Eighth Platform
I believe in a prophet who lives in south station
He never believes in love or salvation
He preaches the anti word of a prodigal god,
Who bottled off on the seventh night
Heading north, in a V.I.P compartment
Probably to study creation management
Hence, the prophet was left without a word
Without a trace of the runaway lord
Now, every morning, my king of messengers
Rises among the swarming hordes of passengers
ON the eighth platform, he tunes and tallies his hollow words
To the rusty blues of grim railroads
He blesses those who miss the train
A portion of his holy jar kills the pain
The prophet of the south station
Never casts love or damnation
Joined on
Fri, Mar 4 2005
Full Member
186
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MrPedantic
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101300
Thu, 19 May 05 11:44 PM
Hello x
Those are interesting. I particularly like the passengers/messengers rhyme.
What is the 'bottling off'?
MrP
Joined on
Tue, Oct 12 2004
Veteran Member
12,592
...opella forensis / adducit febris...
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x.mehrdad
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101425
Fri, 20 May 05 10:58 AM
Hello, Maestro,
Thank you, and 'bottle off' is an expression often used by a friend for 'run away' and when I asked him 'where it comes from?' he pulled out his Collins digital pocket dictionary and there it was among the synonyms for 'run away'. I couldn't find it anywhere else, but I like it
Cheers
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x.mehrdad
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101430
Fri, 20 May 05 11:10 AM
I was about to forget, I know that we 'tune to'and 'tally with', but I needed the three T in a row,is it correct to say 'tunes and tallies to...' or should it be absolutely' tunes and tallies with'
Thank You
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MrPedantic
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101486
Fri, 20 May 05 02:47 PM
I'd say 'to' fits quite well.
As for bottling...I've only heard 'bottle off' in this kind of connection:
1. The band played abysmally, and were bottled off the stage.
i.e. they were forced to retreat in a hail of beer bottles.
Related verbs are 'bottle out', 'to have lost one's bottle', 'bottle it', e.g.
2. We was all going to go down The Den on Saturday afternoon and sort out Millwall, but MrP bottled out.
(= We were planning to visit Millwall Football Club's ground on Saturday afternoon and indulge in fisticuffs with some of their supporters, but MrP suddenly remembered a previous engagement and decided not to accompany us.)
3. Sounds to me like MrP's lost his bottle.
(= I very much fear that MrP no longer has the stomach for a frank exchange of blows.)
4. Yeah, an' that ain't the first time he's bottled it, either.
(= I agree; especially in view of the fact that on previous occasions he has shown a similar reluctance.)
Here's some more info, from the Oxford Dictionary of New Words:
bottle noun
In British slang: courage, spirit, guts. Usually in phrases such as have (got) a lot of bottle, to be spirited or courageous; to have guts; lose one's bottle, to lose one's nerve (and so as a phrasal verb bottle out, to lose one's nerve; to pull out, especially at the last minute).
Etymology:
The phrase no bottle has been used in underworld slang to mean 'no use, worthless' since the middle of the nineteenth century; it is likely that this was reinterpreted this century to mean 'lacking substance or spirit', and that from there bottle started to be used on its own and eventually to be incorporated into new phrases.
The rhyming slang expression bottle and glass for 'arse' is often assumed to have something to do with these expressions (in which case bottle would be more strictly 'guts'), but this may be no more than popular speculation.
History and Usage:
These phrases, which are essentially part of the spoken language, started to appear in written sources in the sixties as representations of Cockney or underworld speech. Their use was reinforced by a milk marketing campaign in the early eighties, the caption for which read 'It's gotta lotta bottle', and by television series such as Minder, in which Cockney expressions were brought to a wide audience.
Bottle out did not appear in the written language at all until the very end of the seventies (at about the same time as this series was first shown).
Goodness, was I going to give her a bad time! Of course, when it got down to it, I bottled out completely.
Robert McLiam Wilson Ripley Bogle (1989), p. 162
You appear not to have the bottle, courtesy or wherewithal to actually approach her in person.
Just Seventeen Dec. 1989, p. 22
Some of the warders lost their bottle and just fled.
News of the World 8 Apr. 1990, p. 6
I'd add:
Pronunciation:
Almost invariably with a central glottal stop.
MrP
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anita_a
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101586
Fri, 20 May 05 09:41 PM
Goodness me! You really are a genius Mr.P! You seem have mastered everything in the world of English Literature and Language...
Joined on
Tue, Jul 27 2004
Sunny California
Regular Member
822
Cheers,Anita
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MrPedantic
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101653
Sat, 21 May 05 02:20 AM
I have a special interest in bottles...
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x.mehrdad
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101743
Sat, 21 May 05 02:43 PM
Hello, Mr. pedantic,
Thank you for all this mephistophelean informations about the bottle, as I read it, I can feel the cold sweating body of a glass of Guinness or of a Lefe between my fingers, you should consider that for someone who lives in a place where there is nothing but pubs, bars, night clubs,...the temptation could be unbearable.
Do you think, it doesn't fit in there, the way I used that expression?
These natives sometime use 'bottled' for 'arrested', like 'bottled for drugs', does it make any sense? Cheers
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pieanne
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101758
Sat, 21 May 05 04:23 PM
There's also "bottle in", used when you refer to feelings you keep locked up inside, but little do I dare mention it after MrP's thorough survey of the bottle...
Cheers!
Joined on
Thu, Jan 20 2005
South of France ...But I'm Belgian!
Veteran Member
7,517
I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...
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