Gin-clear

[Colin Blackburn]

A weather presenter a few nights ago referred to the sky as being
"gin-clear". I knew what she meant but I've not found this term in the
dictionaries (normal and slang) I have to hand. Has any umrat come
across this term in normal usage?

Colin

[Marjorie]

I've encountered it before, usually in travel writing where they're
remarking on the clarity of the sea for snorkelling, etc.

--
Marjorie

To reply, replace dontusethisaddress with marje

[Steve Hague]

"Marjorie" <dontuseth...@springequinox.co.uk> wrote in message
news:CpWdnZxlc7QFIFfW...@brightview.co.uk...

I remember a line from a song which went "The Illusionist has vanished like
red- hot gin."
Steve Hague

[a l l y]

"Marjorie" <dontuseth...@springequinox.co.uk> wrote in message
news:CpWdnZxlc7QFIFfW...@brightview.co.uk...

> Colin Blackburn wrote:
>> A weather presenter a few nights ago referred to the sky as being
>> "gin-clear". I knew what she meant but I've not found this term in the
>> dictionaries (normal and slang) I have to hand. Has any umrat come across
>> this term in normal usage?
>>
>
> I've encountered it before, usually in travel writing where they're
> remarking on the clarity of the sea for snorkelling, etc.
>

Never heard that before! I guess it works better amongst the sort of people
who actually drink gin and know how clear it is.

ally

[the Omrud]

On 18/04/2010 09:37, Steve Hague wrote:
> "Marjorie"<dontuseth...@springequinox.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:CpWdnZxlc7QFIFfW...@brightview.co.uk...
>> Colin Blackburn wrote:
>>> A weather presenter a few nights ago referred to the sky as being
>>> "gin-clear". I knew what she meant but I've not found this term in the
>>> dictionaries (normal and slang) I have to hand. Has any umrat come across
>>> this term in normal usage?
>>>
>>
>> I've encountered it before, usually in travel writing where they're
>> remarking on the clarity of the sea for snorkelling, etc.
>>

> I remember a line from a song which went "The Illusionist has vanished like
> red- hot gin."

Isn't that likely to be "a red-hot djin"?

--
David

[Derek Turner]

Very normal when referring to liquids (usu. water) but most unusual when
referring to the sky, IME.

[Steve Hague]

"the Omrud" <usenet...@gEXPUNGEmail.com> wrote in message
news:IeFyn.89284$5x6....@newsfe04.ams2...

Not when written by Robin Wiliamson.
Steve Hague

[Ralph B]

Google informs me of (about) 194,000 results for "gin-clear" (in
quotes) and 38,500 for "gin clear" (ditto) ... so although it's also
unfamiliar to me, the usage does seem to be "out there".

(It's mysterious the way Google search works. The "gin-clear" includes
some "gin clear" results, and the "gin clear" includes some "gin-
clear" results, so why the different counts?)

[Nick]

Ralph B <goog...@spampot.com> writes:

> (It's mysterious the way Google search works. The "gin-clear" includes
> some "gin clear" results, and the "gin clear" includes some "gin-
> clear" results, so why the different counts?)

It's really quite interesting. I was searching for garden sieves at the
weekend, and it was returning a number of pages referring to "garden
riddles" of the intellectual sort.
--
Online waterways route planner | http://canalplan.eu
Plan trips, see photos, check facilities | http://canalplan.org.uk

[Siderius Nuncius]

"Nick" <3-no...@temporary-address.org.uk> wrote

> It's really quite interesting. I was searching for garden sieves at the
> weekend, and it was returning a number of pages referring to "garden
> riddles" of the intellectual sort.

Not quite the same, but I was looking at a disc on Amazon yesterday where
one of the composers was listed as "Gilles de Bins, dit Binchois." Amazon
thought that as I was interested in this, I might also be interested in
their fine range of domestic waste receptacles.
--
Sid
Make sure Matron is away when you reply

[the Omrud]

Oh, wonderful.

I'm familar with Binchois but I hadn't realised that his name was really
"Bins". I wonder if he's related to Pip Bin.

