HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cla04@seq1.keele.ac.uk (A.T. Fear)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: What is a 2.1 equivalent to ?
Date: 13 Sep 92 19:48:21 GMT
Organization: University of Keele, England

From article <1992Sep13.171153.13788@rdg.dec.com>, by cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn):
> If you pass your degree, you get a classification which is either
> 1, 2:1, 2:2 or 3. 
> 
Well you can get a 'pass' degree which is lower than any of these and
means you don't have honours which all the above have. Mind you if you
plumbed these depths you'd probably not want to mention the degree at
all.

Andy
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: mckeonj@ul.ie
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Bugger Bognor
Date: 15 Sep 92 14:48:58 GMT
Organization: University of Limerick, Ireland

There is a popular tradition that the last words of King George V
were not "How is the Empire?", as recorded officially, but
"Bugger Bognor!".
In response to an enquiry by the Bognor Regis Corporation,
Buckingham Palace have now confirmed that the King's dying
words, in response to the doctor's comment that he would
soon be able to take a holiday in Bognor, were indeed
"Bugger Bognor!"
Thus is tradition justified.
-- 
"O Lord, bless and be gracious to the Greater and Lesser Cumbray
Isles, and in thy mercy do not forget the adjacent islands of
Great Britain and Ireland."
(a prayer of the minister of the Cumbrays, two small islands in the
mouth of the River Clyde)
===================================================================
John McKeon, Material Science Dept. University of Limerick, Ireland
Sysop, STYX BBS Limerick Ireland, +353-61-338228, FidoNet 2:263/271
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:12249 rec.arts.tv.uk:5304 rec.arts.drwho:5910 alt.tv.prisoner:1327
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.tv.uk,rec.arts.drwho,alt.tv.prisoner,alt.usage.engl
Subject: Re: Gordon Bennett! Re: No smegma please, we're American
From: ace@kryton.UUCP (Catherine Beckstead)
Date: Mon, 07 Sep 92 14:00:15 PDT
Organization: Paradox Alley F&SF BBS 805-492-8789

husted@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Jack) writes:
 <losts of stuff about the pro's and cons of Webster's deleted>
> of a marquess/marquis? (ref. 1965 edition)  This burning linguistic
> issue is probably not among most American college students'
> lists of the top ten social problems. 8-) However, Webs. Col. is
> deficient in that it doesn't contain an entry for *smegma*.8-D

_The Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary_ C. 1981, pg. 1088 does contain
a definition for the word "smegma".  I would give the definition, but
that has been done here many times.  I just thought that all those who
say that it isn't in Webster's, well I guess you have the wrong addition.
Although in my 1966 Webster's, there is no entry for "smegma".


-------------------------------------------------------------------
Catherine Beckstead                    ace@kryton.uucp
"Do you want to argue with a can of deodorant that registers
NINE on the Richter scale?"        --Ace, in "Dragonfire"
From: clive@x.co.uk (Clive Feather)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: A coincidence for disaster buffs
Date: 14 Sep 92 15:03:01 GMT
Organization: IXI Limited, Cambridge, UK

In article <1992Sep11.093747.11802@cs.hw.ac.uk> neilp@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Postlethwaite) writes:
>In article <1992Sep10.195959.6946@unixg.ubc.ca> banarji@unixg.ubc.ca (Ajai Banarji) writes:
>> As anyone with a little knowledge of British railway history knows, 
>> the worst-ever accident in Britain took place in 1915 at a place called
>> Quintinshill in southern Scotland. The official death roll was 227.

> Quintinshill was the name given to the signal box, and the 'hill'. The accident
> did happen in that general area, hence the Quintinshill disaster.....

"general area" ? It happened right outside the signal box !

BTW, whilst the official death roll was 227, no-one knows for certain,
and some estimates are as high as 250. Most of the dead were soldiers
from Musselburgh (sp?) in Edinburgh (where there is a monument to them),
and the official Battalion Roll was destroyed in the accident.

-- 
Clive D.W. Feather     | IXI Limited         | If you lie to the compiler,
clive@x.co.uk          | 62-74 Burleigh St.  | it will get its revenge.
Phone: +44 223 462 131 | Cambridge   CB1 1OJ |   - Henry Spencer
Fax:   +44 223 462 132 | United Kingdom      |
From: colin@cs.uq.oz.au (Colin Millerchip)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Dum dee dum...
Date: 7 Sep 92 00:40:41 GMT
Reply-To: colin@cs.uq.oz.au

In <1992Sep3.182008.8644@vax.oxford.ac.uk> wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
> [...]
>But surprisingly Mummy is putting up with Lizzie and Nigel's business ventures
>remarkably well. Rather than a Grim Reckoning I would expect a Pargetter
>nuptual fairly soon, or even two if Nelson does his job well enough---as he
>seems to be.

