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Origins of the Term 'Sweet FA'...
scootz - 3/10/11 at 07:40 PM

... never knew this linky

Will never utter it again!

tegwin - 3/10/11 at 07:52 PM

Its like all these terms we use every day though, they could have multiple origins and meanings. Which you choose to believe is up to you.


I am fairly sure if you dig a little deeper into more commonly used phrases you will start to find a lot of macarbre meaning underlying most of it. Such is the nature of the spoken word.

JoelP - 3/10/11 at 07:57 PM

... but that one is particularly bad. Never use it myself anyway. But, the wiki page about the word 'F**K' had me giggling like an idiot, just seeing it written so many times over

Ninehigh - 3/10/11 at 07:57 PM

quote:
Originally posted by scootz
... never knew this linky

Will never utter it again!


I use "Jack S**t" or when I want to talk fancy "Comparable to minimum wage"

scootz - 3/10/11 at 08:02 PM

quote:
Originally posted by JoelP
... the wiki page about the word 'F**K' had me giggling like an idiot, just seeing it written so many times over


I remember what Billy Connolly said on being told that swearing was a result of poor vocabulary... "oh, I know at least 127 words... but I still prefer f*ck!".

swanny - 3/10/11 at 08:17 PM

I'm suspicious with that wiki in that there are no contemporary references to back up any of the navy theory.

Benzine - 3/10/11 at 08:57 PM

my gran told me about this when I was about 8, although she just said she went missing and didn't mention the brutal murder. Probably for the best

StevieB - 3/10/11 at 09:24 PM

Lots of our little sayings came from naval slang - "shake a leg" for instance is an interesting one...

jollygreengiant - 3/10/11 at 10:26 PM

I still think the best one is where we get 'Lets have a shufti' from.

answer to appear tomorow, ............... maybe. But, I must warn you, the answer is not suitable for minors.

loggyboy - 3/10/11 at 10:37 PM

quote:
Originally posted by swanny
I'm suspicious with that wiki in that there are no contemporary references to back up any of the navy theory.


Mentions it at the end of the hants.gov.uk website.

RK - 4/10/11 at 12:49 AM

Brutal. And I mean that in the traditional sense.

scootz - 4/10/11 at 09:07 AM

quote:
Originally posted by jollygreengiant
I still think the best one is where we get 'Lets have a shufti' from.

Answer to appear tomorrow............... maybe. But, I must warn you, the answer is not suitable for minors.




It's arabic for 'look'???

nick205 - 4/10/11 at 09:44 AM

Alton was my old stomping ground as a teenager. The story is well known locally along with numerous "sightings" over the years - not a believer myself, but a close friend who lived near the flood meadows swears blind he's seen an apparition more than once.

jollygreengiant - 4/10/11 at 06:54 PM

quote:
Originally posted by scootz
quote:
Originally posted by jollygreengiant
I still think the best one is where we get 'Lets have a shufti' from.

Answer to appear tomorrow............... maybe. But, I must warn you, the answer is not suitable for minors.




It's arabic for 'look'???


Correct, but why did we british aquire it? and in what form was it originally aquired by us Brits.?

MikeRJ - 4/10/11 at 07:01 PM

quote:
Originally posted by jollygreengiant
quote:
Originally posted by scootz
quote:
Originally posted by jollygreengiant
I still think the best one is where we get 'Lets have a shufti' from.

Answer to appear tomorrow............... maybe. But, I must warn you, the answer is not suitable for minors.




It's arabic for 'look'???


Correct, but why did we british aquire it? and in what form was it originally aquired by us Brits.?


Is the Urban Dictionary correct for once?

jollygreengiant - 4/10/11 at 09:53 PM

quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
quote:
Originally posted by jollygreengiant
quote:
Originally posted by scootz
quote:
Originally posted by jollygreengiant
I still think the best one is where we get 'Lets have a shufti' from.

Answer to appear tomorrow............... maybe. But, I must warn you, the answer is not suitable for minors.




It's arabic for 'look'???


Correct, but why did we british aquire it? and in what form was it originally aquired by us Brits.?


Is the Urban Dictionary correct for once?


It goes back to our early collonial days and if it was in a neighbouring country (in East Africa) to our 'collonial' outpost it would have involved a food stuff called Cous-cous, but it wasn't in a neighbouring country and it was still called 'cous-cous'. Although eating could come into it.







The complete phrase was 'Shufti cum ma cous-cous'.

[Edited on 4/10/11 by jollygreengiant]

Macbeast - 4/10/11 at 09:59 PM

Oh you're such a tease !!

jollygreengiant - 5/10/11 at 11:52 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Macbeast
Oh you're such a tease !!


Ok, so the phrase 'shufti cum ma cou-cous' comes from the days of english colonies when we had a colony on the East tip of Africa. The troops that were stationed there would go down into the local town or vilage for a bit of R&R when not on duty. whilst in the local 'town', they would go looking for certain 'accomodations' (shall we say for PC reasons) from the local 'girls' who would be sitting against the walls of their houses wearing their long robes (with not a lot worn underneath) carefully placed over their bent knees down to their feet. If, a soldier was interested in a young 'lady' then he would utter the phrase "Shufti cum ma cous-cous" which translated as "show me your female bits (but a lot ruder)". This phase was uttered so that the soldier could visually inspect the 'ladies bits' so that he could make a certain as possible that when he conducted his 'transaction' with her, he was not going to find himself catching anything visually nasty (however this did not stop them catching some of the STD's).

Cous-cous in that country meant ' female bits (but a lot ruder), however, in the country next door it was and still is a staple food product that you can buy on supermarket shelves.

Oh and if any of you are ever in Japan, DON'T give the toast "Chin, Chin", apparently it translates as 'B*ll*cks'. Thats one my sister found out at a party in Japan.

[Edited on 5/10/11 by jollygreengiant]