Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Me beads

Dear All,
ancora aiuto! Si sta giocando a poker con i dadi:
"Ante up, boys, two nines... and a nine... ooh! and a jack and a king... 
three little nines for Slim, oh, Jesus, *me beads*! Gimme, gimme, gimme, 
whoa!"
Quel *me beads*...? Forse è un ironico "sto sudando"? O è la deformazione 
cockney di qualcosa?
(Mary?)
-- 
Ciao,
Anna


Boh.. hai visto quanto (non) so di slang cockney io..
Sudore non credo.
Se chi parla è irlandese, forse parla del rosario?
Se è una donna, di una collana di perline?
Forse la collana si spezza e le perline cadono fra i dadi?
Veramente sto brancolando nel buio, comunque.
Nessun altro indizio?
-- 
Mary

 Se chi parla è irlandese, forse parla del rosario?
Chi parla è un uomo (lo stesso che comprava il cappello) ed è londinese, 
e l'azione si svolge sempre a Londra. Una delle sue caratteristiche è che 
ama "fare l'americano" imitando i film di gangster. Non so se possa 
essere un indizio utile. Intanto vado avanti, forse arriverà 
un'illuminazione.
-- 
Ciao,
Anna

 un'illuminazione.
A me risulta che "to draw a bead on a target" sta per
"mirare con cura al bersaglio".
Potrebbe essere qualcosa come "ho fatto centro",
"ci ho azzeccato"...
--
Er Roscio.

 "ci ho azzeccato"...
Ti ringrazio, ma purtroppo non credo possa essere cosě. Avevo 
colpevolmente omesso di precisare che il personaggio sta commentando il 
lancio dei dadi di un avversario; solo dopo toccherŕ a lui tirare. 
Conclude con "me beads!" poi dice "Gimme, gimme", "dammi, dammi i dadi".
-- 
Ciao,
Anna

 wrote

Still in England in the 1930s, are we?
me beads = my prayers
QUOTE
bead, n.
    1.    a. Prayer; pl. prayers, devotions. Obs.
  c885 K. ÆLFRED Bæda I. vii. (Bosw.) æt he sceolde a bedu anescian. c1200
Trin. Col. Hom. 193 e ridde is bede. Ibid. 163 On salmes, and on songes, and
on holde bedes. Ibid. 201 Alle holie beden ben..biheue. c1230 Ancr. R. 44
Beo i beoden. c1305 St. Lucy 37 in E.E.P. (1862) 102 er hi leye in hire
bedes. 1330 R. BRUNNE Chron. 202 Better is holy bede. c1330 King of Tars 643
With beodes and with preyere. 1426 AUDELAY Poems 15 if he be besé in his
bedus. c1430 Hymns Virg. (1867) 6 To ee y make my beed. 1494 FABYAN VI.
ccxiii. 229, I hoped to haue ben saued by your bedes & prayers. 1554 Chron.
Grey Friars (1852) 92 Went unto the crosse, & stode there alle the [sermon]
tyme, & whan he came unto the beddes they turnyd unto the precher & knelyd
downe.
    b. In later usage (after sense 2 became the popular one) there was
almost always a reference direct or indirect to the use of the rosary.
  ?a1550 Pore helpe 369 in E.P.P. (Hazl.) III. 265 Take you to your beades;
All men and women..That useth so to praye. 1589 NASHE Almond for P. 14b,
[He] would haue run a false gallop ouer his beades with anie man in England.
1648 HERRICK Hesper. (1869) 70 Be briefe in praying, Few beads are best,
when once we goe a maying. 1741 RICHARDSON Pamela (1824) I. xxx. 49, I
began..to say the Lord's prayer. None of your beads to me, Pamela, said he;
thou art a perfect nun.
    c. to bid a bead: to offer a prayer; hence beads bidding, the saying of
prayers. Also to say one's beads.
  c1250 Gen. & Ex. 2981 Moyses bad is bede. c1330 Assump. Virg. 876 To ihesu
ei bede a bede. c1380 WYCLIF Sel. Wks. 1871 II. 420 How ei shulen bidde her
bedis. 1387 TREVISA Higden Rolls Ser. VI. 225 He travailled besiliche in
bedes byddynge. 1563 Homilies II. Idolatry III. (1859) 236 For the which
they pray in their beads bidding. 1598 DRAYTON Heroic. Ep. iii. 87 The
Beades that we will bid, shall be sweet Kisses. [1656 BLOUNT Glossogr. s.v.,
To say our Bedes, is to say our prayers.] 1681 BURNET Hist. Ref. II. 55 All
the people said their beads in a general silence. 1764 GRAY Let. in Poems
(1775) 381 Bidding his beads for the souls of his benefactors. 1870 MORRIS
Earthly Par. I. I. 152 To fetch the priest..To bury her and say her bede.
    2. a. A small perforated ball or other body, a series of which (formerly
called ‘a pair of beads’) threaded upon a string, forms the rosary or
paternoster, used for keeping count of the number of prayers said. Hence
b. to tell or count one's beads: to say one's prayers. to pray without one's
beads: to be ‘out of one's reckoning.’
UNQUOTE
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989
While the noun "bead" can mean "prayer", the verb "bead" has apparently
never been used to mean "pray". Slim has been praying (hoping) to win and
now that he has won he thanks Jesus for having answered his prayers.
Another, more conventional interpretation could be that "me beads" means "my
money", where "beads" could refer to coins. However, I can find no such
previous use of beads, although native American Indians did use beads in
lieu of money
(
http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Wampum.intro.html
). But let's
hear from the Cockneys!
---
Xakero

> Se chi parla è irlandese, forse parla del rosario?
Vista la spiegazione di Xakero, dire "Pateravegloria!".
Ciao,
-- 
Isa
Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching
http://web.tiscali.it/alfabeto_auschwitz/index.htm

 Vista la spiegazione di Xakero, dire "Pateravegloria!".
Wow!
Great. Absolutely Fabulous. Mia! :-)
Grazie IsaBellachepiůbellanonsipuň (e grazie Xakero!)
-- 
Ciao,
Anna

Grazie IsaBellachepiůbellanonsipuň (e grazie Xakero!)
I'd never have made it on my own :-)
