h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Er, does that make me a buff?

Not unless you're a tan-coloured scab that forms on coagulating blood

Indeed -

Is there a doctor in the house?

Well yes, but I don't know anything about that.

House in this sense was always theatre (?)
Some woman on the Beeb has just spoken about "ordinary, run of the mill citizens". That would be woollen mills? The thought of running a water mill is interesting. Perhaps that would be 'shoot' as in 'shoot the rapids'. noli me tangere

WS, could you bring that down to a level where I can understand?

Probably is the wollen mills (by 'eck it's grim up north and all that). Where the mills would run mostly the ordinary lines with a few occasional special runs of cloth to order.

Shooting rapids though, perhaps is talking about how you pop out of the bottom having sped through a knarly waterfilled torrent of rocks, waves and pools.
Reminds me, I must get the kayak out again this winter

Think positive, K! Let's get it UP to your level.
I was trying to change the subject and rambling somewhat. Perhaps I should have headed it 'blethering' (which means talking foolishly and long-windedly or chatting idly and comes from the Norse 'blathra')
"Is there a doctor in the house" is what they used to ask from the stage when someone in the thatret was taken ill. I was wool-gathering about whether it could be used in any other context. "Run-of-the-mill" meaning ordinary I think must have come from woollen mills. The standard cloth came straight off the machine, but if you wanted something special it had to be done separately.
Water mills would be very difficult to go over/through. If you could, perhaps you would be shooting over the top of the wheel.
Alternatively, perhaps mice would have the run of a flour mill - and if anyone has simulposted to this, I shall be...........

Definitions for theatret, anybody?

Shirley,
That's chute the rapids
as in "Don't Chute the Piano Player"
or "They Chute Horses Don't They?"
And if one found oneself trapped
atop a burning highrise "Oh chute!"
or "Just chute me!"

I'm afraid the lines in the new are too thin.
It looks like an un-happyface.
~jwf~

(well, it's French derived) Down the shoot(= up the spout?)Para shoot (perhaps in times of peace we could)Wool gathers off into chutney and chutzpah and tries to think of other incidences where ch is pronounced sh

[stick with the bird jwf]

In standard Ancient Egyptian, a letter "t" was added to words to make them feminine, although some experts think that it was not pronounced. It was represented in the hieroglyphs as a small semicircular loaf of bread. So a theatret might be a female theatre in Ancient Egypt, used for giving birth by Caesarian, with female surgeon and midwives present. (Men promise, Women deliver).

I love it! I'm printing that one out - having used a theatret in Addis Ababa nearly 30 years ago and a theatre in Blantyre,Malawi just over 25 years ago, I feel I should perhaps incorporate that definition somewhere on my home page Mercy buckets

Theatret is Danish for a theatrical company

'Run of the mill' originally referred to textiles which came direct from the mill without having been inspected or sorted. 'Run of the mine' and 'run of the kiln' are sibling phrases which have died out.

There are lots of ch- words pronounced sh : chamois, cheroot, chef, chauffeur, chassis, chicane, charlatan. chaperon, etc. Unsurprisingly they're all French.

I haven't really pushed that credulity envelope for a couple of days, so today's dubious definition is...

Chichevache: a fabled giant cow which fed only on patient or ill-treated wives, and was therefore very thin.

Oh, and chagrin,chalet,chamfer,chamois (shammy),champagne,chaparral, chaperone etc Mostly French too

And sometimes bread, toast, onions and polish.

Nah, onions are Spanish