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Terry Carey
"Empiricist"

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On This Day

On this day in 1533 Elizabeth 1st was born as was Group Captain Leonard Cheshire in 1917, Anna Mary Robertson aka Grandma Moses in 1860 and in 1936 Charles Hardin Holly aka Buddy Holly.
Deaths included Catherine Parr - 1548 and Keith Moon in 1978.
In 1943 Italy surrendered to the Allies.

Sheila thank you for that little snippet and like you say - Not a lot of people know that. By the way can you do a Michael Caine impression?

Apropos the competition since there was only one entry of uncertain provenance it is hereby declared closed. Regarding the disinterest I doubt if anyone cares.

I may, however, at some date in the future give the absolutely pukka dinka info which won me the prize and predates the single reply by almost two thousand years.

Till then my good and gentle friendly folk - You know who you are - adios.

Terry.

That’s me on the right - the southpaw one.

Once a Lancer, always a Lancer!

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07/09/2007 17:45:43

John Richards
"A Happy Poster"

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Quoting: Patricia Davies

JJ,

In the nick of time
Meaning: Without a second to spare.
Example:
Origin: Even into the 18th century, some businessmen kept track of transactions and time by carving notches (nicks) on a "tally stick."

Someone arriving just before the next nick was carved would arrive in time to save the next day’s interest - in the nick of time.

P.S. You can keep the prize, absolutely not interested.

MISS ! ! ! Ooohhh...did you hear that?

Patricia Davies said ’nicks’ again!

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07/09/2007 18:21:36

John (scouse) Hirons
"The Dingbat"

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Quoting: john richards
I know this is a silly question, but exactly what is the origin of the expression ’in the nick of time’?

For the winner:-
a bound copy of ’Terry Carey: The early Years’.

Alright John, I cheated & Googled it So I quote:-

Nick meaning ’the precise moment’ is first found in the 1570s and was said to have been common by the late sixteenth century; nick of time itself is recorded from the middle of the seventeenth centuy. The literal use of nick ’a small notch’ is found in the late fifteenth century. The ultimate origin of this nick is uncertain."

The expression about three centuries old, formed when someone added the redundant ’of time’ to the older expression, ’in the nick,’ which meant the same thing. A nick is a groove, a notch, as made with a sharp knife when one cuts a V in a stick of wood. Nothing could express precision more accurately than a notch so formed, especially when applied to time
answer supplied by EduQnA.com

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A situation may be desperate but never serious

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07/09/2007 20:20:09

Mike Pass
"CAVE CANEM"

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Hhhhmmmmm!!!!!!!!

Quoting: Terry Carey

I

The winner gets the first part of my story about my time in Khaki. That lets MP out because he’s already read it.

Terry.

Yeah, yeah! No surprise there then. Sidelined once more through no fault of my own!!!!!!!

Damnant quod non intellegunt.

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07/09/2007 20:50:54

Terry Carey
"Empiricist"

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On This Day

Pin back your lugholes as Cyril Fletcher (who?) used to say. More accurately read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest as we were taught at school. Sometimes we were tense as well.(LOL)

The origin of the expression ’In the nick of time’ is from many years ago. In early times the passage of time has been measured by many means, often rudimentary. By the sun and moon mainly in primitive times. However as mankind became more sophisticated such things as water clocks and weighted clock mechanisms were invented.
Going back to the days when timepieces were not commonplace items and before the practice of enamelling clock and watch faces was introduced the hours were marked on the faces by nicks. This is of course one of the synonyms denoting this kind of marking. Nick, nock and notch are all basically descriptions of the same thing. The faces were usually of brass during this period.
However, long before this it was discovered that candles could be made to burn evenly and within fairly close limits as to the length of time they burned for a given size. Therefore if nicks were made in the candles at measured intervals then the passage of time could be reasonably well observed. These nicks were made more prominent or visible by the rubbing in of soot.
People ariving at the appointed time when a certain nick was reached were thus said to have arrived ’In’ or ’at’ the Nick of Time’. In fact the original saying was more likely to have been ’at’ rather than ’in’.

Terry.

Once a Lancer, always a Lancer!

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07/09/2007 23:27:13

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