Bob,

Believe it or not, the word _telly_ has been in use as an abbreviation for
television since 1947!!!!!!!!!

Roger.



----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Cooper" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 5:07 PM
Subject: Re: New Sub: Only three days to go


> Hi Arthur,
> A real 1930s, 1940s, feel to this! Words like aeroplanes (and not the
modern
> words jets, or aircraft, or planes) and the reference to Guernica, and the
> hint at Dylan Thomas's poem that has a green fuse! And yet the word
"telly"
> is such a contemporary word! (But the picture is flickering - so it could
be
> a TV of years ago... H'm, I'm now struggling to try and remember when the
> word "telly" became the norm - like wirelss, radio, trannie, tuner - each
> word has a time when it was used. (It could be that "telly", tho, belongs
> alongside "aeroplanes" - I'm not sure... I've just checked in the earliest
> dictionary I have with the word "television" (printed 1959) and "telly"
> doesn't appear. But it's not good at recording slang...)
> Another point... Ha! I'm reminded of some work I did in a Primary School
in
> the previous Gulf War where we got a huge picture of Picasso's Guernica
> (more than 6 foot tall and goodness knows how long!) and let the children
> explore the enormity of what Picasso had painted. In what they said as
they
> stood and looked they were learning a lot...
> But your association of the rituals connected with spring (seed trays
> hinting at planting things), the wild flowers already in flower, and the
> doves possibly in some courtship ritual, the sparrows (I imagine) nest
> building, gives much a much darker appreciation of how war is built into
the
> world's agenda. It's a frightening thought - even when you say "I pass"
> those two words can't imply reaching anything different because, in the
last
> phrases of each stanza, you infer that one needs the same concluding words
> as the other!
> But I recognise the total replication in each stanza - the words and
> postures of the pontiffs and tyrants echoed by the fuse, and the old
> small-screened TV, 14 inch in our house!, being compared to a seed tray
are
> clever comparative thoughts!
> Bob
>
>
>
>
>
> >From: arthur seeley <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: New Sub: Only three days to go
> >Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 08:50:33 -0000
> >
> >              Only three days to go.
> >
> >The telly mumbles in the downstairs room
> >auntie being sombre, commentators pontificate,
> >pontiffs comment, tyrants strut,
> >pictures flicker as I pass, flags, Guernica,
> >aeroplanes, comings and goings,
> >paraphernalia of preparation.
> >
> >The collared doves croon to each other,
> >seed trays in the shed, robin rustles in the hedge,
> >deep pressures force the fuse,
> >snowdrops flicker as I pass, crocuses, daffodils,
> >sparrows , coming and going,
> >paraphernalia of preparation.
>
>
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