Needful Things

[Miner49'er]

RonBee you wag! You're pulling my leg aren't you mate

Well I'll try but don't be mad if it sounds vulgar.

How can one not have one? In fact, I always have two

By being castrated? Me too I still have two, but considering my age they're not much in use anymore

BTW, here's something you dropped---> l

Here I don't get the picture at all, I drop a lot of things both literal and figurative, but I know for sure I've never dropped an I

[Tdol]

BTW, many South Asian speakers use the expression 'do the needful', which has slipped out of use in the UK, though it was used in the 19th century.

[Miner49'er]

I've been traveling several times in South-East Asia. Very special kind of English they speak over there

[Miner49'er]

which has slipped out of use in the UK, though it was used in the 19th century.

And that's the problem with the English taught here in Belgium too.

What we lack here are schools where one is able to learn "modern and realtime" English.
Not the sometimes archaic constructions taken out of books over a hundred years old.

[BobK]

Originally Posted by Miner49'er

I've been traveling several times in South-East Asia. Very special kind of English they speak over there

Maybe, but I don't think this is a particularly South Asian trait - or as extinct as Tdol thinks:

Originally Posted by Tdol

BTW, many South Asian speakers use the expression 'do the needful', which has slipped out of use in the UK, though it was used in the 19th century.

I use that expression. I believe I picked it up from my mother, who had no particular regional accent - a bit of South East England, maybe, but nothing to speak of. She worked for Technicolor, so I ascribed any oddness in her choice of words to a US influence.

There is also, of course, 'do the necessary'.

b

[Miner49'er]

but I don't think this is a particularly South Asian trait

A couple of examples:

This is rice number one; for premium rice

I have child child; for children (in Tanalog "Anak Anak" means children)

[BobK]

But I was talking about one expression - do the needful.

b

[Miner49'er]

O, I see, I meant "my general impression of the speech"

[curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by RonBee

How can one not have one? In fact, I always have two.

BTW, here's something you dropped---> l

~R

That's a whatsitsname. Or is it a dooberry?

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by Miner49'er

RonBee you wag! You're pulling my leg aren't you mate

Well I'll try but don't be mad if it sounds vulgar.


By being castrated? Me too I still have two, but considering my age they're not much in use anymore


Here I don't get the picture at all, I drop a lot of things both literal and figurative, but I know for sure I've never dropped an I

Actually, a thingamajig can be pretty much anything. That is why "I always have two" was just a silly joke.

The "l" you dropped was the one in totally.

~R