--
David

[the Omrud]

On 20/04/2010 08:42, BrritSki wrote:

> Nick wrote:
>> Ralph B <goog...@spampot.com> writes:
>>
>>> (It's mysterious the way Google search works. The "gin-clear" includes
>>> some "gin clear" results, and the "gin clear" includes some "gin-
>>> clear" results, so why the different counts?)
>>
>> It's really quite interesting. I was searching for garden sieves at the
>> weekend, and it was returning a number of pages referring to "garden
>> riddles" of the intellectual sort.
>

> When I made a custom-built sieve that fits over my wheelbarrow (we're a
> 2-barrow peasant family), with a sliding container that shakes the loose
> dirt through, I sent a photograph to the family captioned:
> "It's a riddle. What is it ?"

Dear Sir,

I have a large black vinyl disk with a spiral groove and a hole in the
centre. Is this a record?

--
David

[Siderius Nuncius]

"the Omrud" <usenet...@gEXPUNGEmail.com> wrote

:o)
It's this disc, by the way:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00005ATDH/

It's an absolute belter (as they used to say in 15th-Century Tours).

[the Omrud]

Ah, Ockeghem. Delightful to sing, impossible to pronounce.

--
David

[Robin Fairbairns]

On 2010-04-19, Nick <3-no...@temporary-address.org.uk> wrote:
> Ralph B <goog...@spampot.com> writes:
>
>> (It's mysterious the way Google search works. The "gin-clear" includes
>> some "gin clear" results, and the "gin clear" includes some "gin-
>> clear" results, so why the different counts?)
>
> It's really quite interesting. I was searching for garden sieves at the
> weekend, and it was returning a number of pages referring to "garden
> riddles" of the intellectual sort.

it's what we in the trade[*] call semantic sideslip.

oed has, for riddle, n^1:

1. a. A question or statement intentionally worded in a dark or
puzzling manner, and propounded in order that it may be guessed or
answered, esp. as a form of pastime; an enigma; a dark saying.

and, for riddle, n^2

1. a. A coarse-meshed sieve, used for separating chaff from corn,
sand from gravel, ashes from cinders, etc.; the most usual form
has a circular wooden rim with a bottom formed of strong wires
crossing each other at right-angles.
<smaller>Also applied to those parts of some machines which serve
for similar purposes.

(the other 2 meanings it has for the noun are insignificant.)

so google's gone via n^2 to n^1; not something i've noticed them doing
in the past. very droll.

[*] the trade of inventing portentous names for bits of huge systems.
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge

[waveydave...@hotmail.co.uk]

RAF speak - good for fighter planes but not for bombers...

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <6507c44f-3ed4-45e6...@googlegroups.com>,

Now you've confused me! Care to elucidate?
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when
you make it again. -Franklin P. Jones

[Steve Hague]

There's a poem by Charles Causley which refers to someone with hair as white
as gin, and a song by Robin Williamson which has an illusionist vanishing
like red-hot gin, so it's useful stuff when it comes to metaphors.
Steve

[Charlie]

On 31/03/2014 07:01, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

>> RAF speak - good for fighter planes but not for bombers...
>
> Now you've confused me! Care to elucidate?

Old-style 'tally-ho, chaps, wizard prang, Merlin engines' RAF, of
course, and hardly relevant nowadays with range-finding radar and
'smart' missiles. Bombers needed cloud cover to evade fighters,
searchlights and AA fire. Fighters needed clear skies to see, and pick
off, bombers.

[Steve Hague]

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

> In message <6507c44f-3ed4-45e6...@googlegroups.com>,
> waveydave...@hotmail.co.uk writes:
>> On Sunday, April 18, 2010 9:02:47 AM UTC+1, Colin Blackburn wrote:
>>> A weather presenter a few nights ago referred to the sky as being
>>> "gin-clear". I knew what she meant but I've not found this term in
>>> the dictionaries (normal and slang) I have to hand. Has any umrat
>>> come across this term in normal usage?
>>>
>>> Colin
>>
>> RAF speak - good for fighter planes but not for bombers...
>
> Now you've confused me! Care to elucidate?

I imagine clear weather is good if you're attacking, but not if you're being
attacked.
Steve

[Marjorie]

I've heard it used of water (for swimming) although I've never
understood why water itself is deemed to be less clear than gin.

[Chris J Dixon]

Charlie wrote:

>Bombers needed cloud cover to evade fighters,
>searchlights and AA fire. Fighters needed clear skies to see, and pick
>off, bombers.

There's also the Bombers' Moon.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham
'48/33 M B+ G+ A L(-) I S-- CH0(--)(p) Ar+ T+ H0 ?Q
ch...@cdixon.me.uk
Plant amazing Acers.

