"Right up your alley"

[James Wilkinson Sword]

Can anyone hear the phrase "Right up your alley" without bursting out laughing? Do I have a dirty mind?

--
What do you call an aerobics instructor who doesn't cause pain & agony?
Unemployed.

[Harrison Hill]

On Tuesday, 14 February 2017 20:58:39 UTC, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
> Can anyone hear the phrase "Right up your alley" without bursting out laughing? Do I have a dirty mind?

An "alley" is a path, is a lane, is a way, is a road. Highly-
sexed as we all are, if you find the path in front of you a
turn-on, then make sure you don't miss the turn-off :)

[James Wilkinson Sword]

If we were all highly sexed, we would all walk around naked and not be such prudes.

--
I used to not get along with my mother-in-law, but over the last few
months, I've developed quite an attachment for her. It goes over her
head, and a strap comes down under her chin to keep her mouth shut.

[Harrison Hill]

On Tuesday, 14 February 2017 21:59:37 UTC, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
> On Tue, 14 Feb 2017 21:39:36 -0000, Harrison Hill <harrison...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Tuesday, 14 February 2017 20:58:39 UTC, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
> >> Can anyone hear the phrase "Right up your alley" without bursting out laughing? Do I have a dirty mind?
> >An "alley" is a path, is a lane, is a way, is a road. Highly-
> > sexed as we all are, if you find the path in front of you a
> > turn-on, then make sure you don't miss the turn-off :)
>
> If we were all highly sexed, we would all walk around naked and not be such prudes.

In an English winter, if you walked around naked, you'd shrivel up :(

[James Wilkinson Sword]

It's not permanent.

--
Peter is listening to "Aerosmith - Living on the edge"

[Harrison Hill]

Anything but.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

First naked women and it's normal size again.

--
Why is Michael Jackson's album entitled "Bad?"
Because he couldn't spell "Pathetic."

[Robert Bannister]

On 15/2/17 4:58 am, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
> Can anyone hear the phrase "Right up your alley" without bursting out
> laughing? Do I have a dirty mind?
>

Yes. Yes.

--
Robert B. born England a long time ago;
Western Australia since 1972

[bill van]

In article <eghsjg...@mid.individual.net>,

Robert Bannister <rob...@clubtelco.com> wrote:

> On 15/2/17 4:58 am, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
> > Can anyone hear the phrase "Right up your alley" without bursting out
> > laughing? Do I have a dirty mind?
>
> Yes. Yes.

And yes. Also, he does not appreciate that usages vary in different
parts of the English-speaking world. Or he does appreciate it, but
chooses to ignore it for the sake of his trolling experience.

I think this is his most successful persona since I first noticed him.
People keep responding to his provocative posts, and that makes him
happy.
--
bill

[RH Draney]

On 2/14/2017 4:07 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
> On Tue, 14 Feb 2017 22:10:25 -0000, Harrison Hill
> <harrison...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Tuesday, 14 February 2017 21:59:37 UTC, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
>>> On Tue, 14 Feb 2017 21:39:36 -0000, Harrison Hill
>>> <harrison...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> > On Tuesday, 14 February 2017 20:58:39 UTC, James Wilkinson Sword
>>> wrote:
>>> >> Can anyone hear the phrase "Right up your alley" without bursting
>>> out laughing? Do I have a dirty mind?
>>> >An "alley" is a path, is a lane, is a way, is a road. Highly-
>>> > sexed as we all are, if you find the path in front of you a
>>> > turn-on, then make sure you don't miss the turn-off :)

"Allie" was my great-grandmother....

>>> If we were all highly sexed, we would all walk around naked and not
>>> be such prudes.
>> In an English winter, if you walked around naked, you'd shrivel up :(
>
> It's not permanent.

Tell it to that mummified guy they found in the peat bog....r

[Don Phillipson]

"James Wilkinson Sword" <imv...@somewear.com> wrote in message
news:op.yvn7d...@red.lan...

> If we were all highly sexed, we would all walk around naked and not be
> such prudes.

This may say more about the OP than about people
in general. So far as we can observe, actual nudists
and near-nudists are seldom "highly sexed:" the people
with a sexual bee in their bonnets seem usually to
favour total coverage (at least of women) by clothing.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

[James Wilkinson Sword]

On Wed, 15 Feb 2017 15:03:35 -0000, Don Phillipson <e9...@spamblock.ncf.ca> wrote:

> "James Wilkinson Sword" <imv...@somewear.com> wrote in message
> news:op.yvn7d...@red.lan...
>
>> If we were all highly sexed, we would all walk around naked and not be
>> such prudes.
>
> This may say more about the OP than about people
> in general. So far as we can observe, actual nudists
> and near-nudists are seldom "highly sexed:" the people
> with a sexual bee in their bonnets seem usually to
> favour total coverage (at least of women) by clothing.

If you're highly sexed, you want to see people naked.

Of course there are plenty nudists who do it because it feels nice, less claustrophobic, etc.

--
Condoms aren't completely safe. A friend of mine was wearing one and got hit by a bus.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

That wasn't because he was naked.

--
What's the difference between PMS and Mad Cow Disease?
The number of tits.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

On Wed, 15 Feb 2017 07:08:41 -0000, bill van <bil...@delete.shaw.ca> wrote:

> In article <eghsjg...@mid.individual.net>,
> Robert Bannister <rob...@clubtelco.com> wrote:
>
>> On 15/2/17 4:58 am, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
>> > Can anyone hear the phrase "Right up your alley" without bursting out
>> > laughing? Do I have a dirty mind?
>>
>> Yes. Yes.
>
> And yes. Also, he does not appreciate that usages vary in different
> parts of the English-speaking world. Or he does appreciate it, but
> chooses to ignore it for the sake of his trolling experience.

What about "tradesman's entrance"?

> I think this is his most successful persona since I first noticed him.
> People keep responding to his provocative posts, and that makes him
> happy.

Bullshit, it's just conversation.

[Don Phillipson]

"James Wilkinson Sword" <imv...@somewear.com> wrote in message

news:op.yvpoo...@red.lan...

> If you're highly sexed, you want to see people naked.

The more outre clothing and bondage shops near Times
Square, NYC, suggest otherwise.

[Tony Cooper]

On Wed, 15 Feb 2017 14:41:57 -0500, "Don Phillipson"
<e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote:

>"James Wilkinson Sword" <imv...@somewear.com> wrote in message
>news:op.yvpoo...@red.lan...
>
>> If you're highly sexed, you want to see people naked.
>
>The more outre clothing and bondage shops near Times
>Square, NYC, suggest otherwise.

Is there a scale involved? Are there shops that sell low key bondage
accessories?


--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

[James Wilkinson Sword]

On Wed, 15 Feb 2017 19:41:57 -0000, Don Phillipson <e9...@spamblock.ncf.ca> wrote:

> "James Wilkinson Sword" <imv...@somewear.com> wrote in message
> news:op.yvpoo...@red.lan...
>
>> If you're highly sexed, you want to see people naked.
>
> The more outre clothing and bondage shops near Times
> Square, NYC, suggest otherwise.

Explain.

--
Take some good advice: Never try to baptize your cat.

