meganiwish Posted January 7, 2015 Posted January 7, 2015 Well, what excitement we had tonight. One of the young ladies at the club had a young man who chose to send all her Christmas presents at once. The twelve partridges weren't a particular problem, but the twenty -two turtle doves soon got free and sat on the window sills. The thirty French hens got broody. One can't help feeling that some of the eggs will be found by smell. Then all those colly birds. Give it a rest with the birds already.. So, forty gold rings were easily distributed among the eight she had debts with. Then, oh dear, more birds. Geese. Forty two of them laying eggs. We're going to be eating omelettes until lent. Now, the swans weren't a problem, but each came with it's own paddling pool. At this point we stopped them and sent the couriers away. There was a real worry that the maids would come complete with cows. Drummers and pipers we could see, but even if you had to have lords and ladies you wouldn't want them leaping or dancing. Bah, humbug
Shafted Posted January 7, 2015 Posted January 7, 2015 You did way too much math, Megan. Shafted, the boots that is! View my gallery here http://www.hhplace.o...afteds-gallery/ or view my heeling thread here http://www.hhplace.org/topic/3850-new-pair-of-boots-starts-me-serious-street-heeling/ - Pm me if you want fashion advice or just need someone to talk to.
Dr. Shoe Posted January 7, 2015 Posted January 7, 2015 ...especially as the song makes clear that there was only one partridge, two fench hens etc. Graduate footwear designer able to advise and assist on modification and shoe making projects.
Shyheels Posted January 7, 2015 Posted January 7, 2015 There is an interpretation of the song that holds that the gifts are cumulative and the progressive total of all of them are given each day. I disagree with thus, but I know some people emphatically claim this is the essence if the some.
meganiwish Posted January 8, 2015 Author Posted January 8, 2015 You did way too much math, Megan. Indeed, so much that it needs to be talked of in the plural, Maths Happy New Year, Shafted. Happy New Year everyone. As for interpretation, Shyheels and Dr Shoe, I beg your very pardon! I direct you to verse two, lines one and two: On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me/ Two turtle doves and (my italics) a partridge in a pear tree. I believe that, linguistically, 'and' marks accumulation. Undoubtedly twelve partridges are given, unless the whole thing is a tissue of lies.
Shyheels Posted January 8, 2015 Posted January 8, 2015 I think you may have hit it with that last bit
SleekHeels Posted January 8, 2015 Posted January 8, 2015 As for interpretation, Shyheels and Dr Shoe, I beg your very pardon! I direct you to verse two, lines one and two: On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me/ Two turtle doves and (my italics) a partridge in a pear tree. I believe that, linguistically, 'and' marks accumulation. Undoubtedly twelve partridges are given, unless the whole thing is a tissue of lies. That would be most logical Captain.... assuming of course that it's one person singing the whole song. If each "true love" was in fact the recipient from the previous line, passing on all their unwanted gifts with something extra, that sounds like a much more realistic portrayal of events - a chain of broken hearts and a pile of unwanted gifts. Surely that's why they're always playing "Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away" in all the shops. Now there's "bah humbug" for you! Happy New Year to all too If you like it, wear it.
meganiwish Posted January 8, 2015 Author Posted January 8, 2015 I can, of course, only hold my hands up and accept your logic. I don't really like Christmas, but I am glad I don't spend it with you But this seems to have hit something. Let people offload their dislike of this time of year.
meganiwish Posted January 8, 2015 Author Posted January 8, 2015 Oh, thank you, Shy. I love it when someone jerks the steering wheel It's January, for goodness sake, let people hate it. Sorry, SAD
nyenor Posted January 8, 2015 Posted January 8, 2015 Well I absolutely detest Christmas, New Year, Easter, Father's Day, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day along with any other over-commercialised days.
Shyheels Posted January 8, 2015 Posted January 8, 2015 The solution is simple. Don't commercialise it. Enjoy it for what it is and what enjoyment you personally can take out of it and let the rest of the world do its own thing.
nyenor Posted January 8, 2015 Posted January 8, 2015 Let the 'world do its own thing' is exactly what I do. I totally ignore all the days listed.
Shyheels Posted January 8, 2015 Posted January 8, 2015 I wonder if the swans were bestowed on the paddleboat operator on the seafront?
Bikergoth Posted January 11, 2015 Posted January 11, 2015 I'm pretty sure I've seen most of them at various locations on the South Coast, Southsea & Littlehampton in particular... I'm firmly in the 'Bah humbug' camp & along with Mr nyenor detest all to do with over-commercialisation of so-called special days. 'Bikergoth adopts Monty Python-ish Yorkshire accent' When I were a lad I got an orange & a couple of brazil nuts in my Christmas stocking & maybe something else if I was very, very lucky. These days all the kids want the latest computer game that costs a bloody fortune, only to be ridiculed by their peers if their poor hard-working parents can't afford it. Their parents realise this & put themselves in debt till next Christmas to supply said computer game, thus creating a generation of spoiled brats who think they can have everything they want whenever they demand it. More fool their parents who put themselves in debt to have a 'nice' Christmas. Most families I know argue like hell over the whole holiday & are genuinely sick of the sight of each other by the time the holidays are over. They can't wait to get back to work/school/college for a rest. Megan... Did your young lady friend manage to get all twelve partridges in her oven at once, or is she expecting a bigger oven next Christmas?
Shyheels Posted January 11, 2015 Posted January 11, 2015 I guess it's just how you manage it. We keep it simple and fun and decorative and we are all rather sorry to take the tree down and resume the humdrum world of work and school.
