GRIPES

[old man emu]

The precedent was consequent on the antecedent.

[Marty_d]

Bad precedent

[willedoo]

On 06/12/2022 at 12:15 PM, old man emu said:

There's a difference between the post-War Italian immigrant who "so speaka da English" because they could not use English syntax nor have the vocabulary, and a person who knows the syntax and sufficient vocabulary, but whose accent and pitch of voice creates sounds that have little relationship to the sounds made by native speakers.

Ome, I know what you are saying about subcontinental accents. Most of them have a very good technical knowledge of English. The ones that are easy to understand take it slowly and try to be understood. The other category don't understand the concept of English accent and pronunciation. They have the technical grip of English, but get their capabilities confused with their possibilities, and stuff up by trying to speak English at the same speed they would their native language. The result is a staccato, machine gun type delivery where each word runs into the next.

 

Some of them are very proud of their knowledge of English, and can take offense if corrected on it. What they don't understand is that it can sound like gibberish to a native English speaker. It doesn't seem right that they would attain that level of vocabulary, knowledge of grammar etc., and not learn that they have to slow down and separate their words so that they can be understood.

[facthunter]

Aw C'Mon When first I comma here I know F.. Nothing and NOW I know F.. ALL.  Nev

[willedoo]

10 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Aw C'Mon When first I comma here I know F.. Nothing and NOW I know F.. ALL.  Nev

Ah, now I get it. Nev is the anglicised form of Nino.

[nomadpete]

Goodness me. Will anyone get that, Will?

 

Nino Culotta -They're a Wierd Mob

[old man emu]

4 hours ago, willedoo said:

Most of them have a very good technical knowledge of English.

I suspect that my example was drawn from the immediate post-War period. The immigrants were seeking a new life away from the War's desolation. Those immigrants were also the children of the Depression and the same low levels of education in their own countries as our Depression children encountered here. 

 

Up until the end of WWII, there was little need in Europe for the majority of the population to be literate in English, or French, or German, or Italian, depending on which country they lived in. Post-WWII, with the Americans ruling Europe for several years, the need to be literate, at least conversant, in English became essential. So now, people for whom speaking English is a second, third or fourth language skill are more common.

 

Gone are the days of Mario and Maria from the boot of Italy having to engage their school-aged children as interpreters, and with those by-gone days the stereotypical "-a" as the final sound of an Engrish word.

[spacesailor]

Post war poor education , Is still making waves, as in my case , the love of flying has been rudely interrupted. 

There,s no way I could memorise those four pages of abreviations , that is only needed for Bureaucrats to save Their preciouse time .

I prefer to read in ' long hand ' .

spacesailor

[Marty_d]

8 hours ago, facthunter said:

Aw C'Mon When first I comma here I know F.. Nothing and NOW I know F.. ALL.  Nev

Straight out of Wog Boys.

[old man emu]

10 hours ago, facthunter said:

I know F.. Nothing and NOW I know F.. ALL. 

That is the punch line of a WWII story that involves the Commandant of either a German or Japanese POW camp. The lead up being that the prisoners have been getting up to mischief, but hiding what they were doing from the guards. The Commandant suspected, but had no proof so he had the prisoners assembled and tried to bluff them in their own words.

[facthunter]

Only the ALL and Nothing are significant. F .. ALL is nothing.  Nev

[onetrack]

I was told the story by another conscript in the Army in 1969. He said his father had been a POW of the Japs, the Jap senior officer of the camp had lined up all the Aussie POW's, and was berating them. He said the officer came out with, "You Aussies think you smart! I think you Aussies know f***-nothing! Soon, I show you, the Japanese know f***-all!"

He told me the Aussies burst out laughing uproariously, so the Jap guards tried to give as many of the Aussies as they could, a beating, but they weren't too successful.

