On Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:55:06 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote:



To true!

By the way, the "F word" is an English (the little island off the
coast of France) expression and notably prevalent also in Australia
where it is commonly used as a sort of preamble to most sentences;
alternating with "bloody" which seems now to be a phrase used in
polite conversation, regardless of its rather unappetizing origins.

Ah, the wonders of English - "'ave another stubby, then 'n throw
another cat on the barby, mate".

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct Address is bpaige125atgmaildotcom)

Hi Bruce,

I had been told once the "F" word originates from the charge laid in
English courts of "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" but it could be
another urban myth.

As to English usage in Australia. They do tend to swear a lot, even
the women, and not just the cheap floozies at a bar. When I first
moved to Sydney from N.Z. to do a software debugging project for one
of the investment banks, I was sitting in a senior manager's meeting,
everyone wearing business attire, and someone said "Oh, we could ****
that off". I was shocked as there were women in the meeting. Nobody
but me batted an eyelid. Apparently it means to get rid of something.
Later came "There are a ****load of errors" - meaning a lot of errors.
It was explained to me later in my catatonic state that these were
acceptable professional terms as was "****can of errors" - much more
than a ****load. As we left the meeting, one of the women remarked to
those about her that "Frankly, I'm completely buggered" I could only
hope that she enjoyed the experience.

Also," that little island off the coast of France" was for many years
only an anchored American aircraft carrier.

BTW I have to do some work after I arrive home on Thursday including
zipping across to Sumatera by patrol boat for a meeting. I was looking
at Air Asia and was floored at the cheap flights to Kuching, Vietnam
and Thailand. I knew that they were cheap but not that cheap. I might
zip over to Labuan and stay with a friend for a day or so and take the
kids as well.

My regards to Mrs Bruce and any Brucelets

cheers
Peter