Comments on: Potted History of the Pillingers (2)

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 06:41:27 +0000

Erm… what was your present again? (I have the excuse of being officially ‘old’ and therefore getting free prescriptions in case I’ve forgotten my wallet.)

As someone once said, there are two main problems about getting old: one is that you tend to forget things; the other… has slipped my mind.

But I’m afraid I can’t claim that memory lapses are new to old age (tho’ they’re definitely more frequent!). What sticks in my mind about you and John at our wedding was that you had fairly recently got married, and I hadn’t cottoned on to your married name. So when we met after the ceremony you leaned forward and whispered “Robinson!”

I haven’t had Shippam’s paste. If it tastes the way Art describes it, I’m not too keen to try! Interesting how your parents met. Romances are always different!

By: Gillian Robinson

Gillian Robinson — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:41:01 +0000

Hey this is getting very esoteric. It makes a wonderful, romantic story, and I well remember your wedding (nearly at the silver milestone now!). Yours is one of the few wedding presents I can still remember giving to a couple married during that era.

And on the potted side – how anglo you’ve become, Steve – even speaking as a vegetarian – I would have to recommend Shippam’s paste (probably the stuff that Art describes as well rinsed, diluted, mashed bologna). My mother was nanny to the Shippam’s children, during which time she met my father …

By: Art Rilling

Art Rilling — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:00:13 +0000

Yes Lark and I are very OK. After reading some of the Arthur Ransome stories featuring the Swallows and Amazons kids, my children needed to share some of their experiences, so we sought out and ate potted meat. Spam and corned beef had suitable flavor. We had something else that looked and tasted like well rinsed, diluted, mashed bologna. Thanks for sharing your source. After faffing around in OneLook, idly following links I came across Visualthesaurus http://www.visualthesaurus.com/ which looks really exciting to a word nut like me. Does with words something like the search engine Kart00, except Kartoo is free.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:03:20 +0000

Is there such a thing as “too much fun”? Well, I suppose there is in a situation that’s meant to be serious. But this isn’t!
Anyway, “potted”: My online dictionary (OneLook) gives your meanings, then adds, ‘(British informal) summarized or abridged (“A potted version of a novel”)’. I guess it comes from the idea of potted meat (bully beef, spam, or whatever you call it in the States): not the real thing, just a boiled down, slightly superficial imitation. In my dialect it suggests aomething so condensed and sketchy that you have to laugh. Hence the humour (humor)!
Good to hear from you, by the way! Hope you and Lark are OK.

By: Art Rilling

Art Rilling — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 22:33:57 +0000

Steve & Johanna, you are having too much fun with your history. But tell us speakers of other dialects, Steve, why your history is “potted”. It’s not drunk, high, or confined to a gardening container. What’s potting with this vocabulary item?
Art

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:46:49 +0000

That takes me back! I remember how scary, and also exciting, the future looked then. THANK you for the way you and Di have been behind me, and then us, in prayer and fellowship all these years!

By: Ivan Moorhouse

Ivan Moorhouse — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 18:40:42 +0000

I remember it all quite well! Steve visited and stayed with us in Pretoria and shared the experience of being a single man in Rendille land (I still remember we were standing in our back courtyard) and the possibility (?) of Johanna. Well, well. What God has done!

Blessings from on high be upon you guys!