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Kevin Byrne's avatar

Did you mean the "hard work and GRAFT of two generations" (which sounds a bit "iffy", given the "... instinct for scenting crookedness, for identifying the inauthentic.")? Or did you actually mean the "hard work and CRAFT of two generations" (which sounds like what you actually meant)?

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Leigh Revers's avatar

Cockney rhyming slang has the underlying logic of the rhyme, rather than the changing of meanings to the polar opposite! 😂

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Kevin Byrne's avatar

Wanna Bet on opposite meanings? See below. Bob is NOT my uncle!

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Leigh Revers's avatar

lol! That’s not a Cockney expression though.

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Kevin Byrne's avatar

I just found out. I looked it up. This conversation reminds me of something Chesterton once said about the English. In effect:- "The English have common sense because they are illogical.", He didn't agree, but did love paradoxes. Bye the Bye --- What do "we" English observe about "Homely"? In Canadianese, it means "Not very good looking. Ugly would be too strong."

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Leigh Revers's avatar

Homely to a Brit means warm and cosy like a home.

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Kevin Byrne's avatar

That would be "homey" to Canadians, but to Americans "homey" means home boy or friend from one's own neighborhood.

So you're a chemist going back home --- at the perfect time when one has had one's "flourishing period" (40's to 53) and is now in a secure position with the ability and experience to mentor the upcoming "flourishers". And these idiots drive you out of your profession when you are at your most valuable as a resource for the next generation.

As "Forest Gump" is alleged to have said: "Momma said: Stupid is as stupid DOES!"

HENCE (as "old school Brits" oft said): The UofT will be of no great loss to you. But you will probably be an incalculable (small or large) loss to them.

GOOD LUCK

BON CHANCE

Top of the Mornin'

Arrivederci (had to look that one up).

Au 'Voir

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Leigh Revers's avatar

This almost antithetical difference in meaning is similar to that we observe for the word “homely.” It’s very strange!

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Kevin Byrne's avatar

Shouldn't be too "strange" to people who invented Cockney in contrast to HRH's English.

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Leigh Revers's avatar

Americans I just discovered appear to think it means deceitful or fraudulent use of one’s position!

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Kevin Byrne's avatar

Canadians as well.

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Leigh Revers's avatar

You don’t say. 😂

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Kevin Byrne's avatar

I did too! I told you that you Cockneys are contradictory! Bob's your Uncle! Bull-Feathers!! He's my dad!!!

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Leigh Revers's avatar

The British meaning of “graft” is simply “work” and is often used among the working classes.

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Kevin Byrne's avatar

OK!

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Robert Guttentag's avatar

Re: your plantar fasciitis

Same problem (but I've got >15 years on you). What works for me is to take ibuprofen -- but it's necessary to take a high enough dose. The tables usually come in 200 mg. You should take AT LEAST THREE, and you can take FOUR -- as long as you don't take >12 in 24 hours. If I took one or two, there was no help at all. But a day at the max dose, and the pain is gone. Certainly worth trying.

BTW -- hard to believe what has happened to T.O. Hard to believe Canadians kept re-electing that clown JT (and I say that as someone who -- when I live in Toronto -- ALWAYS for for the liberals).

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Leigh Revers's avatar

Thanks for this! I have the 400 mg tablets. I’ll take two today and see how it affects my classroom experience.

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