Questions for the Brits

[IggytheBorg]

Question: What do the Brits think of Monty Python and Benny Hill, which are so popular here 'cross the pond?

[Ben Thomas]

Monty Python is obviously amazing and I think any true fan of British comedy would say its one of our finest, most influential exports.

Benny Hill - I liked him when I was a kid and he's great in The Italian Job. But I think most people under 30 would really struggle to tell you he is. Just not a big deal over here at all and forgotten in the pantheon of comedy performers.

[IggytheBorg]

I recently saw a picture of the Marble Arch Inn in Manchester. It says "Free House" on the side of the roof. What does this mean?

[Matt]

It means you're free...to do what you want...any old time...

[Trejo]

Can I get some sort of proper explanation of cockney rhyming slang? I know apples and pears = stairs, alan whickers = knickers and all that.. but WHY? Why is it stairs, why isnt apples and pairs.. chairs.. or something. Are they predefined and everyone knows them (cockney grammar class?) or can you throw any old rhyming words together to substitute something. HOW DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT SOMEONE IS SAYING??

Thanks in advance.

[BillyG]

I recently saw a picture of the Marble Arch Inn in Manchester. It says "Free House" on the side of the roof. What does this mean?

Same as Pub isn't it? Pub is short for Public House.

[Abraham Smashington]

Can I get some sort of proper explanation of cockney rhyming slang? I know apples and pears = stairs, alan whickers = knickers and all that.. but WHY? Why is it stairs, why isnt apples and pairs.. chairs.. or something. Are they predefined and everyone knows them (cockney grammar class?) or can you throw any old rhyming words together to substitute something. HOW DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT SOMEONE IS SAYING??

Thanks in advance.

hahahah yes.

[Ben Thomas]

I recently saw a picture of the Marble Arch Inn in Manchester. It says "Free House" on the side of the roof. What does this mean?

Just a pub. My understanding is that - especially in the North, where the industrial revolution was important and, hence, the working class - commoners used to open their front rooms up as drinking establishments (possibly to earn some extra coin, but mainly as a way to socialise). These later became Conservative Clubs and the like, but that's a different story...

So yeah, Free House just meant you were free to come in and have - and in later years pay for - a drink. A pub still wearing that banner is advertising that they've been there for probably a hundred years or more.

It means you're free...to do what you want...any old time...

Good work. +2 Brit points.

Can I get some sort of proper explanation of cockney rhyming slang? I know apples and pears = stairs, alan whickers = knickers and all that.. but WHY? Why is it stairs, why isnt apples and pairs.. chairs.. or something. Are they predefined and everyone knows them (cockney grammar class?) or can you throw any old rhyming words together to substitute something. HOW DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT SOMEONE IS SAYING??

Thanks in advance.

As to the origin, I can't help you. It's 'stairs' rather than 'chairs' because that simply has more use in the world of the Cockney Geezer or Pearly King. "Come on up the ole apples n pears" just gets more mileage than "Come on in an 'ave a sit on these chairs", for instance.

I don't know a single person my age that hasn't grown up asking their Dad, "What?" when confronted with such sayings. Throw in growing up the son of a former squaddie and you end up adopting all manner of sayings that you then have to explain to your friends and colleagues once you yourself start using them organically.

And none of my family are cockneys.

It was an entirely new learning curve for me moving to the North of England in my early teens, where every county seems to have their own language. It's similar to the difference between an upper class Southern Californian and a lower class Kentuckyian (?), but every 50 miles. And they ALL hate each other. Mostly because of football.

Same as Pub isn't it? Pub is short for Public House.

+2 Brit points. Wait... SHENANIGANS!

[BillyG]

+2 Brit points. Wait... SHENANIGANS!

What shenanigans am I pulling?

[Ben Thomas]

My bad, got my Billy confused with my Bobby. Brit points stand.

[BillyG]

Even though I am scum Irish? Excellent. The infiltration has begun.

[Captain Russ]

And they ALL hate each other. Mostly because of football.

All according to plan...

[B_Metal]

Hey Brits, what the fuck dawg?

[IggytheBorg]

All according to plan...

I TRIED to rep him. . .

[IggytheBorg]

Question: Are Father Christmas and Santa Claus one and the same? The depiction I saw in the 1st "Narnia" movie led me to think they were, but both are mentioned in seperate verses of a John Entwhistle solo tune, "I Believe in Everything", a litany of supernatural/paranormal phenomena the narrator believes in. This seems to imply they're 2 different people. What's the real scoop?