[Robert Bannister]

On 16/2/17 1:10 am, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
> On Wed, 15 Feb 2017 15:03:35 -0000, Don Phillipson
> <e9...@spamblock.ncf.ca> wrote:
>
>> "James Wilkinson Sword" <imv...@somewear.com> wrote in message
>> news:op.yvn7d...@red.lan...
>>
>>> If we were all highly sexed, we would all walk around naked and not be
>>> such prudes.
>>
>> This may say more about the OP than about people
>> in general. So far as we can observe, actual nudists
>> and near-nudists are seldom "highly sexed:" the people
>> with a sexual bee in their bonnets seem usually to
>> favour total coverage (at least of women) by clothing.
>
> If you're highly sexed, you want to see people naked.

Maybe want to, but that's as far as it goes unless they strike lucky. As
Don said, the people who get worked up about these things are so highly
sexed themselves they think that if you catch a glimpse of a woman's
ankle or face, you won't be able to stop yourself from raping her. This
is not really just a Muslim thing: our English Victorians were a bit
that way too. And of course not even the majority of Muslims think that
way: only the extreme nut cases who tend to live in northern Pakistan or
Saudi Arabia, countries deliberately excluded from Trump's ban.

>
> Of course there are plenty nudists who do it because it feels nice, less
> claustrophobic, etc.
>


--

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 3:01:06 PM UTC-5, Don Phillipson wrote:
> "James Wilkinson Sword" <imv...@somewear.com> wrote in message
> news:op.yvpoo...@red.lan...

> > If you're highly sexed, you want to see people naked.
>
> The more outre clothing and bondage shops near Times
> Square, NYC, suggest otherwise.

Giuliani turned the Times Square area over to Disney some 30 years ago
and the heart and soul of the district were sanitized away.

[bill van]

In article <eb5dd4c7-248f-49ea...@googlegroups.com>,

Not a fan of "broken windows" policing?

I once interviewed James Q. Wilson, one of the theorists behind broken
windows. He agreed with me that it did nothing to reduce crime, that it
only displaced it from the areas the police targeted for enforcement. I
saw it as a policy of harassment of the poor and homeless to force them
to go somewhere else. Very likely, the police violated the rights of
those people, who were in no position to challenge what was happening to
them.

Broken windows policing did make Times Square safe for tourists again,
however, and I think that's all that counted.
--
bill

[Cheryl]

On 2017-02-15 11:37 PM, Robert Bannister wrote:
> On 16/2/17 1:10 am, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
>> On Wed, 15 Feb 2017 15:03:35 -0000, Don Phillipson
>> <e9...@spamblock.ncf.ca> wrote:
>>
>>> "James Wilkinson Sword" <imv...@somewear.com> wrote in message
>>> news:op.yvn7d...@red.lan...
>>>
>>>> If we were all highly sexed, we would all walk around naked and not be
>>>> such prudes.
>>>
>>> This may say more about the OP than about people
>>> in general. So far as we can observe, actual nudists
>>> and near-nudists are seldom "highly sexed:" the people
>>> with a sexual bee in their bonnets seem usually to
>>> favour total coverage (at least of women) by clothing.
>>
>> If you're highly sexed, you want to see people naked.
>
> Maybe want to, but that's as far as it goes unless they strike lucky. As
> Don said, the people who get worked up about these things are so highly
> sexed themselves they think that if you catch a glimpse of a woman's
> ankle or face, you won't be able to stop yourself from raping her. This
> is not really just a Muslim thing: our English Victorians were a bit
> that way too. And of course not even the majority of Muslims think that
> way: only the extreme nut cases who tend to live in northern Pakistan or
> Saudi Arabia, countries deliberately excluded from Trump's ban.

Surely it also depends on what you're used to. If you're a Victorian and
all you see normally is hands and face, a well-turned ankle would be
very exciting. If you're a modern European, not so much.

I am trying to avoid US politics, but the idea of Trump's foreign policy
being based on the way the foreigners treat women has a certain bizarre
charm.

--
Cheryl

[GordonD]

On 16/02/2017 06:28, bill van wrote:
> In article <eb5dd4c7-248f-49ea...@googlegroups.com>,
> "Peter T. Daniels" <gram...@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> On Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 3:01:06 PM UTC-5, Don Phillipson wrote:
>>> "James Wilkinson Sword" <imv...@somewear.com> wrote in message
>>> news:op.yvpoo...@red.lan...
>>
>>>> If you're highly sexed, you want to see people naked.
>>>
>>> The more outre clothing and bondage shops near Times
>>> Square, NYC, suggest otherwise.
>>
>> Giuliani turned the Times Square area over to Disney some 30 years ago
>> and the heart and soul of the district were sanitized away.
>
> Not a fan of "broken windows" policing?

I don't know what that means.

--
Gordon Davie
Edinburgh, Scotland

[Cheryl]

It's the idea that if the police deal with minor infractions, like
vandalism resulting in broken windows, there will be less crime
generally, including less serious crime.

--
Cheryl

[GordonD]

Thanks.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 1:28:32 AM UTC-5, bill van wrote:
> In article <eb5dd4c7-248f-49ea...@googlegroups.com>,
> "Peter T. Daniels" <gram...@verizon.net> wrote:
>
> > On Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 3:01:06 PM UTC-5, Don Phillipson wrote:
> > > "James Wilkinson Sword" <imv...@somewear.com> wrote in message
> > > news:op.yvpoo...@red.lan...
> >
> > > > If you're highly sexed, you want to see people naked.
> > >
> > > The more outre clothing and bondage shops near Times
> > > Square, NYC, suggest otherwise.
> >
> > Giuliani turned the Times Square area over to Disney some 30 years ago
> > and the heart and soul of the district were sanitized away.
>
> Not a fan of "broken windows" policing?

Well, I wasn't in NYC for most of Giuliani's Reign of Terror, but the
subsequent consensus was that it didn't work.

But the deracination of the "Red Zone" (as Boston officially called its)
was a terrible thing.

> I once interviewed James Q. Wilson, one of the theorists behind broken
> windows. He agreed with me that it did nothing to reduce crime, that it
> only displaced it from the areas the police targeted for enforcement. I
> saw it as a policy of harassment of the poor and homeless to force them
> to go somewhere else. Very likely, the police violated the rights of
> those people, who were in no position to challenge what was happening to
> them.

Wilson is well known as a rightwing nutcase sociologist.

We had something similar in Chicago, (Eugene?) Moscos of Northwestern, who
would grab onto any microphone he could find to proclaim that gays in the
military would impair something he invented called "unit cohesion." Heaven
knows what he would have said about women in the military.

> Broken windows policing did make Times Square safe for tourists again,
> however, and I think that's all that counted.

How does that label fit what was done there?

BTW Times Square itself these days is hideous. The most recent problem
was costumed characters, who pose for photographs with kids for "tips," who
would get into fights with each other over territory and with tourists over
the size of the "tip." There were also allegedly shirtless women, though the
few times I couldn't avoid passing through the area on the way to the bus terminal,
I never spotted any.

So now they've painted lines on the pavement designating the areas in which
the characters, the nearly-naked ladies, and those just trying to get from
Sixth Avenue to Eighth Avenue are all expected to be confined. Again,
I haven't been there since that was done.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

As long as he destroys the weirdos, he's got my vote.

--
The skeleton found in the car park has been confirmed to be that of Richard III, but one question remains unanswered:
Who did I pay £20,000 on Ebay for?

