Phoenix no 23... still in its prime

Cardinal Sin · Post by **Cardinal Sin** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:35 am

I've got a sneaking suspicion UP, might know the answer to this one (especially if he subscribes to the word-of-the-day emails)...

Billingsgate Market is a famous fish market in London, but has the word billingsgate come to mean?

Mattb · Post by **Mattb** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:38 am

Isn't it just another term for abusive language as used by people who aren't common lower class? Very Question Time!

Matt

Istenem · Post by **Istenem** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:46 am

not something i know but at the risk of being called a pervert is it something to do with ladies bits?

Cardinal Sin · Post by **Cardinal Sin** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:49 am

Well done MattB... had to think about your answer for a second UP!

billingsgate \BIL-ingz-gayt; -git\, noun:
Coarsely abusive, foul, or profane language.

Chaney would yell at him in his own particular patois -- an unapologetic stream of billingsgate far more creative than Marine drill instructors or master rappers.
-- George Vecsey, "Learning at Temple: Se Habla Chaneyism", New York Times, March 19, 2000

Its style is an almost pure Army billingsgate that will offend many readers, although in no sense is it exaggerated: Mr. Mailer's soldiers are real persons, speaking the vernacular of human bitterness and agony.
-- David Dempsey, "The Dusty Answer of Modern War", New York Times, May 9, 1948

The campaigns of the two Roosevelts were colorful and gave the press plenty of material but, generally speaking, deft humor seems to have replaced outright billingsgate.
-- George E. Reedy, "When Vilification Was in Flower", New York Times, July 15, 1984

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Billingsgate is so called after Billingsgate, a former market in London celebrated for fish and foul language.

Mattb · Post by **Mattb** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:53 am

Many thanks sir!

Here's another one you probably won't like (q. Tommy Cooper)

A man is in a prison cell. All he has in his room is a table and a saw. How does he escape?

Matt

Istenem · Post by **Istenem** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:57 am

please don't tell me he saws the table in half then puts them back together to make a (w)hole which he crawls through to escape.

Mattb · Post by **Mattb** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 12:00 pm

unknownpseudonym wrote:please don't tell me he saws the table in half then puts them back together to make a (w)hole which he crawls through to escape.

lol

Yes it is, but thats only half of it. There's one more cryptic escape that he does to complete his escape.

Matt

Demmerz · Post by **Demmerz** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 12:44 pm

Hmmm... perhaps he takes the table top off and legs it?

Mattb · Post by **Mattb** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:22 pm

What a lovely thought....but its not that

It involves shouting....ill let you decipher the rest!

Matt

Cardinal Sin · Post by **Cardinal Sin** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:35 pm

Did he shout until he was hoarse?

And then gallop to freedom?

Mattb · Post by **Mattb** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:43 pm

He certainly did!

Over to you!

Matt

Cardinal Sin · Post by **Cardinal Sin** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:49 pm

Alright, staying on the subject of cryptic clues...

A stiff examination? (6,4)

Istenem · Post by **Istenem** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:52 pm

if it was 4,6 i'd say POST MORTEM

Cardinal Sin · Post by **Cardinal Sin** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:05 pm

Nope. Sorry, it was

CORPSE TEST.

....

Er... nope, you're right UP.

ops:

All yours!

Istenem · Post by **Istenem** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:47 pm

part of my job is writing crosswords; not cryptic though.

anyhow here is another crossword clue
bar of soap (3, 6, 6)