Burn the water

Stargzer
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Burn the water

Postby Stargzer » Sat Nov 17, 2007 5:28 pm

I've been reading Scottish Traditional Tales (1994) edited by A. J. Bruford and D. A. MacDonald (ISBN 0 7486 6150 6), and it's loaded with many traditional Scottish words and phrases. I ran across this one ("burn the water") and decided to look it up on the Web. Since the characters in the story were going fishing at night, I suspected it involved using torches to attract the fish--I've done the same using a Coleman gas lantern fishing off a bridge at night to attract fish and the insects that also attract the fish. (Note: make sure you have a foot or so of light chain attached to the lantern to your rope doesn't melt from the heat and drop the lantern into Davy Jones' fresh-water locker. ;-) ).

It turns out that this is exactly what it was; using torches from a boat at night to spear fish. It's an old phrase (obviously: it's used in a folk tale! The first reference I found was from Two Years Before The Mast by Richard Henry Dana. Others appeared in some books that Google scanned, mostly mentioning salmon as the prey.

The last reference I found is one I've also bookmarked: Dictionary of the Scots Language. "Burn" has a link to "bleeze," or blaze:
DSL - SND1 BLEEZE, Blase, v.1 Sc. forms of Eng. blaze, v. [bli:z, ble:z Sc.; ble1:z Ags.]
*Hdg. 1801 R. Gall Poems (1819) 6:
Its ancient splendour fled awa, That bleezed sae bright in ilka ha’. Special Sc. usages: 1. “To light up water with torches for the purpose of attracting and spearing salmon” (Ayr. 1934 (per Kcb.9)). vbl.n. blaseing.
*Bnff. 1705 Court Bks. Regality Grant in Bnffsh. Jnl. (1897) (5 Oct.) 2:
3rd Aug. 1705 . . . fined £50 for abusing of the Laird of Grant’s curroch fishing upon Spey by their blaseing of the water.
*Abd.(D) 1920 C. Murray In the Country Places 10:
To bleeze the burn an’ spear a fish There’s few that hae his skill.
...
... and now back to my reading ...
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

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gailr
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Postby gailr » Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:28 pm

As long as your fishing pursuits aren't burning daylight...
:wink:

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Postby sluggo » Sat Nov 24, 2007 3:53 am

Larry, the new icon is sooooooo kewl. :)
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

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Postby Perry » Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:13 pm

Love that beagle!
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Stargzer
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Doggone Dog!

Postby Stargzer » Thu Dec 06, 2007 2:01 am

His name is Dudley. That's the name he came with, and at times he's like Harry Potter's spoiled cousin. Our Beagle, Buddy, died a year ago a week after the 4th of July, and our Chocolate Lab, Belle, died of Lymphoma this past Spring on Memorial Day Monday. We were dogless until my wife dragged me to a pet adoption show at a local supermarket. We walked up and this three-year-old Basset / Beagle mix walked right up to her. She bent down to pet him and I saw tears falling to the ground and said to myself, "Oh, 'doo-doo'! We're going home with a dog!" ;-) He combines the best and worst of both the breeds.

We were told that he had bitten someone, which is why this particular shelter ended up with him. When they asked the previous owner what happened when he bit, they said, "Well, we were partying Saturday night and all drunked up and when he got up on the counter to get food we were hitting him in the face to make him get down and he bit my mother!" The woman from the shelter said, "GIVE ME THE DOG!" Some people should not be allowed to have children, let alone dogs.

We were warned that he had anger management issues when someone tried to take food from his mouth. Apparently they were feeding him only a half a cup of food a day, this for a 50-pound dog! We give him about two cups.

