artisan

Of what interest is that to me?

Brit is an offensive term. It is short for Britisher, which was the common usage until well after WW2. Brit is used generally to describe the tattooed, Union Jack wearing idiots we see so often, abroad in Europe. Using it to describe us all is insulting in the extreme. Any proper name, which is shortened or changed is perjorative. The fact that we used shortened personal names, as friendly nick names does not alter this. When an entire nation or group are refered to by a unwanted nickname is insulting to that nation or group.

It is a good course. I was expecting an afternoon of being told off by stern faced coppers. It is a powerpoint presentation, given by senior driving examiners. The best advice they gave is not to get wound up by people pressuring you. The speed limit, is a limit, not a target etc. It is a fact that you enjoy your driving more if you are not pushing yourself to the extreme all the time.

Read post 75, for the full definition.

What about it? It is nothing to do with that at all. If anything it comes from the proper definition of the word. Also I would say they lack ambition if their only aim is to be as good as me. gay late 12c., "full of joy or mirth," from O.Fr. gai "gay, merry" (12c.); cf. O.Sp. gayo, Port. gaio, It. gajo. Ultimate origin disputed; perhaps from Frank. *gahi (cf. O.H.G. wahi "pretty"), though not all etymologists accept this. Meaning "brilliant, showy" is from c.1300. OED gives 1951 as earliest date for slang meaning "homosexual" (adj.), but this is certainly too late; gey cat "homosexual boy" is attested in N. Erskine's 1933 dictionary of "Underworld & Prison Slang;" the term gey cat (gey is a Scot. variant of gay) was used as far back as 1893 in Amer.Eng. for "young hobo," one who is new on the road and usually in the company of an older tramp, with catamite connotations. But Josiah Flynt ["Tramping With Tramps," 1905] defines gay cat as, "An amateur tramp who works when his begging courage fails him." Gey cats also were said to be tramps who offered sexual services to women. The "Dictionary of American Slang" reports that gay (adj.) was used by homosexuals, among themselves, in this sense since at least 1920. Rawson ["Wicked Words"] notes a male prostitute using gay in reference to male homosexuals (but also to female prostitutes) in London's notorious Cleveland Street Scandal of 1889. Ayto ["20th Century Words"] calls attention to the ambiguous use of the word in the 1868 song "The Gay Young Clerk in the Dry Goods Store," by U.S. female impersonator Will S. Hays, but the word evidently was not popularly felt in this sense until later (cf. the stage comedy "London Assurance" written 1841 and popular through early 20c., with its character Lady Gay Spanker, famously played by Mrs. Nisbett). The word gay in the 1890s had an overall tinge of promiscuity -- a gay house was a brothel. The suggestion of immorality in the word can be traced back to 1630s. Gay as a noun meaning "a (usually male) homosexual" is attested from 1971

I would consider the word 'gay' to be the most offensive. It conjours up visions of the old time afficionadoes, before legality, with their outrageous behaviour. Homosexual is a straightforward word, describing in its entireity. I acannot see anyone seeing it as a derogatory word.

Most of the fuel burned off on impact. Diesel used for emergency gennies is not explosive, you can throw a lighted match in a bowl of diesel and it will not burn. The debated puffs of smoke were coming from plant rooms, where else do expect explosives to be placed, except in restricted access areas. And high explosive does not produce smoke in any quantity anyway, they were not using gunpowder you know. When the aircraft hit the buildings they did not even deflect, they took the impact as designed due to their curtain walls. They were pulled down as sure as eggs is eggs. We have all seen the evidence of shaped charges on the main support columns. Anyone denying this is either fooling themselves, or denying the evidence of their own eyes.

Many of us still have the champagne on ice for the day the Devil takes his own. What a day that will be.

No she isnt, she is Thatcher.

Lets make it minus 10 , just for old times sake eh?

Dont joke yet, they are not all out. Remember what the second man said, 'no congratulations, we are not all out yet'

Yes I agree with you. Pay what you want. It is up to you. All they are going to do is shut your gas off, cut the pipe, solder a cap on, test it, and relight your appliances. 20 minutes tops.

Should be, as in disembowelled do you mean.

Pinochet was her blood brother. The new President probably arranged it to make the old cow ****** off. He will probably announce a day of presenting them all for when she is camerons guest at no 10. :D

Daylight robbery. It is nowt of a job, and can be done in half an hour top side.

Dont know what you mean:confused:

double entry.

I swallowed the anchor many years ago. But being a seaman is not a job it is a way of life. It was the best time of my life. Even after all these years, I still consider myself a seaman rather than a shoreside man.

That is one of the most awful things I have heard. She was so cool, but you could hear the fear in her voice. She stands among the Angels today.

I know all that, I am a qualified marine engineer. But isnt it good to swing the lamp occassionally? When all is said and done, the best shipping company is P&O, we have never lost any great ships, espescially on their maiden voyages, by fires and icebergs.

The Titanic was a conspirasy theory before they were thought of. The Grassy Knoll is a pimple compared to the carbuncle of the Iceberg.

Yes I know, I read it before I posted it. So we have a coal fire, off which non of the deck officers knew about, but the Engineers were concerned about. The only evidence given is from the crew, they would not be privy to anything the Engineers knew. The only men who knew what was going on in those Boiler Rooms, and the Engine Room were the Engineers, and they all died. Dont forget, the crew were sent up top straight away, but by the time they got there it was all over. They were abandoning ship. You would not order your men away unless you knew something was seriously at fault, and in the first few minutes, all was confusion. But the lads below knew, and saved their crewmens lives, by ordering them up top.

The fact is, they only had their bare eyes to look out, as the Binoculars had been taken from the lookout station sometime previously. They may have helped, but for the fact they did not hit an iceberg. The ship went down from having its side plating blown out by a gas explosion from the coal that was burning in one of the trimming holds. The fact that there was a fire is now well documented, men were involved in uncovering it, and trying to extinguish it. It may be that when they uncovered it, the rush of air caused it to explode. http://titanic-model.com/db/db-03/CoalBunkerFire.htm Just turned this up

I have just watched PMQ's, and behind Cameron are his two nodding donkeys. The odious Osborne, and the fool Clegg. Osborne I can understand, he knows no better. But I understood this to be a coalition, a government of opponents brought together in adversity? Why then, does Clegg shout and nod agreement with every word the PR man Cameron says, and howl derision at the opposition? He has lost his way, as has the old fool Cable. The Liberals should show they have a pair and get rid of these traitors while they still have a party. Who is their leader these days anyway?

I may be wrong about the name of the chairman of the enquiry, but I am not wrong about the state of the ship when she went down, or the fact that all the engineers were lost. If the split in the seams, 200 feet by 2 inches, where the rivets broke, is construed as a hole it is little over 4 feet diameter. On a modern ship the pumps could cope with that easily. The trouble was with those days, they were running before they could walk. They could build massive ships, but did not have the essential back up technology to support them. I am running widely off topic here, sorry.