shotguns on a boat

[billS]

 

At six, a highly placed Brit discovered you under a bush in the bundu and packed you off to his alma mater confident that beatings and sodomy would turn you into a pukkah English gentleman.

 

 

Do they do refunds, I wonder?

[pquinn]

 

I apologise both to you and to all and sundry for harping on about this, but your origins do strike me as most unusual. In the 1950s, only die-hard Afrikaners spoke no English, and the chances of such people sending their children to an English boarding school are zero. The chances of a non-English-speaking black South African doing the same are similarly non-existent, so who were your parents? They were white, lived in South Africa, had plenty of money, liked England but didn't speak English? That's rather hard to credit.

 

As it happens, my grandfather was mayor of Frankfort in the Orange Free State, and my father was born there. I have relations there still. So I am not speaking from complete ignorance of the land of your birth. And what you are saying just doesn't ring true.

 

I suspect that you DID speak English, but with a Japie twang that people found comical. Perhaps you meant that you didn't speak a word of English in the same way that George Bush Jnr doesn't. My father had a Xhosa nanny, and used to claim that his first words were Xhosa (including clicks!). But he never claimed not to speak a word of English at the age of six.

 

Indeed, I could likewise truthfully claim that my first language was Hindi, as I had a Hindu amah in Calcutta. Be that as it may, I manage to get by in English.

 

And BTW, even the most inept teacher would have been able to get you through Common Entrance after six or seven years, especially as you are, by your own admission, highly intelligent.

 

It's time to 'fess up, methinks, and stop idle speculation. Otherwise we will be forced to conclude that you were abandoned as an infant by your dirt-poor Boer mother, and brought up by kindly hyaenas. At six, a highly placed Brit discovered you under a bush in the bundu and packed you off to his alma mater confident that beatings and sodomy would turn you into a pukkah English gentleman.

 

It's really the only explanation that fits all the facts. As we know them.

Tarzan.......I knew you were out there somewhere!

[cotswoldsman]

I apologise both to you and to all and sundry for harping on about this, but your origins do strike me as most unusual. In the 1950s, only die-hard Afrikaners spoke no English, and the chances of such people sending their children to an English boarding school are zero. The chances of a non-English-speaking black South African doing the same are similarly non-existent, so who were your parents? They were white, lived in South Africa, had plenty of money, liked England but didn't speak English? That's rather hard to credit.

 

As it happens, my grandfather was mayor of Frankfort in the Orange Free State, and my father was born there. I have relations there still. So I am not speaking from complete ignorance of the land of your birth. And what you are saying just doesn't ring true.

 

I suspect that you DID speak English, but with a Japie twang that people found comical. Perhaps you meant that you didn't speak a word of English in the same way that George Bush Jnr doesn't. My father had a Xhosa nanny, and used to claim that his first words were Xhosa (including clicks!). But he never claimed not to speak a word of English at the age of six.

 

Indeed, I could likewise truthfully claim that my first language was Hindi, as I had a Hindu amah in Calcutta. Be that as it may, I manage to get by in English.

 

And BTW, even the most inept teacher would have been able to get you through Common Entrance after six or seven years, especially as you are, by your own admission, highly intelligent.

 

It's time to 'fess up, methinks, and stop idle speculation. Otherwise we will be forced to conclude that you were abandoned as an infant by your dirt-poor Boer mother, and brought up by kindly hyaenas. At six, a highly placed Brit discovered you under a bush in the bundu and packed you off to his alma mater confident that beatings and sodomy would turn you into a pukkah English gentleman.

 

It's really the only explanation that fits all the facts. As we know them.

I must say I find some of the above e fairly insulting. My family history really has nothing to do with you or this forum but will give a very brief answer.

