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k1llerakum
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 10:09 pm
Post subject: shanks pony |
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I have just had a Chinese student use the above phrase in the context:
"It is a long way, will we have to use shanks pony"
Apparently it means to walk, travel by foot but I have never heard of it before. Anyone any idea where it comes from???
Thanks
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Mike Stevens
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 10:22 pm
Post subject: Re: shanks pony |
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"k1llerakum" <l.m.waldron@lboro.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:d079aj$dtt$1@sun-cc204.lut.ac.uk...
| Quote: | I have just had a Chinese student use the above phrase in the context:
"It is a long way, will we have to use shanks pony"
Apparently it means to walk, travel by foot but I have never heard of it
before. Anyone any idea where it comes from??? |
According to OED, "shank" is a word for the lower part of the leg - a use
that's still in use in the butchery trade. It has citations of the phrase
"shanksnaig" for walking from 1744 ("naig" here means nag i.e. horse) and
"Shanks's pony" from 1898. The latter form is still in fairly common use.
--
Mike Stevens
narrowboat Felis Catus II
Web site www.mike-stevens.co.uk
No man is an island. So is Man. |
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Dave Fawthrop
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 12:32 am
Post subject: Re: shanks pony |
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On Thu, 3 Mar 2005 15:09:06 -0000, "k1llerakum" <l.m.waldron@lboro.ac.uk>
wrote:
| I have just had a Chinese student use the above phrase in the context:
|
| "It is a long way, will we have to use shanks pony"
|
| Apparently it means to walk, travel by foot but I have never heard of it before. Anyone any idea where it comes from???
Many times in Yorkshire.
--
Dave F
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Brian {Hamilton Kelly}
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 12:51 am
Post subject: Re: shanks pony |
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On Thursday, in article
<PuLVd.1120$077.831@newsfe4-gui.ntli.net>
john.briggs4@ntlworld.com "John Briggs" wrote:
| Quote: | John of Aix wrote:
Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On Thu, 3 Mar 2005 15:09:06 -0000, "k1llerakum"
l.m.waldron@lboro.ac.uk> wrote:
I have just had a Chinese student use the above phrase in the
context:
"It is a long way, will we have to use shanks pony"
Apparently it means to walk, travel by foot but I have never heard
of it before. Anyone any idea where it comes from???
Many times in Yorkshire.
In London too when I was a lad.
"Before the civil wars"?
|
Which one(s)? Cromwell's, or Stephen's?
--
Brian {Hamilton Kelly} bhk@dsl.co.uk
"Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu
le loisir de la faire plus courte."
Blaise Pascal, /Lettres Provinciales/, 1657 |
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John of Aix
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:08 am
Post subject: Re: shanks pony |
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Dave Fawthrop wrote:
| Quote: | On Thu, 3 Mar 2005 15:09:06 -0000, "k1llerakum"
l.m.waldron@lboro.ac.uk> wrote:
I have just had a Chinese student use the above phrase in the
context:
"It is a long way, will we have to use shanks pony"
Apparently it means to walk, travel by foot but I have never heard
of it before. Anyone any idea where it comes from???
Many times in Yorkshire.
|
In London too when I was a lad. |
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David
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:32 am
Post subject: Re: shanks pony |
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In article <38ooedF5q0un3U1@individual.net>, Mike Stevens
<michael.stevens@which.net> wrote:
| Quote: | "k1llerakum" <l.m.waldron@lboro.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:d079aj$dtt$1@sun-cc204.lut.ac.uk...
I have just had a Chinese student use the above phrase in the
context:
"It is a long way, will we have to use shanks pony"
Apparently it means to walk, travel by foot but I have never heard
of it
before. Anyone any idea where it comes from???
According to OED, "shank" is a word for the lower part of the leg -
a use that's still in use in the butchery trade. It has citations of
the phrase "shanksnaig" for walking from 1744 ("naig" here means nag
i.e. horse) and "Shanks's pony" from 1898. The latter form is still
in fairly common use.
|
And we must not forget Edward I, "Longshanks".
