On Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:35:36 -0500, tony cooper
<
tony.co...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:27:04 +0000, the Omrud <
usenet...@gmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>>On 09/02/2012 12:08, Donna Richoux wrote:
>>> annily<ann...@annily.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 08.02.12 20:26, the Omrud wrote:
>>>>> On 08/02/2012 01:25, annily wrote:
>>>>>> On 07.02.12 14:39, Irwell wrote:
>>>>>>> 'After I've finished this I'll sling my oak'.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm lost. What does it mean or what is it supposed to be?
>>>>>
>>>>> "hook". It's BrE slang - to "sling one's hook" is to depart. I don't
>>>>> think it's known for certain how it arose.
>>>>>
>>>>> - He was hanging around, so I told him to sling his hook.
>>>>>
>>>>> Even the most cultured of BrE speakers are likely to pronounce it
>>>>> without the "h", which is presumably where the above confusion entered.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks. I'd don't think I'd heard of that before.
>>>
>>> Me neither. "Get out the hook!" probably works on both sides of the pond
>>> -- the cry to clear an untalented act off the stage
>>> (vaudeville/variety/talent show). I picture a shepherd's crook. But this
>>> looks like a different sort of hook.
>
>The phrase I've seen/heard is "Give him the hook!".
>
>I wonder if a device, hook-like or not, was ever used to pull badly
>performing entertainers off a stage.
It seems so.