Dr John Dee

'Ere, who are you callin' mods?

I haven't ... oh, actually ...

Your Freudian slip, Moonie, betrays a truth that only we locals understand the full measure of.

A pleonasm, surely. Of course, Uncle Bitters, if you were to offer more adequate remuneration for my advice you could expect more effective service ... although I presume this won't be the first time you've been told something like that.

Around here that would be walk and chew bananas wouldn't it?

I think we may be at cross-purposes, Uncle Bitters. I fear that either to confirm or to deny your impressions about the practices of certain exotic establishments may damage the remaining few tatters of my reputation irreparably. In fact I had in mind something much more pragmatic, given Mr Cutter’s legendary standing in the more familiar establishments of Burwood, in that the use of numbers seemed to suggest a form of mnemotechnics (as we say in the trade, though I have in truth forgotten what trade it is) based on substituting retirement villa or apartment numbers for the names of their residents. Perhaps I was wrong to do so. I notice that the more innocent, or those with more generosity of spirit amongst us, such as the inestimable Biffen, have taken Mr Cutter at his apparent word and see nothing more licentious at issue than the consumption of Chinese food. If so, I will need to regard Mr Cutter from hereon as a mere gourmand rather than (as others had promoted him to be) a gourmet of more interesting tastes.

Is that what you call her?

When in doubt, just copy it to Google search ('the disease worsens with the treatment' - Virgil). If it's not an obscure or vernacular or other expression that escapes the kinds of school level Latin dictionaries some of us still have lying around then Google might at least direct you to some vulgar or salacious site (highly likely where Biff is involved, I presume).

Footy people?

I didn't but I can understand why it was since your version of relevance isn't necessarily the only one.

Um, last year Rabbitohs v Bulldogs, this year Cowboys v Broncos and there's nothing that says about equalisation? Unless close games are your only measure of equality. The difference is that the NRL hasn't wrecked the general level of its teams' competitiveness with ill-conceived and ill-delivered expansionist projects like GWS and the Suns.

Perhaps no one was around to do so within a reasonable time. Tall Timber's tripe has nonetheless been dealt with in subsequent posts so I'm not going to worry about deleting it (and all the posts that quote it). I'd prefer the thread stayed open for the moment in case there are others who want to say something about Brad. I just want to wish him all the best.

You might well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

Safe? As for you, your whyness, now that the Abbott interregnum has come to its end, isn't it about time you relinquished that title of yours?

This thread obviously no longer has anything to do with its title.

Inevitable but pointless thread. It's done.

I (modestly, of course) draw your attention to my signature, which I adopted a while ago when contemplating much the same question.

The schnitzel's a bit of an improvement though.

Best laugh I've had in days.

Wow. You can't polish a hird but you can certainly cover it in lots of sticky vanilla icing.

Thanks for posting Daisy.

ahem ... Wikipedia. As to the deciphering, best left till the Shiraz levels have been restored.

He can afford his own holiday, Daisy.

The European Commission Directorate-General for Translation's English Style Guide (a handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission) previously recommended the use of regular plurals for documents intended for the general public but now has no restriction on usage and states: Prior to 2006, the inter-institutional style guide recommended use of euro and cent without the plural s, and the translation style guide recommended use of invariant plurals (without s) when amending or referring to original legislation but use of regular plurals in documents intended for the general public. Like ‘pound’, ‘dollar’ or any other currency name in English, the word ‘euro’ is written in lower case with no initial capital. Where appropriate, it takes the plural ‘s’ (as does ‘cent’): This book costs ten euros and fifty cents [. . .] The currency abbreviation precedes the amount and is followed by a hard space [. . .] The symbol also precedes the amount, and is followed by a hard space if the following number contains a space. (Wikipedia)

But to be honest, if we're going to ruin the reputation of any Shakespearean fool by mentioning Robbo in the same sentence, perhaps the most useful would be Launcelot Gobbo from The Merchant of Venice. The similarity in name helps, but he also shares Robbo's endless capacity for tormenting the language.