[James Wilkinson Sword]

On Thu, 16 Feb 2017 03:07:37 -0000, Robert Bannister <rob...@clubtelco.com> wrote:

> On 16/2/17 1:10 am, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
>> On Wed, 15 Feb 2017 15:03:35 -0000, Don Phillipson
>> <e9...@spamblock.ncf.ca> wrote:
>>
>>> "James Wilkinson Sword" <imv...@somewear.com> wrote in message
>>> news:op.yvn7d...@red.lan...
>>>
>>>> If we were all highly sexed, we would all walk around naked and not be
>>>> such prudes.
>>>
>>> This may say more about the OP than about people
>>> in general. So far as we can observe, actual nudists
>>> and near-nudists are seldom "highly sexed:" the people
>>> with a sexual bee in their bonnets seem usually to
>>> favour total coverage (at least of women) by clothing.
>>
>> If you're highly sexed, you want to see people naked.
>
> Maybe want to, but that's as far as it goes unless they strike lucky. As
> Don said, the people who get worked up about these things are so highly
> sexed themselves they think that if you catch a glimpse of a woman's
> ankle or face, you won't be able to stop yourself from raping her. This
> is not really just a Muslim thing: our English Victorians were a bit
> that way too. And of course not even the majority of Muslims think that
> way: only the extreme nut cases who tend to live in northern Pakistan or
> Saudi Arabia, countries deliberately excluded from Trump's ban.

I don't see the problem. Being ashamed or embarrassed about our own naked bodies is absolutely stupid.

[Harrison Hill]

> the size of the "tip." There were also allegedly shirtless women...

This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?

"Shirtless women"? Topless?

[Peter T. Daniels]

I've no idea what sort of garment they didn't wear. The famous tragedy the Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory fire was at a place that made women's garments.

> "Shirtless women"? Topless?

Well, yes, but that suggests individuals cut off at the neck or the waist.

[Tony Cooper]

I would expect, and use, "topless" for a woman. Not "shirtless".

[Sam Plusnet]

On 16/02/2017 21:08, Harrison Hill wrote:
> This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
> In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?

I don't agree. My wife has stated that she has both blouses and shirts.

When I asked if the difference was the presence or absence of darts, she
didn't answer.

I'm sure Janet can put us both right.

--
Sam Plusnet

[RH Draney]

I hope she'll allow for the fact that male sailors also wear blouses
(Boy Scouts too, I seem to recall)....r

[Mack A. Damia]

On Thu, 16 Feb 2017 20:40:18 -0700, RH Draney <dado...@cox.net>
wrote:

Many military and uniformed personnel use blousing rubbers, too.

[Janet]

In article <CPydnZUcefA_wjvF...@brightview.co.uk>,
n...@home.com says...

>
> On 16/02/2017 21:08, Harrison Hill wrote:
> > This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
> > In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?
>
> I don't agree. My wife has stated that she has both blouses and shirts.
>
> When I asked if the difference was the presence or absence of darts, she
> didn't answer.

Of course not

> I'm sure Janet can put us both right.

Sorry. If I tell you our secret, then I would have to kill you.


Janet

[occam]

On 15/02/2017 08:52, RH Draney wrote:
> On 2/14/2017 4:07 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
>> On Tue, 14 Feb 2017 22:10:25 -0000, Harrison Hill
>> <harrison...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Tuesday, 14 February 2017 21:59:37 UTC, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
>>>> On Tue, 14 Feb 2017 21:39:36 -0000, Harrison Hill
>>>> <harrison...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > On Tuesday, 14 February 2017 20:58:39 UTC, James Wilkinson Sword
>>>> wrote:
>>>> >> Can anyone hear the phrase "Right up your alley" without bursting
>>>> out laughing? Do I have a dirty mind?
>>>> >An "alley" is a path, is a lane, is a way, is a road. Highly-
>>>> > sexed as we all are, if you find the path in front of you a
>>>> > turn-on, then make sure you don't miss the turn-off :)
>
> "Allie" was my great-grandmother....
>

And THAT would make your great-grandfather 'right up your...'

[Don Phillipson]

> On 2017-02-16 7:14 AM, GordonD wrote:
>>> Not a fan of "broken windows" policing?
>>
>> I don't know what that means.

"Cheryl" <cper...@mun.ca> wrote in message
news:egleri...@mid.individual.net...

> It's the idea that if the police deal with minor infractions, like
> vandalism resulting in broken windows, there will be less crime generally,
> including less serious crime.

Fatal typo here? As I understand it, the Broken Windows
doctrine asserts that prompt attention to minor crimes (e.g.
broken windows) will by some social means reduce major
crimes (assault, theft, etc.)

[Peter Moylan]

That's what distinguishes people with descendants from those whose line
died out.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

[Peter Moylan]

I have to admit that for me a topless women is someone who had no body
above the waist. "Shirtless" at least lets me imagine someone who is not
a freak.

[Richard Heathfield]

Presumably you're talking about "including less serious crime".

This can of course be read as "including crimes that are less serious",
but it can also be read (and I think it was intended to be read) as
"including fewer occurrences of serious crime".

--
Richard Heathfield
Email: rjh at cpax dot org dot uk
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999
Sig line 4 vacant - apply within

[Katy Jennison]

On 17/02/2017 14:34, Peter Moylan wrote:
> On 2017-Feb-17 08:08, Harrison Hill wrote:
>> On Thursday, 16 February 2017 14:42:39 UTC, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>
>> This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
>> In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?
>>
>> "Shirtless women"? Topless?
>
> I have to admit that for me a topless women is someone who had no body
> above the waist. "Shirtless" at least lets me imagine someone who is not
> a freak.
>

And presumably allows you to imagine someone who's wearing a bra, or a
swimsuit, or a T-shirt, or a frock, or a lab coat ... but no shirt.

--
Katy Jennison

[Tony Cooper]

On Sat, 18 Feb 2017 01:34:00 +1100, Peter Moylan
<pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:

>On 2017-Feb-17 08:08, Harrison Hill wrote:
>> On Thursday, 16 February 2017 14:42:39 UTC, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>
>> This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
>> In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?
>>
>> "Shirtless women"? Topless?
>
>I have to admit that for me a topless women is someone who had no body
>above the waist. "Shirtless" at least lets me imagine someone who is not
>a freak.

Yeah, right. I'd bet, though, if someone said "There's a topless
woman standing over there" you'd look at her toots sweet even though
you would not want to look at a woman without an upper torso.

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

Quite.

In this context "top-less" refers to this kind of top:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/top

4. A garment covering the upper part of the body and worn with a
skirt, trousers, or shorts.

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[bill van]

In article <o8701a$7gh$2...@news.albasani.net>,

That's the theory. The practice is that extra police are hired to harass
the poor and the homeless until they go away, thereby "cleaning up"
areas such as New York's Times Square.
--
bill

[bebe...@aol.com]

Which probably would border on necrophilia, whichever the spelling of "...". And there's also this:

A: "Yesterday, I went to see my great, great, great, great-grandmother.
B: "Get out of here, that's impossible!"
A: "Yes it's poss, poss, poss, poss, possible!"

[Jerry Friedman]

On Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 1:20:50 PM UTC-7, Tony Cooper wrote:

> On Wed, 15 Feb 2017 14:41:57 -0500, "Don Phillipson"
> <e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote:
>
> >"James Wilkinson Sword" <imv...@somewear.com> wrote in message
> >news:op.yvpoo...@red.lan...
> >
> >> If you're highly sexed, you want to see people naked.
> >
> >The more outre clothing and bondage shops near Times
> >Square, NYC, suggest otherwise.
>

> Is there a scale involved? Are there shops that sell low key bondage
> accessories?

