Amusing Items

[EEPhil]

Yeah, the +%s kills me!

Now that I've worked out what it does it's even funnier. (Linux isn't something I use very often).

 

[YorkshiremanII]

Spoiler: Answer

". (Snipped the answer to preserve the secret)
Shame! I was hoping it was a term of abuse.

For some reason I've just been led to this old thread, where it is stated that "if earth and all its inhabitants were squashed down until as dense as a black hole, it would fit onto a teaspoon"
But surely, it would also fit onto anything larger, such as a soup spoon, or a tablespoon, or a shovel, or a plate, or into an eggcup, or, or.... into my mug of coffee here... Therefore this option is correct at (virtually) all times

 

[EEPhil]

Crikey! That's an old post being resurrected - Jan 28, 2019.

 

[EEPhil]

casting any nasturtiums or anything ;-)

Why would you want to cast flowers?
(Yes, I'm reasonably sure it was a deliberate play on words. )

 

[HugeMaximum]

For some reason I've just been led to this old thread, where it is stated that "if earth and all its inhabitants were squashed down until as dense as a black hole, it would fit onto a teaspoon"
But surely, it would also fit onto anything larger, such as a soup spoon, or a tablespoon, or a shovel, or a plate, or into an eggcup, or, or.... into my mug of coffee here... Therefore this option is correct at (virtually) all times

All infinitely improbable.

 

[Wildebeest]

Why would you want to cast flowers?
(Yes, I'm reasonably sure it was a deliberate play on words. )

It's a play on words I use from time to time, no idea where I got it from, lost in the midst of time.

 

[EEPhil]

It's a play on words I use from time to time, no idea where I got it from, lost in the midst of time.

It's one I've heard before, but I can't remember where either.

 

[Black Hole]

It's a malapropism. We have several in my family, they get received and adopted down the generations, and in our case "nasturtiums" got mutated to "nastutialums" I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these came from wartime radio broadcasts from the likes of the Crazy Gang or Arthur Askey.

 

[EEPhil]

wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these came from wartime radio broadcasts from

Could be. Aspersions -> nasturtiums sounds a bit too highbrow for the ITV "comedy" Nearest and Dearest. A programme from my childhood where word mangling was commonplace.

 

[trog]

It must be Sunday as I was bored enough to look it up....................................

‘to cast nasturtiums’: meaning and origin

a deliberate malapropism punning on ‘to cast aspersions on’—UK, 1902—nasturtiums are low plants with large round leaves and orange, red or yellow flowers

wordhistories.net

 

[Luke]

Could be. Aspersions -> nasturtiums sounds a bit too highbrow for the ITV "comedy" Nearest and Dearest. A programme from my childhood where word mangling was commonplace.

It was repeated a but too often in "Nearest and Dearest", (or possibly the television was on too often when that programme was being broadcast). I think it was supposed to be some sort of running gag.

Apparently it was also used in Dad's army and Red Dwarf. Looking at what is easily available on-line one of the oldest usages was in 22 October 1902's Kent & Sussex Courier.

 

[Owen Smith]

It's a malapropism. We have several in my family, they get received and adopted down the generations, and in our case "nasturtiums" got mutated to "nastutialums" I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these came from wartime radio broadcasts from the likes of the Crazy Gang or Arthur Askey.

Nasturtiums are sturshings in our family. Many of them come from young children not pronouncing words (or in our family worms) properly. Some of our favourites are stainler steen for stainless steel and poonce for spoon.