Hampton Court?

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Hampton Court?

Yes, an old line from a carry on film:- answer,(Henry VIII) 'no I always walk this way' (goddit?).

There is a danger of certain words having different meanings in diferent cultures (either national, age or other). We all know about differences with the US (fag, pissed, etc) and also spurious nonsense that does the rounds , like the spanish read 'Nova' as Not Go! (rubbish, Nova is a latin word in the first place)

I had an experience many years ago (hmm) and I'd like to share this with you...
There was once an SF writer call EE ('Doc') Smith (perhaps we should all try this - a middle name? (I'll move that to general as a thread) ) No - he wrote about Galaxy-blasting Vortex smashers , or somesuch (and remember this was late 40's) Anyway the hero ( Jet Thruster, Rock Vincent or something) had these pistols/guns/rocket lasers (didn't have lasers then). Unfortunately they were named after their inventor, a man called 'Hampton'

Imagine my titters as a teenager reading this yellowed old book, where the hero drops into the room from a skylight
and 'pulls out his Hampton' at which they see it and 'gasp'.
He also used to holster his Hampton with a nonchalant grin!

Whole new meaning! Hope this helps everyone. (my tip :-)

andrea
Anonymous's picture
There's a make of bog paper here called Pipi, if that's any good. Kinda appropriate, though, really.
donignacio
Anonymous's picture
I should really read these "other" forums more often. Did you call "Nova" meaning "not go" in Spanish rubbish? "No" of course means "no" in Spanish "Va" means "it goes" So No va means "it doesn't go"
e-griff
Anonymous's picture
No! that's the point, nova is latin, Spanish is latin, nova means 'NEW' Journalists just spread rubbish.
donignacio
Anonymous's picture
Oh *slow Kansas brain soaks info* Eye gotcha. I know that Nova wasn't originally derived from Spanish...but it is true that when they tried marketing the cars in Mexico, it wasn't selling. (Heard it from a teacher, I did.)
e-griff
Anonymous's picture
That is the 'story'. Did you GO to Mexico to check your facts? How can you seriously .. (Stop this mother! get off my screen name) OUCH! Erm Sorry! I got a g-witch in my computer!
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