To make a long story shorter, I've been bitten about five times so far since the beginning of September, the latest being tonight while trying to get a AA battery away from him. We got him to drop the battery and I whisked it away with my right hand, but he attacked my left hand and I didn't get it out of the way quick enough. We usually have a Mexican standoff while he growls and snarls (I've described it as a four-letter growl--not just "Leave me along" but "Leame me the f--- alone!") and I stand there looking down at him and growling back at him from a position of superiority until he submits and responds to a "Down" command and stops growling. We did that tonight, except that I had a bleeding left hand while getting him to go Down. He does respond pretty well to that command, which surprised me for a Hound. I had a hard time getting either of my Labs to respond consistently to a Down; someone must have beaten it into him for him to respond so quicklyy, and so submissively. He still has issues about being interrupted from some activites, but we're working though it. I tell people I've got too much blood invested in this relationship to give up now, and that if he doesn't shape up in the next 10 years or so he's outta here. :-)

When the guys at work kept razzing me about being bitten all the time, I replied back to them with an EMail, telling them that when he bites me it hurts, but then I think about the late Medal of Honor recipient Silvestre S. Herrera, who was born in Mexico and volunteered with the Texan National Guard during WWII. After reading about what he went through (I hope you like La Bamba ;-) ), and after remembering the young man I saw at Bethesda National Naval Medical Center who was missing a leg, I figure I have nothing to complain about--it puts it all in perspective. I just hope my coworker, Jim, the rest of the Maryland National Guard, and all the other servicemen and women make it back OK.

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Last edited by Stargzer on Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:49 am, edited 2 times in total.
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

sluggo
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Postby sluggo » Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:22 pm

Keep the faith, Larry!

Couple of weeks ago I found this li'l terrier wandering cold and lonely on the Natchez Trace Parkway, collared but not tagged, matted, hungry and weak. Having no luck finding an owner clue I took her home with me, 800 miles, and got her to the shelter. Happily she's now in a new home. :D

Nice people at the shelter, but... "Buffy"?
She was more a Trixie.
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

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Postby Bailey » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:48 pm

I hate seeing dogs in doggie jail.

mark glad-she's-found-a-home Bailey

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Postby Bailey » Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:49 pm

I got a pound puppy once a very small dog, he bit too, I finally figured out that he'd been taken by a young family after his elderly owner died, the 2 year old teased/hurt him, he bit. It took me many months of care and trust for me to get him to allow me to play with him using my hand to tustle lightly, we had a few good years together. He bit me several times but decades of canned food had rendered his teeth loose. I had to have him sleep on a pad because he 'leaked' also. he loved to jump around in my old station wagon, barking frenziedly.

mB

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gailr
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Re: Doggone Dog!

Postby gailr » Fri Dec 07, 2007 4:42 pm

I stand there looking down at him and growling back at him from a position of superiority until he submits and responds to a "Down" command and stops growling.
I tried this a couple times on an evening walk, when a previously invisible dog without warning or provocation lunged agressively across six feet of front lawn on five feet eleven inches of puny-looking chain growling like Cujo with that Baskerville light in his eyes and foam flecking his were-fangs and hackles raised like a silver cholla and . . .

Ah.

As I was saying, I've tried this and the dog slunk down enough that I could back away very slowly to the next property's sidewalk with some dignity, before breaking the occular missile lock. But I know Cujo went and snickered with the other dogs in the neighborhood about my 'funny' felinesque accent as soon as I was out of sight.

Good for you for taking Dudley in, Gzer! If he gets past testing whether you'll turn on him, you'll have a great dog. And a pox on those who torment animals.

-gailr

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byronhic
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Burn the water

Postby byronhic » Fri May 03, 2019 6:59 pm

Hi everyone

How would you say "burn bridges" in Spanish?

Ive seen it translated as "quemar puentes" but Im not sure if thats just a direct translation.


Thanks

Philip Hudson
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Re: Burn the water

Postby Philip Hudson » Sat May 18, 2019 9:41 pm

"Quemar puentes" is right as a translation of "burn bridges". You may want to explore the etymology of the Spanish. Burn the water is not a common phrase here in the hinterlands. I have heard that dynamite is the "weapon of choice" for catching fish. The illegal mode of hunting deer at night is called head-lighting or spot-lighting. Despite my humble beginnings, I have never been wont to fish or hunt. I had much rather concatenate words and create literature. I have my own quirky way about it, to which these comments attest.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

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Re: Burn the water

Postby Philip Hudson » Sat May 18, 2019 9:45 pm

byronhic: Welcome to the Agora. We old heads could use some new stimulus. Post often. I usually devote my attention to the word of the day. Also, I inexplicably lay out for some time after which I try to catch up.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.


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