 

My Grandfather who went to South Africa was actually from Irish decent, he married an Afrikaner of Germany decent and started the farm in the Transvaal. My Mother is Danish and only spoke Danish and Afrikans (she now speaks English as her first language) my Father spoke Afrikans to her and Afrikans was the language spoken at home. Like most children of farmers in the Transvaal I started school when I was about 4 a farm worker would take me to school on a Monday morning and I would stay with family friends during the week and be collected again on a Friday and taken home. The school was run by The Dutch Reform Church and only Afrikans spoken. My father served in the British Army during the war like many South Africans while his brother looked after the farm. A fellow Officer my father served with during the war became a house master at a prep school and as my father was not happy with me being brought up in an apartheid system he made the decision to send me to school in England. The rest as they say is history. This post as far as I am concerned is the last on the subject as I am going through a hard time at present as I have been with my 92 yo Mother for the last 3 weeks who is very poorly and in and out of hospital, at the same time as my sister has cancer of the bones. So I will leave you to your speculation and get on with what is important to me at present.

[cotswoldsman]

Just to finish the full circle my parents moved to Holland in 1961 and to the uk in 1964

[DeanS]

haven't read the entire thread...but surely they would corrode faster in the bilge of a boat (welded box) than on land due to the moisture content...

[DeanS]

I must say I find some of the above e fairly insulting. My family history really has nothing to do with you or this forum but will give a very brief answer.

 

My Grandfather who went to South Africa was actually from Irish decent, he married an Afrikaner of Germany decent and started the farm in the Transvaal. My Mother is Danish and only spoke Danish and Afrikans (she now speaks English as her first language) my Father spoke Afrikans to her and Afrikans was the language spoken at home. Like most children of farmers in the Transvaal I started school when I was about 4 a farm worker would take me to school on a Monday morning and I would stay with family friends during the week and be collected again on a Friday and taken home. The school was run by The Dutch Reform Church and only Afrikans spoken. My father served in the British Army during the war like many South Africans while his brother looked after the farm. A fellow Officer my father served with during the war became a house master at a prep school and as my father was not happy with me being brought up in an apartheid system he made the decision to send me to school in England. The rest as they say is history. This post as far as I am concerned is the last on the subject as I am going through a hard time at present as I have been with my 92 yo Mother for the last 3 weeks who is very poorly and in and out of hospital, at the same time as my sister has cancer of the bones. So I will leave you to your speculation and get on with what is important to me at present.

 

Hope it all improves for you and them. ;-)

[cotswoldsman]

Hope it all improves for you and them. ;-)

Thanks Dean I did have a break o er the weekend to attend my son's wedding and that was so good.

[TaffyRon]

Guns would stop hyenas sodomising

[George94]

I must say I find some of the above e fairly insulting. My family history really has nothing to do with you or this forum but will give a very brief answer.

 

My Grandfather who went to South Africa was actually from Irish decent, he married an Afrikaner of Germany decent and started the farm in the Transvaal. My Mother is Danish and only spoke Danish and Afrikans (she now speaks English as her first language) my Father spoke Afrikans to her and Afrikans was the language spoken at home. Like most children of farmers in the Transvaal I started school when I was about 4 a farm worker would take me to school on a Monday morning and I would stay with family friends during the week and be collected again on a Friday and taken home. The school was run by The Dutch Reform Church and only Afrikans spoken. My father served in the British Army during the war like many South Africans while his brother looked after the farm. A fellow Officer my father served with during the war became a house master at a prep school and as my father was not happy with me being brought up in an apartheid system he made the decision to send me to school in England. The rest as they say is history. This post as far as I am concerned is the last on the subject as I am going through a hard time at present as I have been with my 92 yo Mother for the last 3 weeks who is very poorly and in and out of hospital, at the same time as my sister has cancer of the bones. So I will leave you to your speculation and get on with what is important to me at present.

 

Thank you.

[carlt]

 

Thank you.

What??

 

You mean you don't want to see scans of his birth certificate, parent's visas and copies of all of his school reports to confirm his life history?