Bikergoth Posted January 11, 2015 Posted January 11, 2015 Everyone assumes that the recipient of the gifts in the song is a female. It could be a poor harassed man being stalked by a bunny boiler sorry, swan boiler! Curiously enough all mute swans in the UK, (& probably the ones that can talk as well), belong to her Majesty the Queen. 'One wonders if someone's been poaching...!' Footnote: Swans, hens, geese, partridges etc. can all be poached, (& fried & boiled & grilled & baked!)
Puffer Posted January 11, 2015 Posted January 11, 2015 Everyone assumes that the recipient of the gifts in the song is a female. It could be a poor harassed man being stalked by a bunny boiler sorry, swan boiler! Curiously enough all mute swans in the UK, (& probably the ones that can talk as well), belong to her Majesty the Queen. 'One wonders if someone's been poaching...!' Footnote: Swans, hens, geese, partridges etc. can all be poached, (& fried & boiled & grilled & baked!) Not quite the case. H.M. has a historic right of ownership of mute swans residing in 'open water' (i.e. excluding lakes, ponds and the like) but no longer exercises this except in relation to the majority of the River Thames. It would seem that swans on (private) enclosed waters (and there must be many of them) are 'fair game' for hunters and eaters, although they must be cauight and killed humanely. I believe they are a delicacy but I don't know of anyone who admits to having eaten one in modern times. (Will the supermarkets with their 'four bird roasts' now consider a 'five bird' product, I wonder?)
Bikergoth Posted January 11, 2015 Posted January 11, 2015 Mr Puffer I bow to your superior knowledge re: mute swans. Thanks very much for setting the record straight. Still not altogether sure about who has right of ownership of the talking swans though...! I'm not sure I'd ever admit to eating one though, if technically I could be charged with eating HM's dinner. This could therefore be classed as treason resulting in my being hauled off to the tower & kept in chains or loosing my head. I guess most people will be keeping quiet on that score. A five bird roast would be interesting, but if you include everything in the song you could perhaps market it as a 'Twelve Day Roast'. A gold ring would certainly save putting a sixpence in the Christmas pud! I've had fruit bat... Is that a sporting implement for hitting apples & oranges over the boundary...?
Shyheels Posted January 11, 2015 Posted January 11, 2015 Alas it is very gamey and boney and unpleasant. Not at all a suitable candidate for the five-bird feast.
Dr. Shoe Posted January 11, 2015 Posted January 11, 2015 Indeed, so much that it needs to be talked of in the plural, Maths Happy New Year, Shafted. Happy New Year everyone. As for interpretation, Shyheels and Dr Shoe, I beg your very pardon! I direct you to verse two, lines one and two: On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me/ Two turtle doves and (my italics) a partridge in a pear tree. I believe that, linguistically, 'and' marks accumulation. Undoubtedly twelve partridges are given, unless the whole thing is a tissue of lies. Not so. The song lists the gifts recieved so far. In other words the song is saying (in not so many words) On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me 2 turtle doves as well as the partridge in a pear tree which he sent yesterday. But it wouldn't scan... Instead the verse goes: On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me 2 turtle doves and the partridge in a pear tree. I had a five bird roast at Christmas. Turkey, duck, pheasant, chicken and goose. Graduate footwear designer able to advise and assist on modification and shoe making projects.
Puffer Posted January 11, 2015 Posted January 11, 2015 Not so. The song lists the gifts recieved so far. In other words the song is saying (in not so many words) On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me 2 turtle doves as well as the partridge in a pear tree which he sent yesterday. But it wouldn't scan... Instead the verse goes: On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me 2 turtle doves and the partridge in a pear tree. I had a five bird roast at Christmas. Turkey, duck, pheasant, chicken and goose. 1. I don't agree about the 12 days; the accumulating gifts of each day are clearly repeated on each following day. And, if the verse on the second day was as you suggest, how can the sender purport to send again on that day the partridge which was sent the previous day? (We're almost getting into a dispute with an eBay seller - or City Link - here!) 2. I envy your 5-bird roast; some of us can't afford to buy our Christmas dinner at Aldi!
Shyheels Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 I go back to my original thought - either way, the carpets in this poor slob's house would have been filthy.
Dr. Shoe Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 1. I don't agree about the 12 days; the accumulating gifts of each day are clearly repeated on each following day. And, if the verse on the second day was as you suggest, how can the sender purport to send again on that day the partridge which was sent the previous day? (We're almost getting into a dispute with an eBay seller - or City Link - here!) Exactly, you can't unless the singer is counting up the goods that she has recieved so far. In other words: two french hens and the (as in one only) partridge. It's like the old riddle: I met a man with seven wives going to St Ives. Each wife had seven daughters, each daughter had seven sacks and each sack held seven cats. Each cat had seven kittens so how many went to St. Ives. Answer: one person. Graduate footwear designer able to advise and assist on modification and shoe making projects.
Puffer Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 Tara: this isn't making sense; I'm not sure if we are on the same wavelength (here)! Perhaps someone else can explain what you mean and which of us is right. By my calculations, the total items in the overall gift over the 12 days was 364. And surely every verse of the song apart from the first ends '... and a [not 'the'] partridge in a pear tree', which must indicate repetition each day of this and all other previous gifts?
Shafted Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 It's rather amusing that it ends in almost a years worth of gifts. I wonder if that is a coincidence. Shafted, the boots that is! View my gallery here http://www.hhplace.o...afteds-gallery/ or view my heeling thread here http://www.hhplace.org/topic/3850-new-pair-of-boots-starts-me-serious-street-heeling/ - Pm me if you want fashion advice or just need someone to talk to.
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