HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: plummer@cs.swarthmore.edu (David Barker-Plummer)
Subject: Re: Betting on the Prez
Organization: Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 18:14:31 GMT

In article <1992Oct10.013703.1651@nuscc.nus.sg> hiscrp@nuscc.nus.sg (C R Pennell) writes:

CRP> : 	Anybody know what odds Ladbrokes are offering on
CRP> : 	Bush/Quayle vs. Clinton/Gore (for the Presidential
CRP> : 	election of course.)?
CRP> :
CRP> Clinton 4 to 1 on
CRP> Bush 5 to 2
CRP> Perot 25 to 1
CRP> Source ECONOMIST 10-16 OCtober 1992

CRP> Are 'Mercans allowed to bet on this. If so waht are teh rates
CRP> there?

I am not a Mercan, nor do I play one on TV, but I do live in the US.
Gambling is illegal in most places here -- the puritan influence and
all that -- so there aren't any official odds.

I assume that in Atlantic City, NJ and in Nevada (where gambling is
legal) one could put some money on this.

BTW: when they say gambling is illegal, this includes even slot
machines, a fact that I found very disconcerting on moving here.

-- Dave
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: hiscrp@nuscc.nus.sg (C R Pennell)
Subject: Re: etymology
Organization: National University of Singapore
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 13:03:59 GMT

husted@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Jack) writes:
: I have a request.  What is the origin of the British slang
: phrase, "bob's your uncle"?  As I understand it, this phrase
: may mean something like "quick as a wink" or "easy as pie".
: By the way, who thinks it is all that easy to make pie. 8-


 It's a good deal easier to eat one, though.


)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: streater@unixjr.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Tim Streater)
Subject: Re: Clew or Clue ?
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 01:38:49 GMT

In article <1992Oct11.140914.680@hls.com> rk@hls.com writes:
>
>A  patronising american has followed up on this with me on email and has
>suggested that I use "correct" English word, namely "clue".
>
>I used to read Enid Blyton during my childhood and and am sure Georgina, 

She used to have a fit when she was addressed as "Georgina". Try "George".

>Ju, Dick and Anne used to discuss clews and not clues. Am I wrong in
>assuming that "clew" is a synonym to the word "clue" ?
>
The OED has a long entry for clew. I won't quote it all, just give what appear
to be the defs:

1) A globular body (formed by coiling together or agglomeration).

2) A ball formed by winding thread; a ball of thread or yarn.

3) The coccoon spun by silkworm or the like.

4) A ball of thread, which in various mythological or legendary narratives
   is mentioned as the means of "threading" a way through a labyrinth or maze.
   Hence, in many more or less figurative applications, that which guides
   through a maze etc etc.

5) The series of small cords by which a hammock is suspended at the two ends,
   called respectively the head-clew and foot-clew.

6) (Naut) The lower corner of a square sail, or the aftmost corner of a
   fore-and-aft sail, to which are made fast the tacks and sheets by which it
   is extended and held to the lower yard. Etc etc.

Note these are the nouns, there are corresponding verb entries too. As far as
your actual question is concerned, clue as a spelling appeared in the 15th
cent, (as a variant spelling for clew) but was not prevalent until the 17th
cent. It has now become the prevailing form for the notion of clue, as in "a
piece of evidence tending to lead one toward the solution of a problem". This
latter I got from the Webster that came with my Brittanica.

So the bottom line is, "clew" as a word exists as defined in (1) through (6)
above, "clue" normally means something different although the words are
related as in (4) above.  You can use "clew" for "clue", but this would not
be the "usual" spelling.

So the question of whether your American correspondant was correct in
complaining depends on what they were complaining about.

Hope this helps - tin.




Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: evansg@uproar.enet.dec.com (Gwyn Evans @ IME)
Subject: VNS: Wed  7-Oct-1992
Keywords: VNS,news
Organization: Digital Equipment Service Industries Solutions Company Ltd
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 10:44:45 GMT


<><><><><><><><>  T h e   V O G O N   N e w s   S e r v i c e  <><><><><><><><>

 Edition : 2678            Wednesday  7-Oct-1992            Circulation :  7741

        VNS MAIN NEWS .....................................   40 Lines

VNS MAIN NEWS:                                    [Tom Povey, VNS UK News Desk]
==============                                    [Reading, England           ]

    Here is the News at 08:00 BST on Wednesday 7-October-1992
    ---------------------------------------------------------
        
    UK News
    -------
    FT-SE = 2488.4 (+42.1)
    Exchange Rate for UK pound = $ 1.7215  = Dm 2.4545

    5 people were slightly hurt last night when a bomb exploded in a litter
    bin in Picadilly Circus.

