COLUMN 8
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday September 3, 2009
On Tuesday a certain Ms Brill wanted to know whether anyone could top her list of stars that she had kissed over the years. Patricia Heath of Frenchs Forest has made a bold play by running in the opposite direction and claims bragging rights for being "brushed off by Clark Gable. When I was in the British Army in 1943 I was on the tarmac at an aerodrome as Mr Gable walked out of a plane. He didn't actually brush me off, but he did brush past me and made contact with my elbow." We think that beats Ms Brill's boast of kissing the lead singer from the Sports, somehow."The origin of the term 'cockles of the heart' is macabre," we are advised by Colin Kilduff of West Ryde (Column 8, Saturday). "Early anatomists dissecting corpses noted the resemblance of the inside of the heart to seashells. It passed into common usage centuries ago. I will accept a couple of credit points towards a C8PhD, if available." Of course, your credit is duly noted. That only leaves 998 points to go. The inappropriately named Jim Jolly of Nelligen takes the macabre tone and makes beautiful music with it. "The phrase 'to cry cockles' means to be hanged (that word again)," Jim advises us. "It comes from the gurgling noises made in strangulation." Lovely."I'm 11 years old and in year 6 at school," writes Bianca Richmond of Carindale, Queensland. "We had the storyteller Andy Wright come and tell us a story. He talked about one quotation which was "Twas not so, 'tis not so, and God forbid it should be so'. I believe it to be from Shakespeare, but don't know which story. Can Column 8 help?" Column 8 readers always rally to help boys and girls who love language, Bianca. Watch this space.We have finally climbed down the mountain after poring over the Ten Commandments correspondence (What language were they written in?, Column 8, Saturday), and open with this, from the Reverend Gwilym Henry-Edwards of St Luke's, Stanmore: "The Ten Commandments were written in the Hebrew language using the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet which is an offshoot of the ancient Semitic alphabet, identical to the Phoenician alphabet. At the very least it dates to the 10th century BCE. It was used as the main vehicle for writing the Hebrew language by the Israelites, both Jews and Samaritans. Unless, that is, you look at Charlton Heston's Ten Commandments from the film of the same name. They are written in the Hebrew alphabet, but a careful examination shows only nine. One was omitted for reasons of space!""Now that Cadbury has reduced its family block size from 250 grams to 200 grams," writes Stephen Jackson of Lilyfield, "will it also change its tag line from 'a glass and a half' to 'a glass and a fifth'? I haven't noticed it yet, nor any price change."From the Column 8 Sports Trivia Desk: "In October 1974," writes Graeme See of Mortdale, "eight-year old Tanya Johnston's pet snail, Ya, won the second annual snail race held in Hyde Park. Is this race still held?"Column8@smh.com.au(no attachments please).Phone 9282 2207 fax 9282 2772. (include name, suburb, daytime phone)
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