Just to finish the full circle my parents moved to Holland in 1961 and to the uk in 1964

I'd have thought "Mind your own effing business" would have done.

 

I hope your Mum and Sister recover or are as comfortable as they possibly can be.

[TaffyRon]

All the best cotswoldman, 92 is a good innings mind, but cancer is quite awful, affects us all in some way

[George94]

What??

 

You mean you don't want to see scans of his birth certificate, parent's visas and copies of all of his school reports to confirm his life history?

I'd have thought "Mind your own effing business" would have done.

 

I hope your Mum and Sister recover or are as comfortable as they possibly can be.

 

You are the only person I have on ignore. And this is the only time I have looked at one of your posts.

 

If you had even a morsel of empathy you would know that given Cotswoldsman's present circumstances, any other reply, and especially one wishing him well, would have smacked of insincerity. So I said only what I did.

 

You on the other hand, lost no opportunity to take advantage of his situation to have a go at me. Of all the things that I dislike about you, and there are many, your hypocrisy and sanctimoniousness top the list.

 

Ugh.

[carlt]

 

 

You on the other hand, lost no opportunity to take advantage of his situation to have a go at me. Of all the things that I dislike about you, and there are many, your hypocrisy and sanctimoniousness top the list.

 

Ugh.

 

Have a go at you??

 

You have seriously overestimated your importance.

 

I will have a go at anyone who, in my opinion, has stepped over a line...you are nothing special.

 

Put me back on "ignore" as your opinion of my contributions to this forum are of no interest to me.

 

I will, however, continue to comment on your posts whenever I choose, always staying within the forum rules of course.

 

Ugh.

[TaffyRon]

Have a go at you??

 

You have seriously overestimated your importance.

 

I will have a go at anyone who, in my opinion, has stepped over a line...you are nothing special.

 

Put me back on "ignore" as your opinion of my contributions to this forum are of no interest to me.

 

I will, however, continue to comment on your posts whenever I choose, always staying within the forum rules of course.

 

Ugh.

get a room

[carlt]

get a room

I've got several thanks I keep them in what I like to call a "house".

 

Your point being?

[TaffyRon]

I've got several thanks I keep them in what I like to call a "house".

 

Your point being?

maybe you should be on house world forum then

[carlt]

maybe you should be on house world forum then

I still don't get your point.

 

I have cabins in my boat.

[TaffyRon]

I still don't get your point.

 

I have cabins in my boat.

And chips on both shoulders I would say..

And cabins? What u got? Titanic?

[carlt]

And chips on both shoulders I would say..

Of course....keeps one balanced you know.

 

And cabins? What u got? Titanic?

No I haven't had a boat sink on me for many years now.

[Athy]

get a room

Ron, I am unfamiliar with this presumably Cymric turn of phrase. Wot it mean?

[TaffyRon]

Ron, I am unfamiliar with this presumably Cymric turn of phrase. Wot it mean?

I just thought it best to take any domestic somewhere else and not trash my shotgun thread :-))

[carlt]

Ron, I am unfamiliar with this presumably Cymric turn of phrase. Wot it mean?

First coined in the early 80s film "Fatso" starring Anne Bancroft it means that someone is offended by an overt display of affection and is suggesting that the miscreants rent a hotel room to continue their amorous activities.

[Athy]

I just thought it best to take any domestic somewhere else and not trash my shotgun thread :-))

Ah, gotcha. Though I did not detect anything untoward in Carl's post, I do like the expression!

[carlt]

I just thought it best to take any domestic somewhere else and not trash my shotgun thread :-))

I didn't "trash" it. It was totally derailed before I commented on George's nosy questioning.

[Athy]

First coined in the early 80s film "Fatso" starring Anne Bancroft it means that someone is offended by an overt display of affection and is suggesting that the miscreants rent a hotel room to continue their amorous activities.

Ah, so Ron used it in a sarcastic way, like it.