A lot depends on who has the key. I'm told.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Quinn C]

* Katy Jennison:

Does "shirtless" really allow for a T-shirt? My explanation for
the term "shirtless" in this subthread was that it refers to the
absence of just that standard garment for Americans of all
persuasions.

--
Are you sure your sanity chip is fully screwed in?
-- Kryten to Rimmer (Red Dwarf)

[John Varela]

On Fri, 17 Feb 2017 14:34:00 UTC, Peter Moylan
<pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:

> On 2017-Feb-17 08:08, Harrison Hill wrote:
> > On Thursday, 16 February 2017 14:42:39 UTC, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>
> > This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
> > In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?
> >
> > "Shirtless women"? Topless?
>
> I have to admit that for me a topless women is someone who had no body
> above the waist. "Shirtless" at least lets me imagine someone who is not
> a freak.

In pickup team games (basketball, (American) Football, baseball,
whatever) where no one has uniforms it is often the case that one
team will strip to the waist so the teams can be distinguished in
the heat of competition. The two teams are called "shirts" and
"skins".

There is either a joke or an apocryphal story, I forget which, about
a situation in which it was men vs women and the men voted to play
as the shirts. I forget how it worked out, or even if it did.
Anyway, that would have rendered the women "topless" in the sense
intended here.

--
John Varela

[James Wilkinson Sword]

I know someone who stutters. He also says "factory" before about 1 in 5 nouns he uses.

--
My sister-in-law sat on my glasses and broke them. It was my own fault. I should have taken them off.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

And I wasn't aware you had to specify the key - do they resonate at different frequencies for different effects?

--
Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field towards each other like two freight trains, one having left York at 6:36 p.m. travelling at 55mph, the other from Peterborough at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35mph. The brakes decelerate each train at the rate of 1.0 m/s2. Is there a collision? What distance do the trains need to allow between them to stop at this deceleration? What deceleration do the two trains need to have to stop in exactly a distance of 938m?

[Rich Ulrich]

I can imagine "shirtless" meaning "in a T-shirt" if the context
made it clear that some formal shirt was expected.
"Standing there in a tux, still shirtless" ... might do it.

Another clothing ambiguity that has bothered me --

"I saw her, naked, on the balcony with her secret lover."
- I read that as the English-subtitled dialog in an Italian movie
placed in the 1500s or so. The young lady in question was
wearing a long-sleeved nightgown that reached from neck to floor.

Even today, "undressed" (I think) could describe "in bedclothes",
so I still wonder whether this was an infelicity of translation, using
"naked" where "undressed" or "not properly dressed" was in the
Italian. From the plot, it was possible (or not) that the fellow who
tattled was trying to stir up trouble by claiming she was nude.
OTOH, especially for the period, meeting a secret lover in a
nightgown versus nude could be a distinction without a difference.


--
Rich Ulrich

[Sam Plusnet]

Up until now, I was sure I'd met all my Wife's sisters.


--
Sam Plusnet

[Robert Bannister]

On 17/2/17 10:34 pm, Peter Moylan wrote:
> On 2017-Feb-17 08:08, Harrison Hill wrote:
>> On Thursday, 16 February 2017 14:42:39 UTC, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>
>> This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
>> In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?
>>
>> "Shirtless women"? Topless?
>
> I have to admit that for me a topless women is someone who had no body
> above the waist. "Shirtless" at least lets me imagine someone who is not
> a freak.
>

You must have got a fright when you saw all those women sunbathing
topless on the beach.

Ah, I just checked: while men are allowed to appear topless on just
about any beach, the rules for women in NSW and more or less anywhere in
Oz vary not just from council to council, but sometimes from beach to
beach, so as, like me, you probably don't frequent nude beaches, you may
have been spared this sight of possibly headless women.

--
Robert B. born England a long time ago;
Western Australia since 1972

[Fred]

On 15/02/2017 9:58 AM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
> Can anyone hear the phrase "Right up your alley" without bursting out
> laughing? Do I have a dirty mind?
>

Yes and yes.

[Charles Bishop]

In article <51W5y0sPNk52-pn2-vl3NidjmnDdW@localhost>,

"John Varela" <newl...@verizon.net> wrote:

> On Fri, 17 Feb 2017 14:34:00 UTC, Peter Moylan
> <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
>
> > On 2017-Feb-17 08:08, Harrison Hill wrote:
> > > On Thursday, 16 February 2017 14:42:39 UTC, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> >
> > > This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
> > > In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?
> > >
> > > "Shirtless women"? Topless?
> >
> > I have to admit that for me a topless women is someone who had no body
> > above the waist. "Shirtless" at least lets me imagine someone who is not
> > a freak.
>
> In pickup team games (basketball, (American) Football, baseball,
> whatever) where no one has uniforms it is often the case that one
> team will strip to the waist so the teams can be distinguished in
> the heat of competition. The two teams are called "shirts" and
> "skins".

It wasn't something we did playing baseball as there was a rare
situation where it would be necessary to rapidly distinguish between two
players.

>
> There is either a joke or an apocryphal story, I forget which, about
> a situation in which it was men vs women and the men voted to play
> as the shirts. I forget how it worked out, or even if it did.
> Anyway, that would have rendered the women "topless" in the sense
> intended here.

Oh, we as jr. high students used to ask the two girls teams on the same
field we were playing on why they didn't play shirts and skins.

charles, cutups we were

[Tony Cooper]

On Sat, 18 Feb 2017 08:58:07 -0800, Charles Bishop
<ctbi...@earthlink.net> wrote:

>In article <51W5y0sPNk52-pn2-vl3NidjmnDdW@localhost>,
> "John Varela" <newl...@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 17 Feb 2017 14:34:00 UTC, Peter Moylan
>> <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
>>
>> > On 2017-Feb-17 08:08, Harrison Hill wrote:
>> > > On Thursday, 16 February 2017 14:42:39 UTC, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>> >
>> > > This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
>> > > In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?
>> > >
>> > > "Shirtless women"? Topless?
>> >
>> > I have to admit that for me a topless women is someone who had no body
>> > above the waist. "Shirtless" at least lets me imagine someone who is not
>> > a freak.
>>
>> In pickup team games (basketball, (American) Football, baseball,
>> whatever) where no one has uniforms it is often the case that one
>> team will strip to the waist so the teams can be distinguished in
>> the heat of competition. The two teams are called "shirts" and
>> "skins".
>
>It wasn't something we did playing baseball as there was a rare
>situation where it would be necessary to rapidly distinguish between two
>players.
>>

I have only seen "shirts and skins" in playground basketball.

It's common in pick-up games in parks where a player will switch teams
because some other player drops out and they need to balance a side.

I can't imagine "shirts and skins" in baseball or football.

[bill van]

In article <suvgaclab2j63b0a0...@4ax.com>,

I don't think you'd need it in baseball, since one team is out in the
field with baseball gloves, and the other is at bat, or on base, or on
the sidelines. They're easy to tell apart.

We used to play a variation of softball called "scrub", which had no
teams. Four players would be the batters to start the game, and everyone
else would take up positions in the field. When a batter made an out, he
or she would become "last" outfielder. The catcher would become the
fourth batter, the pitcher would become the catcher, first base would
pitch, etc.; everyone in the field moved up one position. The goal was
to work your way up to batter, and then stay there as long as possible
by not making outs.