    The Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd is to fly to Lisbon today and then
    onto Madrid tomorrow for talks about the Maastricht treaty ahead of the
    EC summit in Birmingham next week.

    Talks on the long term future of Northern Ireland resume today at
    Stormont.

    Life-sized statues of Laural and Hardy are to be displayed in Ulverston,
    Cumbria as part of a tourist drive. Stan Laural came from there.

    European News
    -------------

    Czech and Slovak prime ministers have agreed to formally split the
    former country of Czechislovakia by 1 January 1993.

    The UN have agreed to setup a war crimes commission to investigate
    actions during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

    More bodies have been recovered at the site of the Amsterdam air crash.
    The aircraft flight recorder has yet to be found. 

    {News courtesy of the BBC}


    Local Weather
    -------------

    Staying dry and cloudy. Cool but not cold.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><>   VNS Edition : 2678   Wednesday  7-Oct-1992   <><><><><><><><>
--
+======================================================================+
| Gwyn Evans  | evansg@uproar.enet.dec.com |  Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK  |
| DESISCo - Digital Equipment Service Industries Solutions Company Ltd |
|  Views expressed and statements made are mine and not those of DEC   |
+======================================================================+
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: hugh@sci.kun.nl (Hugh Osborne)
Subject: Re: Currency problems
Organization: University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 09:38:05 GMT

In <26798@castle.ed.ac.uk> fofp@castle.ed.ac.uk (M Holmes) writes:
>[...] *compulsory* contribution to welfare is wrong.

As a point of interest: are you also against compulsory contribution to
defence?
--
Hugh Osborne             |            Dept. of Informatics
                       --+--          University of Nijmegen
                        /|\           The Netherlands
_______________________/___\_________ +31-(0)80-65.25.99
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,alt.politics.british,soc.culture.celtic
From: derek@spock.retix.com (Derek Gallagher)
Subject: Re: Irish Rejects Associated (IRA)
Organization: Retix, Santa Monica CA
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1992 00:27:55 GMT



READ ON FOR:

2 EASY STEPS TO UNITING THE PEOPLE OF N.I ON AT LEAST ONE ISSUE...










 









Step 1: Obtain one "Dave Shariff Yadallee"

Step 2: Give him 2 minutes on the 6 o clock news.

Result: Both sides agree he's an idiot.


-- 


===================================================================
			O.S.I Product Unit
From: quigley@acs.ucalgary.ca (Martyn Thomas Quigley)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Some of my best friends are speculators
Date: 7 Oct 92 05:14:19 GMT
Organization: The University of Calgary, Alberta

livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey) writes:
	[Matthew Huntbach's post deleted]
>As usual, of course, slippery Matthew is mixing up two distinct
>questions.    He wants you to think of national curriculum and
>testing as "regulation", to encourage you to imagine that there is
>more bureacratic control of the day to day operation of schools, 
>when what is really happening is that there is national level
>quality control of the results, and how those results are achieved
>is more and more left to individual schools.

Well, perhaps you have not noticed the slew of circulars from the 
DfE telling schools what they *must* do.  Perhaps you have also
overlooked the 400+ powers which have been transferred from local control
(school or LEA) to the Sec of State from the 1988-1991 acts.  As for 
the "national quality control of results"--what would that be?  Did not 
John Patten rubbish the GCSE results just the other week?  Gosh, what 
with all these wonderful changes, standards continue to fall.  Seems 
we are damned if we do, and damned if we don't.  But I'm sure there is
a snappy, doctrinaire answer to all this.  
>
>jon.

Mart
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: firth@sei.cmu.edu (Robert Firth)
Subject: Re: Irish Rejects Associated (IRA)
Organization: Software Engineering Institute
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 12:47:30 GMT

In article <1992Oct15.120153.27312@dcs.qmw.ac.uk> mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:

>I thought you were opposed to the IRA, Dave. Your analogy is
>basically supporting their view. A better analogy would be to
>say that Texas was allowed to secede, but in one corner of the
>state most of the people wanted to remain part of the USA so,
>while most of Texas seceded, that little corner became a state
>of its own still part of the USA.