Can this mean... the Good Guy is going to win in the end?! Lizzie and
Nigel?!! Shurely shome mishtake.

... and Nelson and "Mummy"?

Anyone care to hazard a visual description of Mummy Pargitter?

C.

--
|Colin Millerchip           | "And all this science I don't understand,|
|University of Queensland,  |  It's just my job five days a week"      |
|Brisbane, Australia.       |   - "Rocketman", Elton John              |
|colin@cs.uq.oz.au          |                                          |
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:12224 rec.arts.tv.uk:5282 rec.arts.drwho:5884 alt.tv.prisoner:1317 alt.usage.english:7215
From: husted@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Jack)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.tv.uk,rec.arts.drwho,alt.tv.prisoner,alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: Gordon Bennett! Re: No smegma please, we're American
Date: 7 Sep 92 13:29:45 GMT
Organization: University of Wisconsin Academic Computing Center

In article <IDF.92Sep7145309@fat-controller.cs.bham.ac.uk>, idf@cs.bham.ac.uk (Ian Fitchet) writes...

>I thought Scrabble used Collins as its absolute reference :-)
> 
Versions may vary.  Mine (copyright 1976) says only that
"Before the game begins, the players should agree upon the
dictionary they will use."  Perhaps I have the *american*
version. 8-)
Incidentally, is that the John or Tom Collins?  Both enliven
any Scrabble game. 8-)
Be of good cheer,
Jack
From: jackson@soldev.tti.com (Dick Jackson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: buying peerage
Date: 8 Sep 92 15:11:14 GMT
Organization: Transaction Technology Inc.

In article <CC.92Sep4124007@arran.dcs.ed.ac.uk> cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke) writes:
=>In article <1992Sep4.073034.29837@cs.aukuni.ac.nz> mnor1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz (Mark Hiro           Norman         ) writes:
=>
=>   In casual conversations with friends, I have been told that it is
=>   possible in the UK to 'buy' a title of some sort or other by donating
=>   enough money to charities, or similar actions (endowing schools, things
=>   like that I guess).
=>
=>   Is there any truth to this or have they just picked it up from tv?
=>
=>Yes, it's quite possible.  Donating money to charity will only get you a
=>fairly minor title, though.  To get a big, important title you have to donate
=>lots of money to the Conservative Party.  Sad but true.  The whole thing is
=>corrupt beyond belief.

I am relying on you chaps to fill in the blanks here. Once upon a time,
in the 20's I think, a wealthy industrialist wrote a cheque to the
Conservative Pary for blank hundred thousand pounds and signed it Lord
Blank. He wasn't Lord Blank at the time, but since they couldn't cash
the cheque unless he was, he was quickly elevated.

Or is this well known story apocryphal?

Dick Jackson
From: EE117@LIVERPOOL.AC.UK
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: real and virtual UK universities
Date: 15 Sep 92 15:27:13 GMT
Organization: University of Liverpool

Laurence writes...

>My own opinion is that the problem would have been just as
>effectively solved by allowing Kentucky Fried Chicken shops to give away
>a free degree with every two pieces of chicken sold.

here's a couple of suggestions for matriculation at the new Liverpool John
Moores University...


PhDs       - 8 score draws or more
MSc/MAs    - telephone claims for 22 points
BSc/BA etc - dividend forecast good

-Ian @liverpool_uni (the real one)
From: csp48@keele (J.W. Kirriemuir)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Keele University and "nocturnal activities"
Date: 15 Sep 92 22:17:55 GMT
Organization: Keele University, England


The right place to have been (before the undergrads moved out) was
either :
1) The "hole in the wall"
2) Horwood Hall A block
3) The woods round the lake on a saturday night (for voyeurs only).

KRA? Nah; full of the geriatric element (people from Z2 Horwood etc).