When I was in my 20s, we used to play "touch" football with shirts and
skins. It worked fine. I wouldn't recommend it for the full-contact game.
--
bill

[the Omrud]

Amongst my high-school PE kit was a thick cotton football or rugby shirt
which was reversible. One side was a solid colour (blue?) and the other
side was either white with a wide blue stripe or blue with a wide white
stripe. I forget which. A player could change sides simply by
reversing his shirt.

--
David

[Adam Funk]

Oh, a turncoat?


--
Carrots continue to suffer from the jibes of people who like to
dispense what H. W. Fowler called "worn-out humor."
--- Joy of Cooking 1975

[John Varela]

To me, "bedclothes" means sheets and blankets. That's what it means
to Merriam-Webster, too.

> so I still wonder whether this was an infelicity of translation, using
> "naked" where "undressed" or "not properly dressed" was in the
> Italian. From the plot, it was possible (or not) that the fellow who
> tattled was trying to stir up trouble by claiming she was nude.
> OTOH, especially for the period, meeting a secret lover in a
> nightgown versus nude could be a distinction without a difference.
>
>


--

John Varela

[John Varela]

On Sat, 18 Feb 2017 16:58:07 UTC, Charles Bishop
<ctbi...@earthlink.net> wrote:

> In article <51W5y0sPNk52-pn2-vl3NidjmnDdW@localhost>,
> "John Varela" <newl...@verizon.net> wrote:
>
> > On Fri, 17 Feb 2017 14:34:00 UTC, Peter Moylan
> > <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
> >
> > > On 2017-Feb-17 08:08, Harrison Hill wrote:
> > > > On Thursday, 16 February 2017 14:42:39 UTC, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> > >
> > > > This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
> > > > In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?
> > > >
> > > > "Shirtless women"? Topless?
> > >
> > > I have to admit that for me a topless women is someone who had no body
> > > above the waist. "Shirtless" at least lets me imagine someone who is not
> > > a freak.
> >
> > In pickup team games (basketball, (American) Football, baseball,
> > whatever) where no one has uniforms it is often the case that one
> > team will strip to the waist so the teams can be distinguished in
> > the heat of competition. The two teams are called "shirts" and
> > "skins".
>
> It wasn't something we did playing baseball as there was a rare
> situation where it would be necessary to rapidly distinguish between two
> players.

Yeah, I know, but I thought I ought to have three examples and had
trouble thinking of a third.

> > There is either a joke or an apocryphal story, I forget which, about
> > a situation in which it was men vs women and the men voted to play
> > as the shirts. I forget how it worked out, or even if it did.
> > Anyway, that would have rendered the women "topless" in the sense
> > intended here.
>
> Oh, we as jr. high students used to ask the two girls teams on the same
> field we were playing on why they didn't play shirts and skins.
>
> charles, cutups we were

--
John Varela

[Rich Ulrich]

On 18 Feb 2017 22:20:40 GMT, "John Varela" <newl...@verizon.net>
wrote:

>
>> Even today, "undressed" (I think) could describe "in bedclothes",
>
>To me, "bedclothes" means sheets and blankets. That's what it means
>to Merriam-Webster, too.
>

Dang! I never knew that! But it is not a word that
I've run into very often.

I hope everyone inferred that I meant the nightie.

--
Rich Ulrich

[Jerry Friedman]

...

Soccer, ultimate frisbee. It has to be a game where the teams intermingle.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Jerry Friedman]

On 2/18/17 12:21 PM, the Omrud wrote:
> On 18/02/2017 17:13, Tony Cooper wrote:

...

>> I have only seen "shirts and skins" in playground basketball.
>>
>> It's common in pick-up games in parks where a player will switch teams
>> because some other player drops out and they need to balance a side.
>>
>> I can't imagine "shirts and skins" in baseball or football.
>
> Amongst my high-school PE kit was a thick cotton football or rugby shirt
> which was reversible. One side was a solid colour (blue?) and the other
> side was either white with a wide blue stripe or blue with a wide white
> stripe. I forget which. A player could change sides simply by
> reversing his shirt.

That's what we did too. Shirts and skins is for less formal situations.

I seem to recall that back when the NBA (National Basketball
Association) wasn't doing well, a character in the comic strip Tank
McNamara proposed that the game be played "shorts and skins". (Google
can't find that, uh, strip.)

--
Jerry Friedman

[Tony Cooper]

"Bedclothes", to me, is also sheets and blankets. "Bedwear" could be
a nighty or pjs, but I don't recall ever using the word.

[Sam Plusnet]

Nightwear?

Confusing for shift workers.

--
Sam Plusnet

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

I'd use "nightclothes" or, perhaps, "nightwear".

[Robert Bannister]

I had to think about it. It was not obvious. How about "sleepwear"?
"sleeping wear"? Yep, the department stores like "sleepwear" or
"nightwear", although I find the latter ambiguous depending on what time
one goes to bed. Dracula's nightwear was not pyjamas.

[Charles Bishop]

In article <suvgaclab2j63b0a0...@4ax.com>,
Tony Cooper <tonyco...@gmail.com> wrote:

We used it in football, in pickup games where there wasn't much chance
of harm since we were only 13-15 years old, playing on grass. At school
though we also used it for football, but played flag football. In this
case, it was shirts and skins but each player had a strip of cloth
tucked into the waistband of the gym shorts. You were "tackled" if an
opposing player pulled out one of the strips of cloth.

--
charles

[Charles Bishop]

In article <billvan-7ECDDC...@88-209-239-213.giganet.hu>,

bill van <bil...@delete.shaw.ca> wrote:


>
> We used to play a variation of softball called "scrub", which had no
> teams. Four players would be the batters to start the game, and everyone
> else would take up positions in the field. When a batter made an out, he
> or she would become "last" outfielder. The catcher would become the
> fourth batter, the pitcher would become the catcher, first base would
> pitch, etc.; everyone in the field moved up one position. The goal was
> to work your way up to batter, and then stay there as long as possible
> by not making outs.

Called "work-up" in my SoCal area. Probably because you worked your way
up from outfield to a batter, through the other positions.

>
> When I was in my 20s, we used to play "touch" football with shirts and
> skins. It worked fine. I wouldn't recommend it for the full-contact game.

--

charles

[Rich Ulrich]

On Sun, 19 Feb 2017 07:55:50 -0800, Charles Bishop
<ctbi...@earthlink.net> wrote:

>In article <billvan-7ECDDC...@88-209-239-213.giganet.hu>,
> bill van <bil...@delete.shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>
>>
>> We used to play a variation of softball called "scrub", which had no
>> teams. Four players would be the batters to start the game, and everyone
>> else would take up positions in the field. When a batter made an out, he
>> or she would become "last" outfielder. The catcher would become the
>> fourth batter, the pitcher would become the catcher, first base would
>> pitch, etc.; everyone in the field moved up one position. The goal was
>> to work your way up to batter, and then stay there as long as possible
>> by not making outs.
>
>Called "work-up" in my SoCal area. Probably because you worked your way
>up from outfield to a batter, through the other positions.

Called "work-up" in the Texas Panhandle (1960), too.

That was the game when you did not have enough people to fill
out two teams. You can get by with one fewer if the catcher is
one of the four batters (special rules at home plate may apply).

>>
>> When I was in my 20s, we used to play "touch" football with shirts and
>> skins. It worked fine. I wouldn't recommend it for the full-contact game.

Tough-football could be one-handed or two-handed (to make it
harder) touching of the ball carrier. We played flag football in
high school phys-ed, touch football among friends outside of school.

--
Rich Ulrich

[Mark Brader]

"Bill":

>> We used to play a variation of softball called "scrub", which had no

>> teams...

Where?

Charles Bishop:

> Called "work-up" in my SoCal area. Probably because you worked your way
> up from outfield to a batter, through the other positions.

"Scrub" in Guelph, Ontario, in the mid-1960s.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | Some people like my advice so much that they frame it
m...@vex.net | upon the wall instead of using it. --Gordon R. Dickson

[bill van]

In article <XNudneAz6rfZdDTF...@giganews.com>,

m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:

> "Bill":
> >> We used to play a variation of softball called "scrub", which had no
> >> teams...
>
> Where?

Initially, in the 1960s on Calgary school grounds, when we didn't have
enough players for two full teams. Later, when I lived in Toronto in the
late 1970s, a bunch of friends would meet in a park in or near Rosedale
(I've forgotten the name of the park but it was next to a high school)
on summer Sunday mornings and play for a couple of hours.

On the way home (in Parkdale), my now-wife and I would stop at a store
that sold both frozen yoghurt and the weekend New York Times. We'd
consume our frozen yoghurt while sitting on a bench outside the store,
then take the Times home and make a big pot of coffee. Sweet memories.

>
> Charles Bishop:
> > Called "work-up" in my SoCal area. Probably because you worked your way
> > up from outfield to a batter, through the other positions.
>
> "Scrub" in Guelph, Ontario, in the mid-1960s.
--

bill

[Whiskers]

On 2017-02-17, Peter Moylan <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
> On 2017-Feb-17 08:08, Harrison Hill wrote:
>> On Thursday, 16 February 2017 14:42:39 UTC, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>
>> This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
>> In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?
>>
>> "Shirtless women"? Topless?
>
> I have to admit that for me a topless women is someone who had no body
> above the waist. "Shirtless" at least lets me imagine someone who is not
> a freak.

Brings Marlowe to mind

Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium—
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.—

"THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS"
<http://www.gutenberg.org/files/779/779-h/779-h.htm>

(The footnote to 'topless' there says "topless— i.e. not exceeded in
height by any.")


--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

[Whiskers]

'In a state of undress' perhaps, or 'deshabille' or 'negligée' (pardon my
French). But 'nightclothes' are what people might wear; only beds wear
'bedclothes'.

[Peter T. Daniels]

I've always thought it meant that after they were burnt they had no tops.
As Peter M says.

[Harvey]

On Sun, 19 Feb 2017 12:35:20 -0800, bill van <bil...@delete.shaw.ca>
wrote:

In Ottawa too, same era.

--
Cheers, Harvey
CanE (30 years) & BrE (34 years), indiscriminately mixed

[Jerry Friedman]

On 2/19/17 11:08 AM, Rich Ulrich wrote:
> On Sun, 19 Feb 2017 07:55:50 -0800, Charles Bishop
> <ctbi...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> In article <billvan-7ECDDC...@88-209-239-213.giganet.hu>,
>> bill van <bil...@delete.shaw.ca> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>
>>> We used to play a variation of softball called "scrub", which had no
>>> teams. Four players would be the batters to start the game, and everyone
>>> else would take up positions in the field. When a batter made an out, he
>>> or she would become "last" outfielder. The catcher would become the
>>> fourth batter, the pitcher would become the catcher, first base would
>>> pitch, etc.; everyone in the field moved up one position. The goal was
>>> to work your way up to batter, and then stay there as long as possible
>>> by not making outs.
>>
>> Called "work-up" in my SoCal area. Probably because you worked your way
>> up from outfield to a batter, through the other positions.
>
> Called "work-up" in the Texas Panhandle (1960), too.
>
> That was the game when you did not have enough people to fill
> out two teams. You can get by with one fewer if the catcher is
> one of the four batters (special rules at home plate may apply).

...

Or with imaginary men, but that may be for younger players. I don't
remember playing anything like this scrub or work-up.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Jerry Friedman]

All this time I thought it meant they were so tall you couldn't see the
tops.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Robert Bannister]

+1

[Charles Bishop]

In article <51W5y0sPNk52-pn2-5Ye9vOjwKQyq@localhost>,

Oh, I do the same thing with lists. I think there is a rule of 3 where
it's as you describe and I have difficulty listing only two.

--
charles

[Charles Bishop]

In article <XNudneAz6rfZdDTF...@giganews.com>,
m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:

> "Bill":
> >> We used to play a variation of softball called "scrub", which had no
> >> teams...
>
> Where?
>
> Charles Bishop:
> > Called "work-up" in my SoCal area. Probably because you worked your way
> > up from outfield to a batter, through the other positions.
>
> "Scrub" in Guelph, Ontario, in the mid-1960s.

As long as were here, "scrub" described a 7th grader as they were new to
jr. high school. I don't think it was used for a freshman in High
School. That was 10th grade for me, but some high schools start at 9th
grade as well.

I think it's used in the military academies as well.

--
charels

[Charles Bishop]

In article <o8djas$l7m$2...@news.albasani.net>,

Jerry Friedman <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> On 2/19/17 11:08 AM, Rich Ulrich wrote:
> > On Sun, 19 Feb 2017 07:55:50 -0800, Charles Bishop
> > <ctbi...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> >
> >> In article <billvan-7ECDDC...@88-209-239-213.giganet.hu>,
> >> bill van <bil...@delete.shaw.ca> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>
> >>> We used to play a variation of softball called "scrub", which had no
> >>> teams. Four players would be the batters to start the game, and everyone
> >>> else would take up positions in the field. When a batter made an out, he
> >>> or she would become "last" outfielder. The catcher would become the
> >>> fourth batter, the pitcher would become the catcher, first base would
> >>> pitch, etc.; everyone in the field moved up one position. The goal was
> >>> to work your way up to batter, and then stay there as long as possible
> >>> by not making outs.
> >>
> >> Called "work-up" in my SoCal area. Probably because you worked your way
> >> up from outfield to a batter, through the other positions.
> >
> > Called "work-up" in the Texas Panhandle (1960), too.
> >
> > That was the game when you did not have enough people to fill
> > out two teams. You can get by with one fewer if the catcher is
> > one of the four batters (special rules at home plate may apply).
> ..
>

> Or with imaginary men, but that may be for younger players. I don't
> remember playing anything like this scrub or work-up.

Another baseball game we played was "500". We usually played this in the
neighborhood streets (There weren't many cars parked along the curb in
those days, I guess.

The batter was at one end of the players, and the rest were at a
distance where they could catch a fly ball. The batter threw the ball up
in the air and hit it on the way down. Points were awarded thus -

100 for a caught fly
75 if the ball bounced once and then was caught
50 if the ball bounced twice and then was caught
25 if the ball bounced more than twice, and this included grounders.

The first one to total 500 became the batter.

I don't thin we played this on grass since the ball wouldn't bounce as
well. Perhaps on playgrounds with asphalt.

--
charles

[Tony Cooper]

I have never heard the term "scrub" in this context before. The only
term I've heard for a baseball game where the players rotated
positions, is "scrimmage" where a team's players both bat and field in
the same inning. There's no score kept because there's no other team.

In baseball, a "scrub" to me was a player who was not good enough to
make the team, but remained on the roster and was put in the game only
when some player didn't show up for a game or were injured. A "scrub"
was a substitute player, but one with inferior skills.

Baseball teams have more players than needed to play all positions, so
some players on the team are substitutes. The "scrub", though, was
used only in the direst circumstances.

[bill van]

In article <ctbishop-07124F...@news.individual.net>,

Charles Bishop <ctbi...@earthlink.net> wrote:

> Another baseball game we played was "500". We usually played this in the
> neighborhood streets (There weren't many cars parked along the curb in
> those days, I guess.
>
> The batter was at one end of the players, and the rest were at a
> distance where they could catch a fly ball. The batter threw the ball up
> in the air and hit it on the way down. Points were awarded thus -
>
> 100 for a caught fly
> 75 if the ball bounced once and then was caught
> 50 if the ball bounced twice and then was caught
> 25 if the ball bounced more than twice, and this included grounders.
>
> The first one to total 500 became the batter.
>
> I don't thin we played this on grass since the ball wouldn't bounce as
> well. Perhaps on playgrounds with asphalt.

We played it on grass, same name, but with a softball rather than a
baseball. Baseball/hardball wasn't played much when I was in junior high
and high school in Calgary in the 1960s.
--
bill

[Tony Cooper]

On Sun, 19 Feb 2017 21:26:12 -0800, Charles Bishop
<ctbi...@earthlink.net> wrote:

>In article <o8djas$l7m$2...@news.albasani.net>,
> Jerry Friedman <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>Another baseball game we played was "500". We usually played this in the
>neighborhood streets (There weren't many cars parked along the curb in
>those days, I guess.
>

Drifting a bit...I watched a game of stickball for the first time a
while back. There's a group of New York transplants that go a place
here every Sunday morning and play stickball.

I was somewhat familiar with stickball from books, but as a game
played in the streets of NYC.

What surprised me about the game in Orlando was that they played in a
huge parking lot of a company that is closed on Sunday. Considering
the width of the playing area, and the distance the outfielders are
from the batter (if those are the terms used in that game), I can't
see how the game would be played in residential streets in Brooklyn or
the Bronx.

https://photos.smugmug.com/AUE-Photos/i-gmXmNZG/0/X2/2014-01-19-11-X2.jpg

There is no pitcher, by the way. The batter throws the ball down with
some force, the ball bounces up, and the batter hits it as it comes
back down.

[Katy Jennison]

+1. In fact, I'm not convinced it doesn't.

--
Katy Jennison

[Whiskers]

I'd always thought they were so tall the tops were out of sight. But
then I am short-sighted so that notion isn't terribly far-fetched for
me.

[Whiskers]

Likewise. But I eventually discovered that not everyone is as
short-sighted as I am.

[Whiskers]

On 2017-02-18, the Omrud <usenet...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 18/02/2017 17:13, Tony Cooper wrote:

>> On Sat, 18 Feb 2017 08:58:07 -0800, Charles Bishop
>> <ctbi...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>>> In article <51W5y0sPNk52-pn2-vl3NidjmnDdW@localhost>,
>>> "John Varela" <newl...@verizon.net> wrote:
>>>

>>>> On Fri, 17 Feb 2017 14:34:00 UTC, Peter Moylan

>>>> <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 2017-Feb-17 08:08, Harrison Hill wrote:
>>>>>> On Thursday, 16 February 2017 14:42:39 UTC, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
>>>>>> In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "Shirtless women"? Topless?
>>>>>
>>>>> I have to admit that for me a topless women is someone who had no body
>>>>> above the waist. "Shirtless" at least lets me imagine someone who is not
>>>>> a freak.
>>>>

>>>> In pickup team games (basketball, (American) Football, baseball,
>>>> whatever) where no one has uniforms it is often the case that one
>>>> team will strip to the waist so the teams can be distinguished in
>>>> the heat of competition. The two teams are called "shirts" and
>>>> "skins".
>>>
>>> It wasn't something we did playing baseball as there was a rare
>>> situation where it would be necessary to rapidly distinguish between two
>>> players.
>>

>> I have only seen "shirts and skins" in playground basketball.
>>
>> It's common in pick-up games in parks where a player will switch teams
>> because some other player drops out and they need to balance a side.
>>
>> I can't imagine "shirts and skins" in baseball or football.
>

> Amongst my high-school PE kit was a thick cotton football or rugby shirt
> which was reversible. One side was a solid colour (blue?) and the other
> side was either white with a wide blue stripe or blue with a wide white
> stripe. I forget which. A player could change sides simply by
> reversing his shirt.

We all wore the uniform shirt or jersey, and used coloured sashes to
differentiate teams if necessary.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Monday, February 20, 2017 at 1:05:40 AM UTC-5, Tony Cooper wrote:

> Drifting a bit...

so what else is new

> I watched a game of stickball for the first time a
> while back. There's a group of New York transplants that go a place
> here every Sunday morning and play stickball.
>
> I was somewhat familiar with stickball from books, but as a game
> played in the streets of NYC.
>
> What surprised me about the game in Orlando was that they played in a
> huge parking lot of a company that is closed on Sunday. Considering
> the width of the playing area, and the distance the outfielders are
> from the batter (if those are the terms used in that game), I can't
> see how the game would be played in residential streets in Brooklyn or
> the Bronx.

Sorry, but that was not stickball.

First clue: "going someplace" to play it. Stickball is played in the street
in front of your houses, and play is suspended to allow cars through.

The "stick" is a broomstick, and the ball is a spaldeen -- a red rubber
ball made by Spalding. The batter tosses the ball up and swings at it
as it returns; the fielders try to field it, and the bases are specified
sewer grates (storm drains) along the block.

Parking lots do not have either sides or appropriately placed sewer grates
to make it possible.

There is also "stoopball." At least there's nowhere in Orlando where a
parody of _that_ could be attempted.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Monday, February 20, 2017 at 7:50:58 AM UTC-5, Whiskers Catwheezel wrote:
> On 2017-02-19, Peter T. Daniels <gram...@verizon.net> wrote:
> > On Sunday, February 19, 2017 at 5:12:51 PM UTC-5, Whiskers Catwheezel wrote:
> >> On 2017-02-17, Peter Moylan <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
> >> > On 2017-Feb-17 08:08, Harrison Hill wrote:
> >> >> On Thursday, 16 February 2017 14:42:39 UTC, Peter T. Daniels wrote:

[no, he did not]

> >> >> This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
> >> >> In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?
> >> >> "Shirtless women"? Topless?
> >> > I have to admit that for me a topless women is someone who had no body
> >> > above the waist. "Shirtless" at least lets me imagine someone who is not
> >> > a freak.
> >> Brings Marlowe to mind
> >> Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
> >> And burnt the topless towers of Ilium—
> >> Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.—
> >> "THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS"
> >> <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/779/779-h/779-h.htm>
> >> (The footnote to 'topless' there says "topless— i.e. not exceeded in
> >> height by any.")
> > I've always thought it meant that after they were burnt they had no tops.
> > As Peter M says.
>
> I'd always thought they were so tall the tops were out of sight. But
> then I am short-sighted so that notion isn't terribly far-fetched for
> me.

I'm convinced that most of the plethora of "blind men" in the Bible were
simply myopic.

