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“Speaking of mysteries and unanswerable questions, most households use an electric drill for less than one hour per year,” says Chris Commens of Rosebery. “Yet most households have an electric drill. I have three, so here’s a bolshie idea. My street donates all its drills to a worthy cause, and we buy one drill for the street to share. Oh, then we’d need some rules”
“Anyone know if those who invested in jojoba bean plantings after the 1974 and 1979 oil shocks have broad smiles on their faces today?” asks Malcolm Johnson of Alstonville.
Mention of the multiple variations on the name Margaret (C8), got David Woods of Port Melbourne thinking: “Does anyone make a margarita with chicken salt around the rim?”
Daniel Flesch of Bellingen has a fairly self-explanatory grandparent name (C8): “Our grandchildren call me Danpa.”
It seems the Brits have a particularly poetic take on railway signage (C8), as Philip Mosgrove of Adamstown Heights explains: “Many years ago, I saw a witty sign scribbled on an English Southern Region train toilet door: ‘When The Train is in the Station, We Encourage Constipation’.”
And, when required, the passengers get straight to the point, too. Here’s Yvonne Kuvener of Wentworth Falls: “In the mid-1970s when we travelled the Tube throughout London, amidst the IRA conflict and bombings. The sign read ‘If You See an Unattended or Suspicious Package Do Not Touch’. Beneath, in bold marker, was written, ‘For F—′s Sake’.”
“With the recent focus on tram signage, the need for ‘No Expectoration’ notices would have been fare warning on Sydney’s line that once descended to The Spit,” reckons Warren Finnan of West Ryde.
Plenty of feedback for Betsy Richens (C8) and her welkin worries. The explanation from Odille Esmonde-Morgan of Bridgewater (Tas) works for us: “Welkin is an archaic noun referring to the sky, the heavens, or the upper atmosphere. Often used in literature and poetry to evoke a sense of vastness or divine space, it originates from the Old English word wolcen, meaning ‘cloud’ or ‘sky’. A common usage is the idiom ‘make the welkin ring,’ meaning to fill the air with loud noise or cheering.”
John Flint of Naremburn adds, “It was Anglo-Saxons making the welkin ring, shouting to the heavens as those blessed Romans finally left England.”
“An earthquake in Orange? Now that would give you the pips.” We thank George Manojlovic of Mangerton.
Column8@smh.com.au
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