Condom machine in Horwood Hall general block, and several other
locations around the campus. Never select the ribbed ones though; its
always empty and they never refill it.
From: cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: British Slang
Date: 15 Sep 92 14:09:38 GMT
	<CC.92Sep15094319@arran.dcs.ed.ac.uk>
	<1992Sep15.115454.3650@dcs.qmw.ac.uk>
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
In-reply-to: mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk's message of 15 Sep 92 11:54:54 GMT

In article <1992Sep15.115454.3650@dcs.qmw.ac.uk> mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:

   Are you sure it's Northern, or is this just an extension of the
   usual prejudice which thinks anything earthy and working class
   is northern, while all southerners are pink-gin drinking
   stockbrokers?

No, I guessed it's Northern because the first answer (saying it's an
artificial word) came from a Southerner.  Admittedly I suppose there are lots
of types of wildly different southerner, as you keep pointing out, so I may
be wrong.
--
	-- Chris. 	cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk   (on Janet, cc@uk.ac.ed.dcs)
From: ams@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: S-levels
Date: 7 Sep 92 17:19:01 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

In article <1992Sep7.174532.8716@vax.oxford.ac.uk>, wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
> In article <25582@castle.ed.ac.uk>, egpv29@castle.ed.ac.uk (JHenderson) writes:
>> In article <1992Sep5.192103.13256@cco.caltech.edu> miriam@seismo.gps.caltech.edu (Miriam Jackson) writes:
>> 
>> =>There are also O/A levels, halfway between O-levels and A-levels,
>> =>and S levels which are harder that A-levels, and are taken by
>> =>people aiming for Oxbridge.
>> 
>> Small quibble here: S-levels have/had? no special significance for Oxbridge,
>> because most Oxbridge applicants take/took? the special entrance exams, which
>> are/were? harder than S-levels.
>> 
> Cambridge has its own STEP papers, which are equivalent in difficulty to
> S-levels (A-level level but in much more depth) and are taken at the same time.
> (At the same time as A-levels.) Oxford uses S-levels judiciously for candidates
> who decide not to take the Oxford Entrance Exam, which is sat two terms before
> A-levels, in the November before the new student goes up.

To be honest, people who took the Oxford exam aren't going to find A-levels
much problem (unless things have changed radically since '85). S-levels provide 
something to keep them occupied in the intervening couple of terms (at least
for some of the time). Nobody takes much notice of S-levels really, but they 
are a bit more interesting than the standard A-level exam questions ("Write out 
section 2 of the exam syllabus in triplicate....").

A bunch of brightish pupils in the Upper Sixth with no exam pressure and lots
of free energy can cause chaos if nobody offers them anything useful to do
(believe me, I know).

Michael.
From: mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: O-levels, A-levels etc was Re: THE COMPLETE BRITISH TO AMERICAN DI
Date: 14 Sep 92 08:07:13 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, QMW, University of London, UK.

From: chem91@Elroy.UH.EDU ("Bill Harrison (713)-743-2789")
>I always felt *at that time* that the token few from "Brookside
>Comprehensive" like myself were only admitted because of public and political
>pressure etc etc. (I entered via a "conditional offer" (on A-level results)
>because my school, like so many, had no facilities for teaching the
>"entrance exam".

No, no. You have forgotten how the British class system works.
It has managed to preserve itself precisely by have slightly
permeable barriers. The regular adding of small amounts of new
blood into the upper class has ensured against it becoming
completely inbred.

If the new entrants have to pass stiff entry tests and are
careful screened to be of the more toadying sort, the upper
class know that they will act as the staunchest defendants of
the class system, for they will always be eternally grateful
for having been admitted, and will always defend it with the
argument that they themselves are living proof that it does not
exist.

Matthew Huntbach
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: dbarker@spang.Camosun.BC.CA (Deryk Barker)
Subject: Re: Tanstaafl (was:Americanising of the UK
Organization: Camosun College, Victoria BC, Canada
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 02:23:22 GMT

In article <1992Sep09.081125.15198@bnr.uk> agc@bmdhh298.bnr.ca (Alan Carter) writes:
[...]
>In the early 80s (Ronald Reagan, Maggie Thatcher, Anal Retentiveness, 
>Radioactive Megadeath etc) Milton Freidman, a pseudoeconomist who didn't
>beleive that economics has feedback loops in it, it's just 'individuals and
>their choice', pretended he invented TANSTAAFL. He nicked it.

I always understood (probably I have Alastair Cooke to blame for this)
that H.L Mencken originated the phrase.

Deryk Barker, Computer Science Dept., Camosun College, Victoria B.C.

Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: prabhak@centi.cs.umn.edu (Satya Prabhakar)
Subject: Unhelpful British Consulate; Advice Sought 
Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, CSci dept.
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 09:47:23 GMT

Hi,

I am planning a business trip to London and I sent in my visa
application to the British Consulate in Chicago about 10 days
ago. I have not yet received the visa. I am little concerned 
becuase I am going out on other business trips before Sep 25
when I am due to leave for London, so would like to get the
visa and buy my ticket which is on a precarious hold.

I am unable to speak to anyone at the Consulate because they
shiled us (non-Britishers who are not in life-and-death
situation) off with an answering machine that goes on and on
like a Eveready Bunny.

My question for you folks is: Why does the Consulate not have
the minimum courtesy of speakig to people who want to visit 
UK? More importantly, what do I do now?

Any advice will be appreciated,

Satya Prabhakar
(satya@ssdc.honeywell.com)
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:12385 rec.arts.tv.uk:5401 rec.arts.drwho:6027 alt.tv.prisoner:1361
From: sandee@Think.COM (Daan Sandee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.tv.uk,rec.arts.drwho,alt.tv.prisoner
Subject: Re: Tanstaafl (was:Americanising of the UK
Date: 11 Sep 1992 20:49:58 GMT
Organization: TMC
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: telecaster.think.com

In article <92255.143008U48073@uicvm.uic.edu>, Cole Kendall <U48073@uicvm.uic.edu> writes:
|> In article <1992Sep09.081125.15198@bnr.uk>, agc@bmdhh298.bnr.ca (Alan Carter)
|> says on the origin of TANSTAAFL:
|> 
|> >In the early 80s (Ronald Reagan, Maggie Thatcher, Anal Retentiveness,
|> >Radioactive Megadeath etc) Milton Freidman, a pseudoeconomist who didn't
|> >beleive that economics has feedback loops in it, it's just 'individuals and
|> >their choice', pretended he invented TANSTAAFL. He nicked it.
|> 
|> The use of TANSTAAFL by U of Chicago economists predates the "early 80s."
|> While I am unaware of any pseudoeconomists who don't "beleive" in
|> feedback loops, I first encountered the acronym in introductory
|> graduate price theory at the U of C in the late 1970s (after Friedman
|> left Chicago to go to Hoover, before Lady T. became PM, before Mr. R
|> was elected president...but I'm not sure about AR or RM).

AR was coined by Sigmund Freud at the turn of the century. Its use in
modern American is surely as old as the net, which is earlier than the '80s.
RM, whether in the language or in the mind of military strategists, also
predates the '80s by quite a bit.
Continuing to pick nits, Lady T didn't become PM, that was Mrs T (or Maggie,
as Alan said).

Daan Sandee                                           sandee@think.com
Thinking Machines Corporation
Cambridge, Mass 02142                                 (617) 234-5044
From: streater@unixhub.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Tim Streater)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: buying peerage
Date: 8 Sep 92 14:48:40 GMT
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

In article <1992Sep6.181508.12694@dscomsf.desy.de> Hallam@zeus02.desy.de writes:
>|>in the Times before the election). Remember that the Tories value the
>|>tradition of the peerage, and are actually less likely to be partisan about
>|>it than Labour.
>
>The tories value the tradition that gives them an in built veto over
>legislation.
>
The Lords can delay legislation for up to a year. Financial legislation they
cannot touch at all.

Hardly a veto, I venture to suggest.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: godfrey@sscvx1.ssc.gov (LAURENCE GODFREY)
Subject: Re: British Slang
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1  
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 01:00:00 GMT

In article <c06502KP21G601@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com>, czl30@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Chris Lee)     writes...
>In article <TORKEL.92Sep13133326@bast.sics.se> torkel@sics.se (Torkel Franzen) writes:
> 
>  <lots of stuff about the Sun and bonking deleted>
> 
>When I went to started at grammar school (Pinner, Middlesex) in 1959 we
>used the term "on the bonk" for an erection. Now I'm really showing my
>age.
> 
>We also used to say "bonkers" meaning mad.
> 
>Chris (the even older codger) Lee

I started at the equivalent of grammer school (I am ashamed to admit it
was a public school - which, for Americans is a special private school)
in 1961, which makes me almost as old as you (well except that I started
at 9, rather than 11).  I am not surprised that in Pinner they were well
ahead of the Sun newspaper, just as I recall many women from Pinner were
well ahead of those found in Elstree where I went to school (not in the
school of course, since only males were permitted there [some males, as
I recall, were hard to identify as such, but that is fairly standard at
such schools and is a different story], but in its vicinity).

