Posted by Robert Hill on 08/07/00 from 129.11.153.35 via proxy proxy1.leeds.ac.uk:
In Reply to: Re: Picts and Martyrs Oddities posted by Robert Hill on August 07, 2000 at 13:40:28:
#21: narrow roads.
Nearly all the minor roads in the Lake District are still very narrow,
and likely to remain so, as any planned widening would stir up opponents
even if it got past the planning authority. But for REALLY narrow roads,
try Devon, in SW England!
#22: sliced bread.
One could comment here on the social nuances of the phrase "the best
thing since sliced bread" and the irony with which some now regard it
(or did the original inventor of the phrase mean it ironically?),
but I've no time to go into that just now.
Dorothea's description of Susan's method actually contradicts the
narration in one of the earlier books, where Susan is about to butter
a slice she has just cut from the loaf.
#23: "Girt old hen"
I think "girt" here is dialect for "great", meaning "big" not "good".
(The nearest equivalent in non-dialect colloquial British English
might be "great big" or "dirty great" or "bloody great".)
#26: "Seven and three quarter minutes past four"
That's just Dick's precise, scientific style, rather than any hyper-
accuracy of his watch.
#34: Hen and chicken
I think the real Hen and Chicken are rocks in Bowness Bay, Windermere.
I have always thought that Rio was supposed to be based on Bowness
(and its uphill extension, Windermere town, for the railway station).
#42: Dick's understanding of drilled grooves in rock.
I've mentioned this previously on Tarboard as an inconsistency.