Of course, this is exactly what happened, though to Virginia, not
to Texas.  So the closest analogy is, suppose a bunch of loony
Virginians mounted a campaign of terror to have West Virginia
forcibly reunited with the Old Dominion, against the wishes of
most of its inhabitants.  How much support would they get?

I grant, the analogy is not exact.  Virginia was once, after all,
a united and independent state.  There has never been a united
Ireland, outside of Celtic fantasy land.
From: jim@cs.strath.ac.uk (Jim Reid)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: David Owen (was Re: Names of naughty politicians)
Date: 8 Oct 92 10:12:05 GMT
	<1992Oct7.132452.3418@cs.hw.ac.uk>
	<1992Oct7.194611.17493@dcs.qmw.ac.uk>
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Strathclyde Univ., Glasgow, Scotland.
In-reply-to: mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk's message of 7 Oct 92 19:46:11 GMT

In article <1992Oct7.194611.17493@dcs.qmw.ac.uk> mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:

   Well, in this case you must include David Owen aka Dr.Death, who

   While elected as an MP for party 1 (Labour) set up party 2 (SDP).
   While elected as an MP for party 2 refused to accept its
   democratic vote to merge with party 3 (Liberal) to form party 4
   (Liberal Democrats) and instead set up party 5 (SDP Mark II),
   while doing this converging in political views with party 6
   (Conservative), causing damage all round.

   For these reasons he is considered the ideal man to act as
   peacekeeper in ex-Yugoslavia.

The cover of Private Eye summed this up nicely. It has a picture of
John Major and David Owen talking outside 10 Downing Street. The
captions were:
	Major to Owen: "I'm afraid the situation in Yugoslavia is a
lost cause"
	Owen to Major: "In that case, I'm just the man for the job".

		Jim
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones)
Subject: Re: Service (or lack thereof)
Organization: :noitazinagrO
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 92 13:48:53 GMT

Sue Miller (sue@netcom.com) wrote:
: In article <10OCT199206273850@sscvx1.ssc.gov> godfrey@sscvx1.ssc.gov (LAURENCE GODFREY) writes:
: >In article <1992Oct10.012931.103@nuscc.nus.sg>, hiscrp@nuscc.nus.sg (C R Pennell)         writes...
: >>sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller) writes:
: >>: My SO, on the other hand, has completely lost patience with the
: >>: pace and quality of service in the UK, *and* he is completely
: >>: smoke-intolerant.  Luckily we didn't have to eat out together
: >>: very many times.  :-)  He also created quite a ruckus at the
: >>: village whist drive by requesting that the girl at his table
: >>: not inhale in his face.  I wanted to slide under the table.
: >> 
: >
: >I should think that the inhalation of your husband's face did the young
: >lady considerably more harm than the cigarette smoke.  He was quite right
: >to protest against the use of these tactics during whist - inhalation of
: >faces is definitely against the rules.  Had you slid under the table, as
: >you contemplated, I fear you might never have emerged again, as i know for
: >a fact that the strangest un-Californian activities take place under the
: >tables of village whist drives.
: >  (further invective deleted)
: 
: One hardly knows where to begin.  What a bubbly little fellow you are.
: Perhaps you have run out of cigarettes.
: 
I have it on good authority that the ultra-misanthropic Mr. G. hails
from none other than Mahatma Gandhi University, New Delhi, India.

To quote Alexei Sayle: "It's a funny old world, innit?"

--
||)) There is no truth to the rumor that:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))|
||)) Lotus are suing Apple for copying the look and feel of their lawsuits )|
||))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))|
||Dave Jones (dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com) | Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY   |
From: husted@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Jack)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: etymology
Date: 13 Oct 92 02:18:24 GMT
Organization: University of Wisconsin Academic Computing Center

I have a request.  What is the origin of the British slang
phrase, "bob's your uncle"?  As I understand it, this phrase
may mean something like "quick as a wink" or "easy as pie".
By the way, who thinks it is all that easy to make pie. 8-)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: mossop@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Antony Mossop)
Subject: Re: Service (or lack thereof)
Organization: Stanford Univ. Earth Sciences
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 21:15:51 GMT

In article <1992Oct13.081118.1491@osf.org> sp@osf.org (Simon Patience) writes:
>In article <1992Oct12.202155.21552@morrow.stanford.edu>, mossop@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Antony Mossop) writes:


Apologies if this is a repeat but the system seized up.