[facthunter]

They had their revenge later selling you rusty deck cargo loaded Datsuns. . Did you hear about the 747 Cargo plane that blew up in the air over Japan? For days it was raining Datsun Cogs. Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

My father traded in a perfectly good HR holden ('66 statioon wagon - Premier seems to come to mind) for a Datsun 200B. Lasted him about at least 20 years.. finally the 200B had more tin can tops welded to it, and bog, than original body, after which it succumbed to the 200B place in the sky.  Mechanically, though, it only needed a radiator replacement and the odd clutch/brakes now and then.. No need for a RWC unless you sell a car in Vic, though (at least, then).

 

[facthunter]

I can believe about the Datsun but a "Perfectly good HR waggon???  The earlier Datsuns were based on the BMC product (a bad choice) the Datsun SSS Stanza was a pretty good car.  Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

I wish he had the Stanza... To be fair, I learned to drive int he 200B, and it was OK, but a friend's mother had a Sigma (I think 2 years younger), and that was a step up and a half.

 

The 186s in the HRs had a bad rep, but my dad had his from a about 1968 to 1979. Although those 186s had a bad rep for, I think overheating, that thing took us from Mleb to Brissie every year and clocked up quite a few miles as my dad used it for delvieries for his business. The thing was quite reliable, but when he did let it go, it was more because of petrol consumption and the fact he turfed in his business and no longer needed the bigger wagon, than anything. Yeah - it did have some rust in the tailgate and the lower parts of the doors, but it was comfy, roomy,  and never let him down.

 

I am partial to older Aussie cars - in terms of nostalgia rather than quality of course, and the HR is one of my favourite for their time.. Later holdens, until the HX, were really ugly IMHO and until the XB, Fords were also pretty ugly.. and that only lasted uintil the XC; those XBs and XEs were putrid.. The EA and EBs were also uglly, but I did quite like the later model XR series. At least the Commodores has some style.. sort of.. European genes, I guess.

 

I recall the day I found out my father had got the Datsun.. I was at camp and it was the Saturday or Sunday parents were allowed to visit. We were in the Otways at Barramunga - between Apollo Bay and Forest (or Colac if Forest is too small for recognition). My father and brother turned up and the schemers concocted a story that we were stuck at camp all day because they caught a bus up. I was bitterly disappointed as I was looking forward to the fishing at Apollo Bay. I scoured the cars looking for the ol' faithful HR to no avail. I saw the Datsun thought to myself, "God, I would even be happy if dad said he traded the Holden in for that piece of crap!". My prayers were answered.. Maybe there is a god..

 

But, because it was a brand new car, dad forbade the fishing gear in it...

Edited December 14, 2022 by Jerry_Atrick

[facthunter]

The 186 wasn't the worst of the Six's. The 202 was. Radiators and oil in sump capacity was marginal for outback long  distance high speed work (or towing) All round DRUM brakes were really bad and the track was a bit narrow on the HR. It had curved side windows though, Plenty of cars as supplied in Australia needed bigger radiators. Cars boiling on hills was a common sight.  Front seats  lacked comfort especially the Bench type front seat, where you slid off against the RH door.  Nev 

[Bruce Tuncks]

The stupid guys who robbed the ASC had a Datsun 180B. They laboriously took the safe in the boot but it fell out as they turned onto the road after leaving the gate. All that was in the safe were membership records.

Here's the funniest bit....   after realizing that the safe had fallen out, they returned to the spot, only  to find quite a crowd there, including the cops. Yes we started earlier in those days, but they had taken so long in getting the safe out that the sun had come up.

I worked with a guy who had a Datsun 180B which was held together by the rust.

[old man emu]

6 hours ago, facthunter said:

Did you hear about the 747 Cargo plane that blew up in the air over Japan? For days it was raining Datsun Cogs.

Boom! Boom!

[Marty_d]

11 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

...until the XB, Fords were also pretty ugly..

Bite your tongue!

 

XP coupe...

 

 

And my favourite Ford - the XY GTHO Phase 3.