[Jim Easterbrook]

I suppose you don't have to too far back in time to find that water supplies
were rather less pure than the output of a distillery.
--
Jim <http://www.jim-easterbrook.me.uk/>
1959/1985? M B+ G+ A L I- S- P-- CH0(p) Ar++ T+ H0 Q--- Sh0

[Derek Turner]

On Sun, 30 Mar 2014 12:35:22 -0700, waveydaveygrey-vee wrote:

> I knew what she meant but I've not found this term in the
>> dictionaries (normal and slang) I have to hand. Has any umrat come
>> across this term in normal usage?

Bob Flowerdew (IIRC) uses it of pond-water in a well-kept garden pond. In
this context it makes a lot of sense because pond-water often isn't,
IYSWIM.

[malj]

On 30/03/2014 20:35, waveydave...@hotmail.co.uk wrote:

It was used last night in the documentary about the sinking of the
Tirpitz.... I thought to mesell... "I must use that in conversation"

--
Goto http://malswalks.info to reply to me offline
(and see how little walking I've done recently..)

[Sam Plusnet]

In article <bpsn7p...@mid.individual.net>, news@jim-
easterbrook.me.uk says...

>
> Marjorie wrote:
>
> > On 30/03/2014 20:35, waveydave...@hotmail.co.uk wrote:
> >> On Sunday, April 18, 2010 9:02:47 AM UTC+1, Colin Blackburn wrote:
> >>> A weather presenter a few nights ago referred to the sky as being
> >>> "gin-clear". I knew what she meant but I've not found this term in the
> >>> dictionaries (normal and slang) I have to hand. Has any umrat come
> >>> across this term in normal usage?
> >>>
> >>> Colin
> >>
> >> RAF speak - good for fighter planes but not for bombers...
> >>
> > I've heard it used of water (for swimming) although I've never
> > understood why water itself is deemed to be less clear than gin.
>
> I suppose you don't have to too far back in time to find that water supplies
> were rather less pure than the output of a distillery.

And beer was far safer to drink than water.

--
Sam

[Mike McMillan]

If you drank them, I think one would leave your mind clearer than the other.

Toodle Hic
--
Mike McMillan
"Let's all calm down shall we? Let's forget there is a llama in here at all."
(Lynda Snell, 010603)

[Dr Nick]

The alcohol in gin - as in vodka - gives it a particularly pellucid
quality IME.

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <ba8ij9hdljedct79o...@4ax.com>, Chris J Dixon

<ch...@cdixon.me.uk> writes:
>Charlie wrote:
>
>>Bombers needed cloud cover to evade fighters,
>>searchlights and AA fire. Fighters needed clear skies to see, and pick
>>off, bombers.
>
>There's also the Bombers' Moon.
>
>Chris

Dangerous, that.

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists to
adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable
man. -George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate (1856-1950)

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <MPG.2da3b004b...@news.plus.net>, Sam Plusnet

<n...@home.com> writes:
>In article <bpsn7p...@mid.individual.net>, news@jim-
>easterbrook.me.uk says...

[]

>> I suppose you don't have to too far back in time to find that water supplies
>> were rather less pure than the output of a distillery.
>
>And beer was far safer to drink than water.
>

Dr. Whatsisname - something like Flowers, or maybe not - who discovered
where cholera was coming from, found that the brewery had far fewer
cases than the houses around it.

[Nick Odell]

On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 21:08:56 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
<G6...@soft255.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>In message <MPG.2da3b004b...@news.plus.net>, Sam Plusnet
><n...@home.com> writes:
>>In article <bpsn7p...@mid.individual.net>, news@jim-
>>easterbrook.me.uk says...
>[]
>>> I suppose you don't have to too far back in time to find that water supplies
>>> were rather less pure than the output of a distillery.
>>
>>And beer was far safer to drink than water.
>>
>Dr. Whatsisname - something like Flowers, or maybe not - who discovered
>where cholera was coming from, found that the brewery had far fewer
>cases than the houses around it.

John Snow?

May I commend to this house the series of dramas, The Medical
Detectives, which is fairly frequently repeated on R4x. One of the
episodes is about the Broad Street outbreak and Snow's efforts to
track down the source.

