@gerryfenge
Active 4 years, 8 months ago-
Athelstone posted an update 2 years, 8 months ago
Been watching telly today and I have this to say: NEW CLEAR. that is NEW CLEAR. Two words, new and clear. Not, I should point out, three words: NEW QUEUE LAR.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition – October 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 8 months ago
You have my apologies too. I also had a busy month, but mainly I have to confess that every time I turned to the prompt I hit brick walls. I admit defeat. And it is a fine prompt. One good thing from my point of view though is that I had another look at my short story from the Random’s anthology Stalking Leviathan. I had some critique that the…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Influences in the forum Blogs 2 years, 9 months ago
Well, these last few posts sent me off on a chase, which I shall spare you the detail of. I have never read anything by Salter, but probably shall, now. For what it’s worth, I emerged from my chase with a greater respect for George Orwell (though perhaps not his earlier novels) and a suspicion that Will Self may have confused writing literature…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Influences in the forum Blogs 2 years, 9 months ago
I wrote a short story with an MC lacking almost all redeeming qualities. It didn’t go down too well, although I quite enjoyed writing it. Patricia Highsmith’s writing is wonderful. Tom Ripley is a work of genius.
Also, hello stranger. How’s it going?
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition – September 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 9 months ago
A great batch of entries. Sadly, my good idea didn’t finally coalesce until I was dozing off last night.
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Barny replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
Whodunnit? 2 years, 10 months agoThe feeling is mutual.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
Whodunnit? 2 years, 10 months agoMarvellous to see you here, Barny.
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Barny replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
Whodunnit? 2 years, 10 months agoThanks for organising this, Ath.
I really really intend to actually submit something this year.
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Barny replied to the topic Choices in the forum
Whodunnit? 2 years, 10 months agoWriting, Pistol, Serious.
See you in the library.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition – August 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 10 months ago
Thanks for the prompt, Sandra. Enjoyed it this month. And very well done to Squidge. A worthy winner!
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition – August 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 years, 11 months ago
There is not the smallest piece of amusement in her confusion as she stands with a knife in one hand, a fork in the other. Which to the right and which to the left? She knows, of course, but in that moment the answer eludes her. So much hangs on the decision. Once, many years ago, she served water in a glass; put it at his place. For her trouble…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Choices in the forum
Whodunnit? 2 years, 11 months agoCourtesy of Jules:
Arithmetic
Lead Pipe
Comical
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Athelstone posted an update 2 years, 11 months ago
Whodunnit? Idunnit. There’s a new challenge. Find your way to the new group called Whodunnit? to solve all your questions about how to fill those autumn and winter days.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Richard's Musical Byways: Pete Who? (No 2) in the forum Blogs 2 years, 11 months ago
Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not attacking him. I think it’s great that he doesn’t measure his success the way that some singer/songwriters do. And I do like his songs. He’s also a pretty accomplished guitarist. He seems to have been very successful indeed in other areas he’s chosen to work, pursuing a big career in Radio as a senior producer…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Richard's Musical Byways: Pete Who? (No 2) in the forum Blogs 2 years, 11 months ago
The clues to his, and their, lack of recognition are all there, I think. There’s some folk in it, some protest, a lot of the jolly sound of the 60s (cf the Beatles, Bonzo Dog Band, etc), but essentially it’s quiet, undemonstrative, intelligent music. Sometimes serious, sometimes funny, often both. It’s the sort of music that you want to listen…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted an update 2 years, 11 months ago
Oh, by the way. Coming soon to a website near you: Whodunnit? A six-month(ish) challenge and opportunity for fun.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Richard's Musical Byways: Pete Who? (No 2) in the forum Blogs 2 years, 11 months ago
I have had a good listen. I have a feeling he’s somebody to hear live. Perhaps we’ll meet up at his next gig – if he has one.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Richard's Musical Byways: Pete Who? (No 2) in the forum Blogs 2 years, 11 months ago
She seems pretty English to me – although her mother is French and her father’s Maltese. But yes, it’s the French connection that hooked me on Renaud.
I don’t know, but put the speculation aside. Pete Atkin has a smooth confident voice and he holds a note very well. And that’s true right from the first album to the last. The songs hold your…[Read more]
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New Queue has a hint of birdsong about it. A distraction in these ghastly times? :/
It’s one of those words. I hear it mispronounced almost as often as it is pronounced correctly. The curious thing about it is that it really only has two parts, both of which are simple word-sounds in their own right: new and clear. I even hear people who work closely with things nu-cue-ler get it wrong.
There’s a theory that the British, and a…[Read more]
I’d not heard of that one. Do people really say that? Yuck…
I’m always fascinated by the way words change pronunciation and meaning, for example Beaulieu becomes Byoolee but Beauchamp becomes Beecham.
And, speaking of lieutenant, I can see how a word that must have originally meant ‘place holder’ became used like ‘Lord Lieutentant of Wherever,’…[Read more]
Pronunciation is a curious thing. I expect the list is very long and finds a home amongst both the well-heeled and the down-at-heel. So we have Magdalen College Oxford which we are admonished to pronounce in the medieval way “Maudlin”. This pronunciation evolved over time, but at least the middle-English speakers had the sense to spell it…[Read more]
I’ve heard the new-queue-lar version. It does sound odd but I’ve wondered if, unlike me, the speaker isn’t old enough to have grown up with nuclear as a familiar word and a consistent threat.
Hah, that did occur to me. Hardly a day went by from the late 50s to the 80s when somewhere on television, radio, or simply in conversation, the word nuclear didn’t crop up.
Perhaps it’s the same. Place holder for the captain under whose command the lieutenant is acting. Does that make sense?
Re pronunciation, here’s the OED:
The origin of the βtype of forms (which survives in the usual British pronunciation, though the spelling represents the αtype) is difficult to explain. The hypothesis of a mere m…[Read more]
Speaking of the nuclear threat, I’m reminded that Aldermaston, where the Canpaign for Nuclear (never new=queue-lar) Disarmament used to march to when Ah were a lad, is in Berkshire. Now I wonder when we started pronouncing that Barkshire, because a certain piece of rhyming slang suggests that Cockneys, at least, used to say it the way Americans still do.