born SLIPPY?

Hanna Burdon

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Nov 11, 2003, 8:05:30 AM11/11/03

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Someone on pl.hum.tlumaczenia (a Polish translation newsgroup) is desperate
to know what "slippy" means in the title of the Underworld song "Born
Slippy". Can anyone help please?

Hanna

--

__________
The worst mistake a translator can commit is to reassure himself by saying,
"that's what it says in the original", and renouncing the struggle to do his
best.
[William Weaver]

John Dean

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Nov 11, 2003, 9:04:44 AM11/11/03

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Hanna Burdon wrote:
> Someone on pl.hum.tlumaczenia (a Polish translation newsgroup) is
> desperate to know what "slippy" means in the title of the Underworld
> song "Born Slippy". Can anyone help please?
>
> Hanna

I suspect it's intended to stand for 'slippery'
--
John Dean
Oxford
De-frag to reply

Hanna Burdon

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Nov 11, 2003, 3:12:02 PM11/11/03

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> > Someone on pl.hum.tlumaczenia (a Polish translation newsgroup) is
> > desperate to know what "slippy" means in the title of the Underworld
> > song "Born Slippy". Can anyone help please?

> I suspect it's intended to stand for 'slippery'

As in "wet, smooth or oily so that it slides easily or causes something to
slide" or "Someone who is slippery cannot be trusted" or is there another
meaning? It has been suggested on pht it may have something to do with
intoxication (alcohol / drugs?), but I haven't been able to find any
confirmation.

Hanna

PS. Definitions from
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=74585&dict=CALD&desc=slippery

John Dean

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Nov 11, 2003, 6:21:03 PM11/11/03

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Hanna Burdon wrote:
>>> Someone on pl.hum.tlumaczenia (a Polish translation newsgroup) is
>>> desperate to know what "slippy" means in the title of the Underworld
>>> song "Born Slippy". Can anyone help please?
>> I suspect it's intended to stand for 'slippery'
> As in "wet, smooth or oily so that it slides easily or causes
> something to slide" or "Someone who is slippery cannot be trusted" or
> is there another meaning? It has been suggested on pht it may have
> something to do with intoxication (alcohol / drugs?), but I haven't
> been able to find any confirmation.
>
> Hanna
>
> PS. Definitions from
>
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=74585&dict=CALD&desc=slippery

It could be either of those, or both. It could have (looking at the song
lyrics) something to do with sex, sexuality or transsexualism. Or it could
have been designed as one of those enigmatic titles which, having no obvious
connection with the song to which it refers, is intended to provoke, tease,
tantalise and generally stimulate discussion with a view to selling records.
Maybe it's a second cousin once removed of Bon Jovi's 'Slippery when wet'

Hanna Burdon

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Nov 11, 2003, 7:09:30 PM11/11/03

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> Or it could
> have been designed as one of those enigmatic titles which, having no
obvious
> connection with the song to which it refers, is intended to provoke,
tease,
> tantalise and generally stimulate discussion with a view to selling
records.

Yeah, someone on alt.usage.english explained that "Born Slippy" was actually
the name of a greyhound. And to think I've been looking in dictionaries!
Why a greyhound would be called "Born Slippy" is another problem altogether.
Because it was slippy when it was born?

Hanna

dimestore

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Nov 11, 2003, 7:21:16 PM11/11/03

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According to one dictionary site I found, "slippy" is Brit slang for
"alert" or "quick".

Hanna Burdon

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Nov 11, 2003, 7:41:04 PM11/11/03

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> According to one dictionary site I found, "slippy" is Brit slang for
> "alert" or "quick".

That would fit - care to share the URL?

John Dean

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Nov 11, 2003, 8:34:00 PM11/11/03

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Hanna Burdon wrote:
>> Or it could
>> have been designed as one of those enigmatic titles which, having no
>> obvious connection with the song to which it refers, is intended to
>> provoke, tease, tantalise and generally stimulate discussion with a
>> view to selling
> records.
> Yeah, someone on alt.usage.english explained that "Born Slippy" was
> actually the name of a greyhound. And to think I've been looking in
> dictionaries! Why a greyhound would be called "Born Slippy" is
> another problem altogether. Because it was slippy when it was born?
>
> Hanna

Really?
Armed with that information I have Googled and found:
http://www.ministryofsound.com/Music/Singles/Underworld-BornSlippy.htm

<<
You might remember it as that seminal moment in dance music or you might
simply remember it as that tune that banged on about ‘Lager Lager Lager!’ –
wherever you were and whatever you did back in 1999 you just couldn’t have
missed Underworld’s ‘Born Slippy’. Featuring in the soundtrack to Danny
Boyle’s Trainspotting, this tune went ballistic around the clubs in the UK
(even if it did get to the point of overkill). Still, not bad for a tune
thought up after a drunken night out in Soho. >>

<< Unknown fact number 234: ‘Born Slippy’ is named after a lucky greyhound
that Underworld once put a bet on.>>

and

http://www.dirty.org/underworld/uw_disco_uwmk2/single_born_slippy_2003.htm

<< Named after a greyhound, inspired by a drunken night out in Soho,
originally released to minimal acclaim as a B-side, then immortalised in
Danny Boyle's Trainspotting, Born Slippy became the soundtrack to the year.
>>

Though the more you dig, the more discrepancies there are in the story. On
some occasions the band 'saw the dog running' on others they 'read the name
in a formbook'

dimestore

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Nov 11, 2003, 10:39:22 PM11/11/03

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> That would fit - care to share the URL?
>
> Hanna

Yeah, sorry.

http://www.wordreference.com/english/definition.asp?en=slippy

Hanna Burdon

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Nov 12, 2003, 7:57:12 AM11/12/03

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> http://www.wordreference.com/english/definition.asp?en=slippy
Brilliant, thanks a lot.

Hanna Burdon

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Nov 12, 2003, 7:58:23 AM11/12/03

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> Though the more you dig, the more discrepancies there are in the story. On
> some occasions the band 'saw the dog running' on others they 'read the
name
> in a formbook'

Remember, they were drunk, they probably don't know themselves. :-)
Thanks for your help,