Nick

[btms]

On 31/03/2014 21:08, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
> In message <MPG.2da3b004b...@news.plus.net>, Sam Plusnet
> <n...@home.com> writes:
>> In article <bpsn7p...@mid.individual.net>, news@jim-
>> easterbrook.me.uk says...
> []
>>> I suppose you don't have to too far back in time to find that water
>>> supplies
>>> were rather less pure than the output of a distillery.
>>
>> And beer was far safer to drink than water.
>>
> Dr. Whatsisname - something like Flowers, or maybe not - who discovered
> where cholera was coming from, found that the brewery had far fewer
> cases than the houses around it.

Hmm? Did same create Flowers brewery then? Gone now of course.

--
Btms (Unaccountably passed over as Editor).

[Rosalind Mitchell]

On 31/03/14 21:08, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
> In message <MPG.2da3b004b...@news.plus.net>, Sam Plusnet
> <n...@home.com> writes:
>> In article <bpsn7p...@mid.individual.net>, news@jim-
>> easterbrook.me.uk says...
> []
>>> I suppose you don't have to too far back in time to find that water
>>> supplies
>>> were rather less pure than the output of a distillery.
>>
>> And beer was far safer to drink than water.
>>
> Dr. Whatsisname - something like Flowers, or maybe not - who discovered
> where cholera was coming from, found that the brewery had far fewer
> cases than the houses around it.

John Snow.

Rosld

[Rosalind Mitchell]

On 31/03/14 21:08, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

> In message <MPG.2da3b004b...@news.plus.net>, Sam Plusnet
> <n...@home.com> writes:
>> In article <bpsn7p...@mid.individual.net>, news@jim-
>> easterbrook.me.uk says...
> []
>>> I suppose you don't have to too far back in time to find that water
>>> supplies
>>> were rather less pure than the output of a distillery.
>>
>> And beer was far safer to drink than water.
>>
> Dr. Whatsisname - something like Flowers, or maybe not - who discovered
> where cholera was coming from, found that the brewery had far fewer
> cases than the houses around it.

In that case it wasn't the medicinal effects of the beer so much as that
the brewery had a separate source of water from the public pump.

Rosld

[Marjorie]

Also, I think the water was boiled during the beer manufacture, which
got rid of most of the nasties.

[Marjorie]

On 31/03/2014 20:01, Mike McMillan wrote:
> On 2014-03-31 07:28:52 +0000, Marjorie said:
>
>> On 30/03/2014 20:35, waveydave...@hotmail.co.uk wrote:
>>> On Sunday, April 18, 2010 9:02:47 AM UTC+1, Colin Blackburn wrote:
>>>> A weather presenter a few nights ago referred to the sky as being
>>>> "gin-clear". I knew what she meant but I've not found this term in the
>>>> dictionaries (normal and slang) I have to hand. Has any umrat come
>>>> across this term in normal usage?
>>>>
>>>> Colin
>>>
>>> RAF speak - good for fighter planes but not for bombers...
>>>
>> I've heard it used of water (for swimming) although I've never
>> understood why water itself is deemed to be less clear than gin.
>
> If you drank them, I think one would leave your mind clearer than the
> other.

True. I think if I claimed that my mind was "gin-clear", others might
doubt my sobriety.

[LizJ]

I don't think anyone would want to see my mind, it is far to mucky. :-)

--
LizJ

[Robin Fairbairns]

Marjorie <dontuseth...@springequinox.co.uk> writes:

> On 31/03/2014 20:01, Mike McMillan wrote:
>> On 2014-03-31 07:28:52 +0000, Marjorie said:
>>
>>> On 30/03/2014 20:35, waveydave...@hotmail.co.uk wrote:
>>>> On Sunday, April 18, 2010 9:02:47 AM UTC+1, Colin Blackburn wrote:
>>>>> A weather presenter a few nights ago referred to the sky as being
>>>>> "gin-clear". I knew what she meant but I've not found this term in the
>>>>> dictionaries (normal and slang) I have to hand. Has any umrat come
>>>>> across this term in normal usage?
>>>>

>>>> RAF speak - good for fighter planes but not for bombers...
>>>
>>> I've heard it used of water (for swimming) although I've never
>>> understood why water itself is deemed to be less clear than gin.
>>
>> If you drank them, I think one would leave your mind clearer than the
>> other.
>
> True. I think if I claimed that my mind was "gin-clear", others might
> doubt my sobriety.

well, they might think it was a (rather arch) way of saying your mind
was innocent of any experience of the stuff.
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge