Long-lived ITMA catchphrases
Halcombe
useful in everyday life - for breaking the ice, covering embarrassment
and the like.
Reading the excellent 'The Phoney War on the Home Front' by ES Turner
(1961), I come across a bit (p107ff) on ITMA.
It highlights
"'This is Funf speaking' (for leg-pulling on the phone); 'After you
Claude - No, after you, Cecil' (for collisions at doors, or baling out
of aircraft); 'I don't mind if I do' (for the bar); 'I go - I come
back' (for anyone temporarily excusing himself from company); 'TTFN'
(Ta Ta For Now - for longer absences); 'It's me noives' (to excuse any
clumsiness); 'Boss, boss, something terrible's happened' (for softening
adverse news); 'Well, for ever more' (to express moderate suprise [I've
never seen this one mentioned elsewhere]); and 'Can I do you now, sir?'
(applications various)."
Of these, TTFN has survived (whether via ITMA or Jimmy Young or by some
other route, I couldn't say), and the others haven't. My recollection
is that the Claude/Cecil line was still in use in the 1970s, the others
not so much.
The line I like the best of its kind is
"You should use stronger elastic"
dated (with details of its origin) to a BBC broadcast on December 3
1950 by Eric Partridge's 'Dictionary of Catchphrases' (2nd Ed p373).
Laura F. Spira
> The really effective catchphrase was the one that listeners would find
> useful in everyday life - for breaking the ice, covering embarrassment
> and the like.
>
> Reading the excellent 'The Phoney War on the Home Front' by ES Turner
> (1961), I come across a bit (p107ff) on ITMA.
>
> It highlights
>
> "'This is Funf speaking' (for leg-pulling on the phone); 'After you
> Claude - No, after you, Cecil' (for collisions at doors, or baling out
> of aircraft); 'I don't mind if I do' (for the bar); 'I go - I come
> back' (for anyone temporarily excusing himself from company); 'TTFN'
> (Ta Ta For Now - for longer absences); 'It's me noives' (to excuse any
> clumsiness); 'Boss, boss, something terrible's happened' (for softening
> adverse news); 'Well, for ever more' (to express moderate suprise [I've
> never seen this one mentioned elsewhere]); and 'Can I do you now, sir?'
> (applications various)."
>
> Of these, TTFN has survived (whether via ITMA or Jimmy Young or by some
> other route, I couldn't say), and the others haven't.
They have in some places. Claude and Cecil still appear occasionally in
my extended family, as do "I don't mind if I do" and "Can I do you now,
sir?"
My recollection
> is that the Claude/Cecil line was still in use in the 1970s, the others
> not so much.
>
> The line I like the best of its kind is
>
> "You should use stronger elastic"
>
> dated (with details of its origin) to a BBC broadcast on December 3
> 1950 by Eric Partridge's 'Dictionary of Catchphrases' (2nd Ed p373).
>
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)
Jim Lawton
<la...@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
>Halcombe wrote:
>
>> The really effective catchphrase was the one that listeners would find
>> useful in everyday life - for breaking the ice, covering embarrassment
>> and the like.
>>
>> Reading the excellent 'The Phoney War on the Home Front' by ES Turner
>> (1961), I come across a bit (p107ff) on ITMA.
>>
>> It highlights
>>
>> "'This is Funf speaking' (for leg-pulling on the phone); 'After you
>> Claude - No, after you, Cecil' (for collisions at doors, or baling out
>> of aircraft); 'I don't mind if I do' (for the bar); 'I go - I come
>> back' (for anyone temporarily excusing himself from company); 'TTFN'
>> (Ta Ta For Now - for longer absences); 'It's me noives' (to excuse any
>> clumsiness); 'Boss, boss, something terrible's happened' (for softening
>> adverse news); 'Well, for ever more' (to express moderate suprise [I've
>> never seen this one mentioned elsewhere]); and 'Can I do you now, sir?'
>> (applications various)."
>>
>> Of these, TTFN has survived (whether via ITMA or Jimmy Young or by some
>> other route, I couldn't say), and the others haven't.
>
>They have in some places. Claude and Cecil still appear occasionally in
>my extended family, as do "I don't mind if I do" and "Can I do you now,
>sir?"
Didn't Bill Fraser - "Snudge" say something similar? He certainly preceded
something with an exagerated cough.
>
>
>My recollection
>> is that the Claude/Cecil line was still in use in the 1970s, the others
>> not so much.
>>
>> The line I like the best of its kind is
>>
>> "You should use stronger elastic"
>>
>> dated (with details of its origin) to a BBC broadcast on December 3
>> 1950 by Eric Partridge's 'Dictionary of Catchphrases' (2nd Ed p373).
>>
--
Jim
"a single species has come to dominate ...
reproducing at bacterial levels, almost as an
infectious plague envelops its host"
http://tinyurl.com/c88xs
Wood Avens
wrote:
>Reading the excellent 'The Phoney War on the Home Front' by ES Turner
>(1961), I come across a bit (p107ff) on ITMA.
>
>It highlights
>
>"'This is Funf speaking' (for leg-pulling on the phone); 'After you
>Claude - No, after you, Cecil' (for collisions at doors, or baling out
>of aircraft); 'I don't mind if I do' (for the bar); 'I go - I come
>back' (for anyone temporarily excusing himself from company); 'TTFN'
>(Ta Ta For Now - for longer absences); 'It's me noives' (to excuse any
>clumsiness); 'Boss, boss, something terrible's happened' (for softening
>adverse news); 'Well, for ever more' (to express moderate suprise [I've
>never seen this one mentioned elsewhere]); and 'Can I do you now, sir?'
>(applications various)."
>
>Of these, TTFN has survived (whether via ITMA or Jimmy Young or by some
>other route, I couldn't say), and the others haven't. My recollection
>is that the Claude/Cecil line was still in use in the 1970s, the others
>not so much.
We still occasionally use Claude and Cecil, also "It's me noives"
(which seems to come in the same bracket as "distoibed" from an
entirely different source), and "Can I do you now, sir?". Haven't
heard the others for years, though.
--
Katy Jennison
spamtrap: remove the first two letters after the @
Laura F. Spira
> On 10 Aug 2005 07:08:44 -0700, "Halcombe" <halc...@subdimension.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>>Reading the excellent 'The Phoney War on the Home Front' by ES Turner
>>(1961), I come across a bit (p107ff) on ITMA.
>>
>>It highlights
>>
>>"'This is Funf speaking' (for leg-pulling on the phone); 'After you
>>Claude - No, after you, Cecil' (for collisions at doors, or baling out
>>of aircraft); 'I don't mind if I do' (for the bar); 'I go - I come
>>back' (for anyone temporarily excusing himself from company); 'TTFN'
>>(Ta Ta For Now - for longer absences); 'It's me noives' (to excuse any
>>clumsiness); 'Boss, boss, something terrible's happened' (for softening
>>adverse news); 'Well, for ever more' (to express moderate suprise [I've
>>never seen this one mentioned elsewhere]); and 'Can I do you now, sir?'
>>(applications various)."
>>
>>Of these, TTFN has survived (whether via ITMA or Jimmy Young or by some
>>other route, I couldn't say), and the others haven't. My recollection
>>is that the Claude/Cecil line was still in use in the 1970s, the others
>>not so much.
>
>
> We still occasionally use Claude and Cecil, also "It's me noives"
> (which seems to come in the same bracket as "distoibed" from an
> entirely different source)
West Side Story?
, and "Can I do you now, sir?". Haven't
> heard the others for years, though.
>
--
Wood Avens
<la...@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
>Wood Avens wrote:
>> We still occasionally use Claude and Cecil, also "It's me noives"
>> (which seems to come in the same bracket as "distoibed" from an
>> entirely different source)
>
>West Side Story?
What else? (Apologies for any STS that might eventuate.)
Mike Page
<la...@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
>Halcombe wrote:
>
>> The really effective catchphrase was the one that listeners would find
>> useful in everyday life - for breaking the ice, covering embarrassment
>> and the like.
>>
>> Reading the excellent 'The Phoney War on the Home Front' by ES Turner
>> (1961), I come across a bit (p107ff) on ITMA.
>>
>> It highlights
>>
>> "'This is Funf speaking' (for leg-pulling on the phone); 'After you
>> Claude - No, after you, Cecil' (for collisions at doors, or baling out
>> of aircraft); 'I don't mind if I do' (for the bar); 'I go - I come
>> back' (for anyone temporarily excusing himself from company); 'TTFN'
>> (Ta Ta For Now - for longer absences); 'It's me noives' (to excuse any
>> clumsiness); 'Boss, boss, something terrible's happened' (for softening
>> adverse news); 'Well, for ever more' (to express moderate suprise [I've
>> never seen this one mentioned elsewhere]); and 'Can I do you now, sir?'
>> (applications various)."
>>
>> Of these, TTFN has survived (whether via ITMA or Jimmy Young or by some
>> other route, I couldn't say), and the others haven't.
>
>They have in some places. Claude and Cecil still appear occasionally in
>my extended family, as do "I don't mind if I do" and "Can I do you now,
>sir?"
>
>
Mind my bike?
Mike Page
irwell
Get up them stairs, Or is that from something else?
Jess Askin
"Wood Avens" <wood...@askjennison.com> wrote in message
news:ffnkf1h8brcuvu57v...@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 17:23:34 +0100, "Laura F. Spira"
> <la...@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >Wood Avens wrote:
>
> >> We still occasionally use Claude and Cecil, also "It's me noives"
> >> (which seems to come in the same bracket as "distoibed" from an
> >> entirely different source)
> >
> >West Side Story?
>
> What else? (Apologies for any STS that might eventuate.)
Deeeah -- kindly judge yah honah
My parents treat me ruff
Wid all da marijuana
Dey won't give me a puff
Dey didn't wanta have me
But somehow I was had
Leapin' lizards, dat's why I'm so bad.
Steve Hayes
>Reading the excellent 'The Phoney War on the Home Front' by ES Turner
>(1961), I come across a bit (p107ff) on ITMA.
Pls cd U tel m wht ITMA is?
Abbrvns R a pn n t nk.
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
Mark Brader
> Pls cd U tel m wht ITMA is?
"It's That Man Again". Old British radio comedy series.
--
MSB "MSB is an accepted explanation for men's
TO misbehaviors. ... Just blame it on MSB
m...@vex.net and everyone nods their heads." -- "TJ"
Philip Eden
"Halcombe" <halc...@subdimension.com> wrote in message
news:1123682924.4...@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> The really effective catchphrase was the one that listeners would find
> useful in everyday life - for breaking the ice, covering embarrassment
> and the like.
>
> Reading the excellent 'The Phoney War on the Home Front' by ES Turner
> (1961), I come across a bit (p107ff) on ITMA.
>
> It highlights
>
> "'This is Funf speaking' (for leg-pulling on the phone); 'After you
> Claude - No, after you, Cecil' (for collisions at doors, or baling out
> of aircraft); 'I don't mind if I do' (for the bar); 'I go - I come
> back' (for anyone temporarily excusing himself from company); 'TTFN'
> (Ta Ta For Now - for longer absences); 'It's me noives' (to excuse any
> clumsiness); 'Boss, boss, something terrible's happened' (for softening
> adverse news); 'Well, for ever more' (to express moderate suprise [I've
> never seen this one mentioned elsewhere]); and 'Can I do you now, sir?'
> (applications various)."
>
> Of these, TTFN has survived (whether via ITMA or Jimmy Young or by some
> other route, I couldn't say), and the others haven't. My recollection
> is that the Claude/Cecil line was still in use in the 1970s, the others
> not so much.
>
more than once by the Major in Fawlty Towers. John Cleese (one of
FT's writers [just in case anyone wasn't aware]) was probably brought
up on ITMA.
Philip Eden
Steve Hayes
>Steve Hayes writes:
>> Pls cd U tel m wht ITMA is?
>
>"It's That Man Again". Old British radio comedy series.
Thanks.
Robin Bignall
Google suggests Cyril Fletcher. I would have guessed Al Read or Jimmy
Clitheroe.
During the past couple of months ScreenSelect have sent us the
complete "Rumpole" series, and I thought I recognised the voice of
"Uncle Tom". Sure enough, when I checked the credits, it was Richard
"Stinker" Murdoch who, with Kenneth Horne, starred in "Much Binding in
the Marsh" in the late 1940s. MBitM started a couple of years before
ITMA was brought to a halt by the sudden death of Tommy Handley, but I
don't remember any of its catch-phrases.
--
Robin Bignall
Hoddesdon, England
Robin Bignall
<haye...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 04:10:34 -0000, m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:
>
>>Steve Hayes writes:
>>> Pls cd U tel m wht ITMA is?
>>
>>"It's That Man Again". Old British radio comedy series.
>
>Thanks.
The actual man concerned was Tommy Handley.
John Dean
I suppose it depends how precocious he was. The first ITMA was broadcast
just before he was born and the last when he was 10 years old. Though "I
don't mind if I do" is tracked to the mid 19th Century by OED.
But I remember Claude and Cecil from the 70s - it was quite popular with
senior Civil Servants and I had to ask, discretely, what it was about.
--
John Dean
Oxford
Philip Eden
"John Dean" <john...@frag.lineone.net> wrote in message
news:ddglao$edj$1...@newsg1.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Philip Eden wrote:
>>>
>> "I don't mind if I do" is pretty well timeless. I'm sure it was
>> uttered more than once by the Major in Fawlty Towers. John Cleese
>> (one of
>> FT's writers [just in case anyone wasn't aware]) was probably brought
>> up on ITMA.
>
> I suppose it depends how precocious he was. The first ITMA was broadcast
> just before he was born and the last when he was 10 years old. Though "I
> don't mind if I do" is tracked to the mid 19th Century by OED.
Ooh, I should think that's sufficient overlap. We had already had a
telly for 3 years by the time I was ten, but I had been fed a pretty
steady diet of Life with the Lions, The Huggetts, Beyond Our Ken,
the Goon Show, H-H-H-Hancock's Half Hour, The Clitheroe Kid,
etc, etc, on the wireless by that age. We've probably said it before,
but things you hear regularly at a very early age seem to become
hardwired.
Philip Eden
sage
the air). Meet Dr. Vardell (sp?). I have an ITMA song book -- it
includes "Don't forget the diver", another phrase around our house.
Valentine Dyall (sp?) as The Man in Black. Dick (Barton), Jock and Snowy
(and The Devil's Gallop)at 10 to seven every night. Popular songs like
Underneath the Arches, Any Umbrellas. Tommy Trinder, Uncle Mac and
Auntie Vi. And the readers of the news, of course: (Capt.) Stewart
Hibberd, Alvar Liddel, and so on.
Al get me coit.
Cheers, Sage
Laura F. Spira
>
>
> But I remember Claude and Cecil from the 70s - it was quite popular with
> senior Civil Servants and I had to ask, discretely, what it was about.
Oy!
K. Edgcombe
Philip Eden <philipATweatherHYPHENukDOTcom> wrote:
>>
>etc, etc, on the wireless by that age. We've probably said it before,
>but things you hear regularly at a very early age seem to become
>hardwired.
In my case I don't think I ever heard ITMA, but I remember vividly how upset
all the grownups seemed to be when Tommy Handley died. And I grew up with all
the ITMA catchphrases although it was a long time before I knew where they came
from. The Cecil one and "Can I do you now, sir?" are still pretty common
currency among my friends of my own generation, who presumably acquired them in
much the same way.
Katy
John Dean
> John Dean wrote:
>>
>>
>> But I remember Claude and Cecil from the 70s - it was quite popular
>> with senior Civil Servants and I had to ask, discretely, what it was
>> about.
>
> Oy!
I asked one person at a time until I found out ...
--
John Dean
Oxford
sage
Didn't Horne often refer to "I remember when I was in Sidi Barani ..."?
We've used the theme tune often for rude singsongs at our local amdram
group. "At Much Binding in the Marsh, tara-da-da-dada-da-dada." There
was, too, "Over the Garden wall" with Norman Someone or other. And a
riotous one from Tyneside with the most astounding stream of Geordie
ever heard outside Newcastle.
Cheers, Sage
sage
Did you ask young Dr. 'Ardcastle? "'E's luvly Missis 'Oskins. 'E's
lovely." Whose line was that, anyway?
And did you canvass the folk in "Aidley, Madeley, Keele and 'castle,
Ukston (Eukeston), Buxton, 'Ale and "Assle." .. from (I think) "our
Birmingham studios." (But could have been Manchester. Note spellings may
be approximate.)
These and others were staple fare at home.
Cheers, Sage
John Dean
And utterly unknown chez Dean.
--
John Dean
Oxford
jerry_f...@yahoo.com
> The really effective catchphrase was the one that listeners would find
> useful in everyday life - for breaking the ice, covering embarrassment
> and the like.
>
> Reading the excellent 'The Phoney War on the Home Front' by ES Turner
> (1961), I come across a bit (p107ff) on ITMA.
>
> It highlights
>
> "'This is Funf speaking' (for leg-pulling on the phone); 'After you
> Claude - No, after you, Cecil' (for collisions at doors, or baling out
> of aircraft);
In my family, it was Alphonse and Gaston. Apparently that's from an
American cartoon dating to 1901
<http://www.toonopedia.com/alphgast.htm>.
"Bailing" out, according to MWCD on line.
--
Jerry Friedman
sage
We must have had a bigger crystal in our set, or else a tougher cat's
whisker.
Cheers, sage
Robin Bignall
Cleese was born on the 27th October, 1939, which makes him exactly a
month older than me, and I was brought up on ITMA. It was not just
parents who were upset when Tommy Handley died suddenly. The next
'personality' shock after that, BTW, was when Dean (no relation) and
Jerry broke up in the 1950s.
Philip Eden
"sage" <sa...@allstream.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>Did you ask young Dr. 'Ardcastle? "'E's luvly Missis 'Oskins. 'E's
>>>lovely." Whose line was that, anyway?
>>>
my French-born mother attempted to mimic the voice. I never
did learn the context ... or indeed the utterer.
>>>And did you canvass the folk in "Aidley, Madeley, Keele and 'castle,
>>>Ukston (Eukeston), Buxton, 'Ale and "Assle." .. from (I think) "our
>>>Birmingham studios." (But could have been Manchester. Note spellings
>>>may be approximate.)
>>>
Those I'm unfamiliar with. But they've reminded me of
"'Ull, 'ell and 'Alifax," a favourite of our French master.
Never understood that one either.
Philip Eden
John Dean
Ah, now *there*, Sir, I *can* do you now:
There is a Proverbe, and a prayer withall,
That we may not to these strange places fall,
From Hull, from Halifax, from Hell, 'tis thus,
From all these three, good Lord, deliver us...
- Thieves Litany by John Taylor (1580-1654)
http://www.metaphor.dk/guillotine/Pages/gibbet.html
Google Groups will show you there's been some previous discussion here.
--
John Dean
Oxford
Graeme Thomas
<philipATweatherHYPHENukDOTcom@?.?> writes
>>>>And did you canvass the folk in "Aidley, Madeley, Keele and 'castle,
>>>>Ukston (Eukeston), Buxton, 'Ale and "Assle." .. from (I think) "our
>>>>Birmingham studios." (But could have been Manchester. Note spellings
>>>>may be approximate.)
The 5th is Euxton. Supposedly the pronunciation is /'Ekst@n/. It's one
of those towns that provides a pronunciation quiz for foreigners,
especially after one has pointed out the correct pronunciation of
Euston.
>Those I'm unfamiliar with. But they've reminded me of
>"'Ull, 'ell and 'Alifax," a favourite of our French master.
>Never understood that one either.
In times gone by there was little to choose between Hull, Halifax, and
the infernal regions. The first two had severe local laws against
tramping workers. The full speech is "From 'Ell, 'Ull, and 'Alifax, may
the Good Lord preserve us."
There are those who claim that little has changed as regards the
desirability of Hull and Halifax.
--
Graeme Thomas
Robert Bannister
> There are those who claim that little has changed as regards the
> desirability of Hull and Halifax.
We don't seem to getting much feedback from the third place. Enquiring
minds need to know, because that's where most of their friends will
probably go too.
--
Rob Bannister
Bob Martin
>group. "At Much Binding in the Marsh, tara-da-da-dada-da-dada." There
>was, too, "Over the Garden wall" with Norman Someone or other.
The great Norman Evans (Les Dawson's hero).
Jim Lawton
>On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 04:10:34 -0000, m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:
>
>>Steve Hayes writes:
>>> Pls cd U tel m wht ITMA is?
>>
>>"It's That Man Again". Old British radio comedy series.
>
>Thanks.
It was actually called "ITMA" and is such a seminal programme that probably
everyone over the age of 40 in the UK will know of it.
I think of :-
ITMA, The Goons, I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers,
Black Adder.
--
Jim
"a single species has come to dominate ...
reproducing at bacterial levels, almost as an
infectious plague envelops its host"
http://tinyurl.com/c88xs
Philip Eden
> Philip Eden wrote:
>> <snip> But they've reminded me of
>> "'Ull, 'ell and 'Alifax," a favourite of our French master.
>> Never understood that one either.
>>
> Ah, now *there*, Sir, I *can* do you now:
>
> There is a Proverbe, and a prayer withall,
> That we may not to these strange places fall,
> From Hull, from Halifax, from Hell, 'tis thus,
> From all these three, good Lord, deliver us...
>
> - Thieves Litany by John Taylor (1580-1654)
>
> http://www.metaphor.dk/guillotine/Pages/gibbet.html
>
'Timber' Woodcock used his version ... as a genial
encouragement to us proto-Estuarians not to drop
our aitches.
Philip Eden
Jess Askin
"Steve Hayes" <haye...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:hnemf1d9528sitnvp...@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 04:10:34 -0000, m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:
>
> >Steve Hayes writes:
> >> Pls cd U tel m wht ITMA is?
> >
> >"It's That Man Again". Old British radio comedy series.
>
> Thanks.
http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/radio/itma.htm