shanghai
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shanghai
This city was notorious for the activities of sailors in port. I went to great lengths to explain how the name of the city became associated with the nefarious activity associated with it.
William A. Hupy
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Re: shanghai
Would that I had thought of that when I recently used "kidnapped" in an essay."Shanghaied" would have been the better choice and more distinctive.
pl
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Re: shanghai
William: I do not quite understand your point. Shanghaiing did not take place in Shanghai. It took place primarily in San Francisco. The China trade was so brisk that the clipper ships were frequently short of able-bodied seamen. Strong young men were kidnapped and put to work on a ship in the China trade. It was so common that their destination became the name for this special kind of kidnapping.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.
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Re: shanghai
So if Robert Louis Stevenson was better traveled his book might have been called "Shanghaied"? :-b
EBERNTSON
Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more,
and all good things will be yours.
--R. Burns
Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more,
and all good things will be yours.
--R. Burns
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Re: shanghai
RLS was among the most well traveled of his day. Scottish seamen were not impressed to the China trade so the book is still aptly named. One of the most famous British clipper ships is the Cutty Sark. I visited this fabled ship at Greenwich, England. The ship was named for its figurehead mounted under the bowsprit. A cutty sark is, in modern parlance, a mini-skirt or mini-skirted girl. Robert Burns created an character who was a mini-skirted witch named Nannie Dee and nicknamed Cutty-sark.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.
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Re: shanghai
Never heard the miniskirt thing. Until now, I thought Cutty Sark was a whiskey (wisque?)
pl
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Re: shanghai
Nice history lesson, skoal!
The whiskey bottle label has a ship on it, cheers!
E
The whiskey bottle label has a ship on it, cheers!
E
EBERNTSON
Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more,
and all good things will be yours.
--R. Burns
Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more,
and all good things will be yours.
--R. Burns
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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Re: shanghai
Thanks for noticing Perry.
Our source of the word whiskey is usquebaugh. Some have joked that it is all the English inherited from the Celts. Perry, did you mean uísque when you wrote wisque.
Our source of the word whiskey is usquebaugh. Some have joked that it is all the English inherited from the Celts. Perry, did you mean uísque when you wrote wisque.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.
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Re: shanghai
It meant I was too lazy to check the spelling against my hazy memory. Tat memory never was what it used to be.
pl
- David McWethy
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Re: shanghai
If, as Dr. G. points out
would it not follow that the place to whence they traveled would be their "shanghaidaway"?the route taken by shanghiers would be a shanghaiway
"The time has come," the Walrus said, "to talk of many things...."
- Slava
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Re: shanghai
Nice addition to the puns, but I cannot agree with the phrase "to whence."would it not follow that the place to whence they traveled would be their "shanghaidaway"?
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.
- David McWethy
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Re: shanghai
Odds favor you being right, but if
is acceptable, if in this scenario he forgot something and turned around to go back for it, why wouldn't
"...his native country, from whence he came"
is acceptable, if in this scenario he forgot something and turned around to go back for it, why wouldn't
work as well?"...his native country, to whence he was traveling"
"The time has come," the Walrus said, "to talk of many things...."
- Slava
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Re: shanghai
Because "from whence, " though generally considered an error, has been in the language for centuries; whereas "to whence," which means "to from where", is a rather nonsensical phrase.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.
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