However, I think I may remember a similar term in use at my school, so
having already retracted my posting that bonk was a Sun word, I retract
it again.  Also, I retract the post suggesting that gobsmacked was a
Sun word.  Gotcha, of course, as in @let's give the Argies some Bargie@,
cannot be challenged.

Laurence

Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: avyfdvg@unicorn.nott.ac.uk (David Gatenby)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Words from the "Sun"
Date: 13 Sep 92 14:06:59 GMT
Organization: Cripps Computing Centre, University of Nottingham

Did you know that it was a Sun journalist who coined the phrase "lager lout."
Now, don't ask me who it was, because I don't know.  I read the journalist's
letter about his contribution to the mother tongue in the Independent.
Altogether now, "It is. Are you?"  8-)  Now then, how many Americans are going
to write in asking, "What's a lager lout?" 8^)

*David Gatenby, Dept of Slavonic Studies  *                           *
*University of Nottingham, University Park* "Rasslab'sya, otechestvo" *
*NOTTINGHAM, England NG7  2RD             *   (pun, not misspelling)  *
*                         avyfdvg@unicorn.nott.ac.uk                  *
From: smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Revolution in t'UK?
Date: 15 Sep 92 15:20:54 GMT
Reply-To: P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Organization: University of Bristol

In article <2837@nlsun1.oracle.nl> mlemmerm@oracle.nl writes:
>Soneone (lost attribution) said...
>___THEN I open the Grauniad, to find that Steve Bell & If... is still 
>___missing.  Is he dead, on ANOTHER holiday, working for the Sun or
>___taking a sabatical a la  G. Trudeau??   Please advise soonest.
>
>That's funny - there's a series of IF cartoons in the European edition
>of the Guardian at the moment. 

We've had those the last couple of days.  Looks like he's back...
-- 
Paul Smee, Computing Service, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UD, UK
 P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk - ..!uunet!uknet!bsmail!p.smee - Tel +44 272 303132
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:12237 rec.arts.tv.uk:5298 rec.arts.drwho:5904 alt.tv.prisoner:1322
From: steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.tv.uk,rec.arts.drwho,alt.tv.prisoner
Subject: Re: Americanising of the UK, Now: British TV in North America
Date: 7 Sep 92 23:30:04 GMT
	<1992Aug28.182604.23445@enterprise.rdd.lmsc.lockheed.com>
	<1992Sep3.155150.993@pixel.kodak.com> <6SEP199213245452@venus.tamu.edu>
	<18f6suINN965@grapevine.EBay.Sun.COM>
Organization: Lick Observatory/UCO
NNTP-Posting-Host: topaz.ucsc.edu
In-reply-to: smckinty@sunicnc.France.Sun.COM's message of 7 Sep 1992 09:20:30 GMT

In article <18f6suINN965@grapevine.EBay.Sun.COM> smckinty@sunicnc.France.Sun.COM (Steve McKinty - Sun ICNC) writes:

   In article <6SEP199213245452@venus.tamu.edu>, ewm6965@venus.tamu.edu (The Guardian) writes:

   > Then there's Larry Niven's creation, "tanj" (There Ain't No Justice), and 
   > "tanstaafl" (There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch") whose origin I don't
		  ^^^^^^^ There Ain't
   > know.

   I think 'tanstaafl' was a Robert Heinlein invention

I don't know if the abbreviation was original with RAH but
the phrase originated at a 1930's economics conference during
a debate between two famous economists, one of which was contending
there were no "laws of economics"; the rebuttal was that they
should then go have lunch at whichever restaurant in town
served free lunch... now, who remembers the names of the people
involved - one was austrian (marxist I seem to recall) the other
from/at a US University.

*  Steinn Sigurdsson   			Lick Observatory      	*
* steinly@helios.ucsc.edu		"standard disclaimer"  	*
*  I know people whose idea of fun				*
*  Is throwing stones in the river in the afternoon sun		*
*  Oh let me be as free as them					*
*  				- BB 1986			*
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.afghanistan,soc.culture.brazil
From: jamolina@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Molina)
Subject: Alt.visa.US
Organization: Syracuse University
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 92 18:55:18 EDT


To all of you guys with experience or questions about U.S. visas, residence,
and/or citizenship. There is a new newsgroup called alt.visa.us to discuss
this topic in detail. We encourage all those interested to join the group
and help clear up the intricacies of U.S. immigration laws. We appreciate
your help!