>............................
>Although pollution is still pollution, regardless of the 'quality'.
>............................

This was meant more as an, unclearly written, continuation on the
theme of certain pollutants maybe being the problem. It's not that
wild an assertion, some non-smokers do find pipe tobacco less
offensive etc. and manufactured cigarettes do contain sizable quantities
of saltpetre ( => irritating NO compounds). Reaction most certainly
does depend on the particular pollutants involved. Still I totally
accept your belief that for most people who react to tobacco smoke it
is probably not the adulterants, but soot, tar etc.. common to all
tobacco smoke that causes them problems (I just felt like being
pedantic instead of getting on with my work).


Tony Mossop, geophysics, Stanford

Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: li@oracorp.com (Li Gong)
Subject: Re: Clew or Clue ?
Organization: ORA Corporation, Ithaca, New York
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 16:23:02 GMT

In <1992Oct11.223746.23233@netcom.com> sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller) writes:
>In article <1992Oct11.140914.680@hls.com> rk@hls.com writes:
>>I used the word "clew" which is spelled by americans as "clue".
>>... Am I wrong in assuming that "clew" is a synonym to the word "clue" ?
>
>No, you are not wrong.  Your correspondent should get hold of a
>dictionary.  Clew and clue are synonymous, and clew is in fact

Not only the "your correspondent" could consult a dictionary, but also
the "you", *before* wasting the time and network traffic in posting
the original question.  Nobody uses dictionary anymore in today's
civilization (albeit of a very degenerated form)?

-- 
Li GONG, PhD                | Email  : li@oracorp.com
ORA Corporation             | Fax    : 607-277-3206
301A Dates Drive            | Switch : 607-277-2020
Ithaca, New York 14850, USA | Direct : 607-272-0736 (dial 217 on tone)
From: Geraint.Jones@comlab.oxford.ac.uk (Geraint Jones)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Words: American vs English (UK type)
Date: 7 Oct 92 08:42:20 GMT
Reply-To: Geraint.Jones@comlab.oxford.ac.uk (Geraint Jones)
Organization: Archer's Original Aged Ordure, Purveyors of Fine Filth
Originator: geraint@pierrot.comlab

thos@suite.sw.oz.au (Thomas Cohen) enquires:
(  What do people over in the UK call Tractor-trailer rigs (to use the 
 ) American parlance)? We call them Semi's (from semi-trailer or
(  semi-articulated, which doesn't really make a lot of sense).

The trade calls them `artics', but the man in the street calls them
`lorries', or perhaps in a fit of particularity `articulated lorries'.

For historical reasons, to do with the time we increased our weight 
limits for lorries to match those on the continent, some people
call them juggernauts.  Devotees do not throw themselves under the
wheels, however; at least not often.

My excuse for getting involved in word-swapping is that I am curious
to know what pantechnicons are called in other anglophone countries.	g
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:13849 rec.arts.books:18035
From: streater@unixjr.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Tim Streater)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Reading scripts and scores
Date: 9 Oct 92 06:46:57 GMT
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

In article <1992Oct8.214614.10057@athena.cs.uga.edu> fuller@athena.cs.uga.edu (James P. H. Fuller) writes:
>
>especially since those with the resources to *do* productions waste their
>time on the umpty zillionth rerun of _Carmen_ ....
>
Those with the resources? No-one really has the resources. That's why our
opera company, for example (West Bay Opera, in Palo Alto), is doing Falstaff
again only only a few years after we last did it, instead of something else.
And yes, we do Carmen and Tosca and La Boheme too often too. What's the choice?
Even though this is one of the 3 or 4 good amateur companies in the Bay Area
whose purpose is to give young professional singers a chance to do lead roles
and even though we get a lot of donations from local business, and don't pay
theatre rental, and a few other things, even with all this we barely break
even. You gotta be sure of pulling the punters in big, at least once a season.

Tin.

Psst - was my panhandling too subtle?  (No - Ed).
From: cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Edinburgh
Date: 8 Oct 92 17:47:39 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <Bvt1t7.J2B@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk> dam@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (David Morning) writes:

>>By the way, something different, what's the correct pronunciation of
>>the name "John Menzies"?