[Cheryl]

There are a lot of eye problems that caused blindness before modern
medical care was available - cataracts, for example. I don't know if
river blindness was common in Biblical times in the Holy Land, but it
causes a lot of blindness today, and isn't curable. Trachoma used to be
common, too.

--
Cheryl

[Katy Jennison]

Well, other explanations include mist or low cloud.

--
Katy Jennison

[Quinn C]

* Rich Ulrich:

> On Fri, 17 Feb 2017 16:58:30 -0500, Quinn C
> <lispa...@crommatograph.info> wrote:
>
>>* Katy Jennison:
>>

>>> On 17/02/2017 14:34, Peter Moylan wrote:
>>>> On 2017-Feb-17 08:08, Harrison Hill wrote:
>>>>> On Thursday, 16 February 2017 14:42:39 UTC, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
>>>>> In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?
>>>>>
>>>>> "Shirtless women"? Topless?
>>>>
>>>> I have to admit that for me a topless women is someone who had no body
>>>> above the waist. "Shirtless" at least lets me imagine someone who is not
>>>> a freak.
>>>>
>>>

>>> And presumably allows you to imagine someone who's wearing a bra, or a
>>> swimsuit, or a T-shirt, or a frock, or a lab coat ... but no shirt.
>>
>>Does "shirtless" really allow for a T-shirt? My explanation for
>>the term "shirtless" in this subthread was that it refers to the
>>absence of just that standard garment for Americans of all
>>persuasions.
>
> I can imagine "shirtless" meaning "in a T-shirt" if the context
> made it clear that some formal shirt was expected.
> "Standing there in a tux, still shirtless" ... might do it.

OK, but we were talking about women, and they are rarely expected
to wear a "shirt", specifically. Only with uniforms, I guess.

--
... their average size remains so much smaller; so that the sum
total of food converted into thought by women can never equal
[that of] men. It follows therefore, that men will always think
more than women. -- M.A. Hardaker in Popular Science (1881)

[John Varela]

On Sat, 18 Feb 2017 23:56:12 UTC, "Peter Duncanson [BrE]"
<ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote:

> On Sat, 18 Feb 2017 18:06:23 -0500, Tony Cooper
> <tonyco...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >On Sat, 18 Feb 2017 17:42:09 -0500, Rich Ulrich
> ><rich....@comcast.net> wrote:
> >
> >>On 18 Feb 2017 22:20:40 GMT, "John Varela" <newl...@verizon.net>
> >>wrote:
> >>
> >>>
> >>>> Even today, "undressed" (I think) could describe "in bedclothes",
> >>>
> >>>To me, "bedclothes" means sheets and blankets. That's what it means
> >>>to Merriam-Webster, too.
> >>>
> >>
> >>Dang! I never knew that! But it is not a word that
> >>I've run into very often.
> >>
> >>I hope everyone inferred that I meant the nightie.
> >
> >"Bedclothes", to me, is also sheets and blankets. "Bedwear" could be
> >a nighty or pjs, but I don't recall ever using the word.
>

> I'd use "nightclothes" or, perhaps, "nightwear".

Wouldn't nightclothes be what you'd wear to a nightclub? Top hat,
white tie, and tails?

--
John Varela

[John Varela]

On Mon, 20 Feb 2017 05:26:12 UTC, Charles Bishop

In my neighborhood in New Orleans we played a baseball-like game
called Kick the Stick. The bases were the four corners of a street
intersection. The stick was about a foot long, sitting horizontally
between two bricks. One player was It and stood in the middle of the
intersection. One of the other players would kick the stick at least
a designated minimum distance and run for first base. An out was
scored by either catching the stick in the air or tagging a runner.
Runners advanced in the usual way, except of course no stealing. A
runner who was put out became It. The point of using a stick was
that you couldn't send it very far so it usually stayed within the
bounds of the intersection.

Obviously we didn't have a lot of traffic at that intersection.

--
John Varela

[John Varela]

On Sat, 18 Feb 2017 22:49:11 UTC, Jerry Friedman
<jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> On 2/18/17 3:23 PM, John Varela wrote:

> > On Sat, 18 Feb 2017 16:58:07 UTC, Charles Bishop
> > <ctbi...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> >
> >> In article <51W5y0sPNk52-pn2-vl3NidjmnDdW@localhost>,
> >> "John Varela" <newl...@verizon.net> wrote:
> >>
> >>> On Fri, 17 Feb 2017 14:34:00 UTC, Peter Moylan

> >>> <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> On 2017-Feb-17 08:08, Harrison Hill wrote:
> >>>>> On Thursday, 16 February 2017 14:42:39 UTC, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> This is the first time in my life I have come across "shirtless".
> >>>>> In BrE a "shirt" is mans-wear. On a woman it becomes a "blouse"?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> "Shirtless women"? Topless?
> >>>>
> >>>> I have to admit that for me a topless women is someone who had no body
> >>>> above the waist. "Shirtless" at least lets me imagine someone who is not
> >>>> a freak.
> >>>

> >>> In pickup team games (basketball, (American) Football, baseball,
> >>> whatever) where no one has uniforms it is often the case that one
> >>> team will strip to the waist so the teams can be distinguished in
> >>> the heat of competition. The two teams are called "shirts" and
> >>> "skins".
> >>
> >> It wasn't something we did playing baseball as there was a rare
> >> situation where it would be necessary to rapidly distinguish between two
> >> players.
> >

> > Yeah, I know, but I thought I ought to have three examples and had
> > trouble thinking of a third.

> ...
>
> Soccer, ultimate frisbee. It has to be a game where the teams intermingle.

That works. WIWAL no one in the USA played soccer (at least, not in
my part of the USA) and the Frisbee hadn't been invented.

--
John Varela

[John Varela]

ITYM nearsighted.

--
John Varela

[Charles Bishop]

In article <ba0lacp6rn3anqfbp...@4ax.com>,

Tony Cooper <tonyco...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, 19 Feb 2017 21:26:12 -0800, Charles Bishop
> <ctbi...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> >In article <o8djas$l7m$2...@news.albasani.net>,
> > Jerry Friedman <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >Another baseball game we played was "500". We usually played this in the
> >neighborhood streets (There weren't many cars parked along the curb in
> >those days, I guess.
> >
>
> Drifting a bit...I watched a game of stickball for the first time a
> while back. There's a group of New York transplants that go a place
> here every Sunday morning and play stickball.
>
> I was somewhat familiar with stickball from books, but as a game
> played in the streets of NYC.
>
> What surprised me about the game in Orlando was that they played in a
> huge parking lot of a company that is closed on Sunday. Considering
> the width of the playing area, and the distance the outfielders are
> from the batter (if those are the terms used in that game), I can't
> see how the game would be played in residential streets in Brooklyn or
> the Bronx.

That would be my impression too - that you need the excitement of a
street with all the obstacles that would be there. I wonder what the
bases were - though I remember a phrase like "a 3 sewer hit"

>
> https://photos.smugmug.com/AUE-Photos/i-gmXmNZG/0/X2/2014-01-19-11-X2.jpg
>
> There is no pitcher, by the way. The batter throws the ball down with
> some force, the ball bounces up, and the batter hits it as it comes
> back down.

--

charles

[Charles Bishop]

In article <billvan-66054D...@88-209-239-213.giganet.hu>,

Did the softball bounce well enough to give you a 2 bounce score?

I do remember one rite of passage was when we began playing with a
hardball - it was considered more dangerous.

--
charles