 

[onetrack]

The old HQ Holden was pretty stylish in its day. But all the Holden 6's suffered from fibre timing gear failures, they were a right PIA. You often lucky to get 100,000kms out of a Holden 6 before it stripped a timing gear. I've been stranded many a time with a stripped Holden timing gear - and in some way out places - like 300kms S of Alice Springs in 1969, with a HK Holden ute!

 

I had to hitch a ride into Coober Pedy with a passing truckie who had a positively ancient wooden-cabbed Foden! It was flat out at about 45mph, and the corrugations were bone-jarring.

We drove all night and rocked up in Coober Pedy at sunrise. I was depressed to find there was only one mechanic in town, but he had the only decent tin shed in town - and it was new!

 

I left the truckie ordering breakfast at the roadhouse and walked down to the mechanic and asked if he had a timing gear for a 186 - and he said, "Yes, I think I do have one!"

He walked across the near-empty, near-new workshop, reached into a 44 gallon drum with the top cut out of it - and pulled out a brand new timing gear!! Such was the pleasures of running Holdens in those days, you could get parts anywhere for them!

 

Then came the fun part of getting back to the ute, and my mate waiting patiently. My first ride was on the back of a "community" truck with 25 Aboriginals, who were all "passin' the plagon" around!

Then they turned off to the community about 50 miles out of Coober Pedy, and I had to get off - but I didn't have long to wait, before a bloke from Adelaide came along with a Holden, and he gave me a lift back to the ute!

Then it was time to gain much experience, in replacing a timing gear in the bush, with only a modest amount of tools! But we "got 'er dun", and hit the road to Adelaide later that day!

[Jerry_Atrick]

14 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

 

3 hours ago, Marty_d said:

Bite your tongue!

 

XP coupe...

 

 

And my favourite Ford - the XY GTHO Phase 3.

 

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder (and I had an XP sedan for a while)... But, to me, they are quite fugly...

 

14 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

IMHO and until the XB, Fords were also pretty ugly.. and that only lasted uintil the XC; those XBs and XEs were putrid.

I am sure most read it the way it was intended, but I meant to say XDs and XEs were putrid (and I was working at Melford Motors in Melb when the latter came out.. eventhe sales guys didn't like them).

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Jerry_Atrick

[Jerry_Atrick]

1 hour ago, onetrack said:

The old HQ Holden was pretty stylish in its day.

That front grille and dash board... yuk! Though I almost bough a 308 V8 4 door SS HQ..

 

My favourite Aussie cars are the FB Holden, later model XR series Dalcons, XB/XB Cobras and Landaus, VK Commodores, and VL Brock SS/Specials. I like the outside look of the A9X/SLR 5000, but those Torana interiors make Lada Niva interiors look world class and modern...

[old man emu]

I was doing my police driver training in 1980 as the NSW Police was changing from Holden to Ford. I really loved the XD for its many "safe" driving attributes compared to the Holden. The major attribute was the vastly increased window area of the XD which for safety means that the driver can see more. Also, since more of the XD's body was transparent (glass) it was not claustrophobic. I suppose to be honest, both makes were made for Joe Average, so handling and braking were on a par.

 

I drove XDs and XEs for both GD and HWP work. The HWP ones were manuals. Then there was an interlude when we had Mitsubishi Cordias - cramped little buggers that were a murder on your back when you were getting in and out of them ten or twenty times a day, and not much fun to share with a prisoner. Luckily traffic offender prisoners were usually decent people who accepted that they had lost that particular round of the "Beat the System" game. 

 

I would have loved to have an XD convertible. The US Mustang was made in that style   

 

and you can see the source of the Australian body design in them.

 

[nomadpete]

Sorry, Marty, I cannot agree that any Australian designed automobile had style.

And, being perhaps a couple of birthays older than you, I drove most of them - even when new, they were agricultural at best.

And although everyone seemed to salivate over the 'big V8', they were mostly had just a bit more grunt than the pleb versions (race version excepted). And let's not talk about suspension, ride or handling.