>Mingus, but its hardly used. The John Menzie's bookstore is usually referred
>to as 'Menzie's" or 'John Menzie's' locally.

Clearly you hang around with a bunch of Sassenachs! 

Incidentally, is Charlie Mingus the most famous Scottish jazzman?
-- 
Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.aifh          +44 (0)31 650 3085
Department of Artificial Intelligence,    Edinburgh University
5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK                DoD #205
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: jlloyd@cc.uow.edu.au (Jonathan Lloyd)
Subject: VNS:The Vogon News Service
Organization: University Of Wollongong
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 92 06:19:57 GMT

I would like to thank the guys who keep VNS going for providing 
us poor expats with the most reliable and unbiased news service
we could wish for.

Often you provide us with the sort of news from the UK that the
BBC world service fails to cover. And reception (if you're 
connected to the NET) is never a problem.

Keep up the good work. One suggestion, less world news we can all get that 
from the local media. More UK news and more rugby coverage.
From: fofp@castle.ed.ac.uk (M Holmes)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Edinburgh
Date: 13 Oct 92 14:04:25 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

cmorris@Ingres.COM (Colin Morris) writes:

>Well, my uncle worked for Menzies in London, but on his transfer to
>their headquarters in Edinburgh he was informed in no uncertain terms
>that he now worked for "Mingis". Mind you, getting this right wasn't
>half the problem he had learning the locations of Menzies shops such
>as Hawick...

It's in the High Street, although it's in a different bit of the High
Street than where it was when I was a kid.

Teri's pronounce it "men-zz-ease" as in "errr eeee gawn doon the street
tay menzzease tay giht a paper? -ahll come doon wih eee in a meeenit."

>--
>Colin Morris     

FoFP
From: davol@twinheadmeiko.co.uk (David Wilson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Ship of Fools
Date: 15 Oct 92 16:09:58 GMT
Organization: meiko

I'm sure most would agree that this country (UK PLC) is in 
something of a crisis state, right now.

I find myself compiling a mental list of favourite 'rotten' 
policies of this government. It goes something like this:

1. The creation of private monopolies
2. Agricultural subsidies (set-aside)
3. Subsidies for nuclear power
4. Neglect of manufacturing in favour of service industries. 

And while I'm on the soapbox ...

Ideology, I seem to remember, is a set of beliefs arising 
directly from experience. As such, ideologies tend to be 
highly partisan and do not stand up to critical analysis. 
This didn't stop ideology playing a central, formative role
in Stalinist Russia or in other communist or socialist 
systems. These systems were/are often quite flagrantly 
ideological - the view being that the irrational self-interest
of the 'masses' is a 'universal' self-interest. 

I became disillusioned with this kind of thinking some time 
ago. Like a reformed boozer, however, I've developed quite a 
nose for it and the stink of ideology now stemming from this 
government is overwhelming. 

They'll end up dragging us all over the edge with them. 

Dave Wilson (opinions my own, of course)
From: rogerc@discovery.uk.sun.com (Roger Collier)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Price of a Burberry
Date: 8 Oct 92 16:21:40 GMT
Reply-To: rogerc@discovery.uk.sun.com
Organization: Sun Microsystems
NNTP-Posting-Host: discovery.uk.sun.com


You don't need to buy a Burberry in Autumn (Fall). Just go out into the woods,
find a bur tree and pick a ripe one :-)


Roger.Collier@Uk.Sun.COM		Sun Microsystems
					Warwick University Science Park
(44) 203 692255				Coventry CV4 7HS
					England
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: sp@osf.org (Simon Patience)
Subject: Re: Free Trade (was Re: Currency Problems)\
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 09:48:57 GMT

In article <1992Oct7.151845.9329@vax.oxford.ac.uk>, wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
> Certainly. Virginia is in the USA. To get coal from Virginia to the UK involves
> burning fuel of whatever type it is that heavy container ships use for a week
> or two. To then get by lorry from Liverpool (say) to the power station involves
> 1000 or so lorries on a journey of an hour (at least). Not only do they

Why do you have to use lorries? What's wrong with rail? I believe they
normally run rails to the major ports.

Simon.

-- 
  Simon Patience
  Open Software Foundation			Phone: +33-76-63-48-72
  Research Institute				FAX:   +33-76-51-05-32
  2 Avenue De Vignate				Email: sp@gr.osf.org
  38610 Gieres, France				       uunet!gr.osf.org!sp
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books