--
http://www.dacha.freeuk.com/colour/4r-0.htm
As Tuesday's Sword of Iron Mars the Redden Earth,
Twin Sacraments - of Fire and Blood - dishonour Birth. |
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John Briggs
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:39 am
Post subject: Re: shanks pony |
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John of Aix wrote:
| Quote: | Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On Thu, 3 Mar 2005 15:09:06 -0000, "k1llerakum"
l.m.waldron@lboro.ac.uk> wrote:
I have just had a Chinese student use the above phrase in the
context:
"It is a long way, will we have to use shanks pony"
Apparently it means to walk, travel by foot but I have never heard
of it before. Anyone any idea where it comes from???
Many times in Yorkshire.
In London too when I was a lad.
|
"Before the civil wars"?
--
John Briggs |
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Tony Mountifield
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 10:17 am
Post subject: Re: shanks pony |
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In article <d079aj$dtt$1@sun-cc204.lut.ac.uk>,
k1llerakum <l.m.waldron@lboro.ac.uk> wrote:
| Quote: | -=-=-=-=-=-
I have just had a Chinese student use the above phrase in the context:
"It is a long way, will we have to use shanks pony"
Apparently it means to walk, travel by foot but I have never heard of it
before. Anyone any idea where it comes from???
|
It's a well-known English idiom meaning to walk (I've always heard it
pronounced as "shanks's pony").
But I wouldn't use it as being necessitated by distance, but rather by
the lack of any alternative transport.
"It's a long way so we'll have to walk" doesn't make so much sense, so
I wonder whether the student really understood its meaning.
"There are no buses on Sunday so we'll have to use shanks's pony"
would be a more likely usage.
Cheers
Tony
--
Tony Mountifield
Work: tony@softins.co.uk - http://www.softins.co.uk
Play: tony@mountifield.org - http://tony.mountifield.org |
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Tony Mountifield
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 10:21 am
Post subject: Re: shanks pony |
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I wrote:
| Quote: | k1llerakum <l.m.waldron@lboro.ac.uk> wrote:
I have just had a Chinese student use the above phrase in the context:
"It is a long way, will we have to use shanks pony"
Apparently it means to walk, travel by foot but I have never heard of it
before. Anyone any idea where it comes from???
It's a well-known English idiom meaning to walk (I've always heard it
pronounced as "shanks's pony").
But I wouldn't use it as being necessitated by distance, but rather by
the lack of any alternative transport.
"It's a long way so we'll have to walk" doesn't make so much sense, so
I wonder whether the student really understood its meaning.
"There are no buses on Sunday so we'll have to use shanks's pony"
would be a more likely usage.
|
OK, I've just re-read the original sentence and noticed it said "will we"
rather than "we will" (I was misled by the lack of a question mark).
So it sounds like the original sentence does make sense as a plaintive
"It's a long way, do we have to *walk*?"
Cheers
Tony
--
Tony Mountifield
Work: tony@softins.co.uk - http://www.softins.co.uk
Play: tony@mountifield.org - http://tony.mountifield.org |
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Peter Duncanson
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 5:38 pm
Post subject: Re: shanks pony |
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On Thu, 3 Mar 2005 19:08:11 +0100, "John of Aix" <j.murphy@libertysurf.fr>
wrote:
| Quote: | Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On Thu, 3 Mar 2005 15:09:06 -0000, "k1llerakum"
l.m.waldron@lboro.ac.uk> wrote:
I have just had a Chinese student use the above phrase in the
context:
"It is a long way, will we have to use shanks pony"
Apparently it means to walk, travel by foot but I have never heard
of it before. Anyone any idea where it comes from???
Many times in Yorkshire.
In London too when I was a lad.
Me too - in the suburbs of London from my Australian parents. |
--
Peter Duncanson
UK
(posting from u.c.l.e) |
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Molly Mockford
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 8:12 am
Post subject: Re: shanks pony |
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At 08:17:45 on Fri, 4 Mar 2005, Tony Mountifield
<tony@softins.clara.co.uk> wrote in <d095j9$6jv$1@softins.clara.co.uk>:
| Quote: | It's a well-known English idiom meaning to walk (I've always heard it
pronounced as "shanks's pony").
But I wouldn't use it as being necessitated by distance, but rather by
the lack of any alternative transport.
|
We would sail up the avenue, but we haven't got a yacht.
We would drive up the avenue, but the horse we had was shot.
We would ride on a trolley car but we haven't got the fare -
So we'll walk up the avenue -
Yes, we'll walk up the avenue -
Yes, we'll walk up the avenue till we're there!
--
Molly Mockford
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin
(My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.) |
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John of Aix
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2005 6:57 pm
Post subject: Re: shanks pony |
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John Briggs wrote:
| Quote: | John of Aix wrote:
Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On Thu, 3 Mar 2005 15:09:06 -0000, "k1llerakum"
l.m.waldron@lboro.ac.uk> wrote:
I have just had a Chinese student use the above phrase in the
context:
"It is a long way, will we have to use shanks pony"
Apparently it means to walk, travel by foot but I have never heard
of it before. Anyone any idea where it comes from???
Many times in Yorkshire.
In London too when I was a lad.
"Before the civil wars"?
|
Between them. |
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Howie
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 4:21 pm
Post subject: Re: shanks pony |
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On Sat, 5 Mar 2005 01:16:26 +0000, Molly Mockford
<nospamnobody@mollymockford.me.uk> wrote:
|We would sail up the avenue, but we haven't got a yacht.
|We would drive up the avenue, but the horse we had was shot.
|We would ride on a trolley car but we haven't got the fare -
|So we'll walk up the avenue -
|Yes, we'll walk up the avenue -
|Yes, we'll walk up the avenue till we're there!
STROLLING (Flanagan & Allen)
Strolling, just strolling,
In the cool of the evening air,
I don't envy the rich in their automobiles,
For a motor car is phoney.
I'd rather have Shanks's pony,
When I'm strolling, just strolling,
With the light of the moon above,
Ev'ry night I go out strolling,
And I know my luck is rolling,
When I'm strolling with the one I love.
--
Howard Coakley
e-mail... howard<dot}coakleyatcoakley<dot].codotuk
ICQ:4502837. (Try ICQ at www.icq.com) |
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Phil C.
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:59 pm
Post subject: Re: shanks pony |
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On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 09:21:03 +0000, Howie
<to.reply.pls.see.sig@end.of.message.com.invalid> wrote:
| Quote: | STROLLING (Flanagan & Allen)
Strolling, just strolling,
In the cool of the evening air,
I don't envy the rich in their automobiles,
For a motor car is phoney.
I'd rather have Shanks's pony,
When I'm strolling, just strolling,
With the light of the moon above,
Ev'ry night I go out strolling,
And I know my luck is rolling,
When I'm strolling with the one I love.
|
Interestingly, the original meaning of "stroll" was as in "strolling
players" i.e intinerant. The German "strolch", a vagrant, also gave
rise to the Italian "astrologo" - an astrologer. The above meaning of
"stroll" has now taken over to the degree that it's very hard to
discard the mental image of "strolling players" idly sauntering about.
--
Phil C. |
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Phil C.
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 7:28 pm
Post subject: Re: shanks pony |
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fOn Tue, 15 Mar 2005 11:59:48 +0000, Phil C.
<philstoxicwaste@fsmail.net> wrote:
| Quote: | The German "strolch", a vagrant, also gave
rise to the Italian "astrologo" - an astrologer.
|
That should have been "came from" rather than "gave rise to". IIRC
"flu" also came to us from astrology.
--
Phil C. |
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