Hi everyone. I work for an organisation which is supposed to pride itself on the use of 'plain English'. Today I read a briefing which descibed an individual as a 'keeper of the stones'. Now, without resorting to Google, can you please tell me what you think this phrase might mean?
G x
huh ???
Without googling i would say they were mature and could be relied upon.
Nothing about people in glass houses is there??? ???
This is good. Two replies and no-one any the wiser. ;D
g x
what was the brief about?
It was describing a certain individual's political stance.
G x
having shuffled it around my head for a few minutes only - I'd think it mean't they had 'outstanding historical knowledge'
It would strike me that the person was being referred to as the leader or caretaker??
Politically perhaps one who stuck by current leaders whatever!!
XX Jeannine
HP you are spot on but it doesn't describe the whole.
Jeannine I think you are close with leader...but still there is a gap
G x
I've just googled it... he's not a druid is he!? ;)
Well if you go to the original Keeper ( without looking) I believe it belonged to a trusted village elder who was entrusted with important facts that had to be protected in the days before records were kept, I am strecting my brain cells a bit here but some things survive after all else fails and the Keeper is the one who facilitates this, he may pass the info on directly to the next generation so that it is kept going without the written word. Some American Indians do that.??XX Jeannine
will be really interested to know more about it (having to close).....don't want to go and google it just yet, find it interesting to see what other people think too.
yet another typo :-[.....should say (having got close)
Quote from: Hot_Potato on July 10, 2007, 23:07:04
yet another typo
Yes - perhaps it should say "keeper of the stores". ;D
Carries a lot of weight?
Is grossly overweight and needs to join a gym ?
Does it mean you're a roadie?
It could be the man who is responsible for say the Scone Stone, presumably there are other stones too that rate as political or national symbols.
I remember how the Scone Stone was stolen from Westminster in about 1948 and taken to Scotland.
Must be Moses!! ;D
Quote from: Slug_killer on July 11, 2007, 02:28:55
Is grossly overweight and needs to join a gym ?
lol!
Aye! But they were tablets of stone .. probably as good for your teeth as Scottish tablet come to think of it.
Well, what does it mean as I don't want to cheat and google!
fascinated by this, getting really silly, I'm surprised no-one's mentioned gallstones ;D ;D
or could be the skip at curling? ;)
The Rolling Stones Manager
or
Chief duster for the Elgin Marbles
I'm sure that unless it's typo and it's keeper of the stores ( guy in charge of stationery cupboard) it must be something druidy- head druid? I am going to google in a minute and I don't care about cheating.
Crown jeweller?
the bloke who's got the keys for the Ginger Wine cabinet
I thought Keeper of the Stones was something to do with Stonehenge and the 'head' Druid who is charged with looking after them....knowing of the wrangles that occur between the Druids and English Heritage/National Trust (can't remember which one thinks they are 'responsible' for it) about access to Stonehenge, the phrase probably does have strong political overtones these days...... :-\
Could also be Avebury Rings (dare I say, better than S/Henge)
Is it a phrase nicked from it's original meaning which I am taking to be what Jeannine said and used to describe someone who is there throughout any changes in leadership that may happen? They would know all the ins and outs of the job and would probably be able to instruct the new "boss" of procedures etc. Head civil servant ?
Quote from: emmy1978 on July 11, 2007, 13:12:50
Could also be Avebury Rings (dare I say, better than S/Henge)
I think you are right, both very significant sites. I have visited them both, but a long time ago....... ;D
I've not googled it yet either!.......I still think (as I said above) that it's someone who has an amazing knowledge & probably responsibility for) a specific 'period in time' that revolves around something very old & of great historical content and value..........if you understand what I'm trying to say ???
please put us out of our misery soon (can't remember who started the thread now :-[ and yesterday's posts have gone from my view :(
I think its the old boy who does! the gardens ;D, finds all the lovely old stones and keeps them. :o
Quote from: Georgie on July 10, 2007, 22:15:07
Hi everyone. I work for an organisation which is supposed to pride itself on the use of 'plain English'. Today I read a briefing which descibed an individual as a 'keeper of the stones'. Now, without resorting to Google, can you please tell me what you think this phrase might mean?
G x
The one that holds the Rune Stones which everybody else in the group uses.
Hi folks. Thanks for all your replies and your restraint in not googling. I couldn't answer before now because I had to ask the person who wrote it to tell me what he meant by it. The point I was trying to establish is whether or not this term is in common usage and/or whether people have the same understanding. Clearly not.
I've enjoyed all your replies, both the serious attempts and the witticisms. Anyway the author told me today that he was surprised that I was unaware of the term. I said I was not alone. Anyway according to him it means a high priest, or 'the keeper of theology'. Yes, there is a Druid link, but it goes further than that. He said he'd used it as an idiom to explain that this particular person felt that she alone has the full wisdom and understanding of a piece of political doctrine and sees it as her job to keep everyone in line.
So there you have it. I told him that was all very interesting but he needs to update his idioms as he'd confused many. There goes my performance bonus! ;)
G x
;D
Never mind the performance bonus Georgie! It kept us all entertained...priceless!!
;)
Georgie, a very interesting thread i must say. Put a smile on our faces the silly bits including mine, thanks for the real answer. They say we learn something every day. ;D Mary.
Aha! Thanks Georgie, very interesting. Agree with you he could do with some new idioms!!! ;D
A metaphor even!
Really interesting thread G!
Just to let you know,this week I have heard myself say "Bite" the bull by the horns" and "There's more than one way to skin a "goose"
:-[ :-[ ;D
Chasing a wild herring?
we'll burn that bridge when we come to it
if a job's worth doing well, it's worth doing badly
the world's your lobster
That's right!
It is never too late for two birds to change horses at half-thingy!
as we used to say at work about my Project - if you want to sell a pig in a poke, you've got to pull a rabbit from the hat, and don.t let the cat out of the bag
I am glad that we are all singing from the same canoe without a paddle on this one.
As my old gran used to say "Eh?"
you can't make an omelette without the fat lady breaking an ill wind
How very true RT!
So we'd better keep our shoulders to the stable door
Our noses to the grindstone
And our ears to pumps!
You're all in exalted company. Winston Churchill was a master of the mixed metaphor, viz: "I smell arat, I see it floating in the air, but I'll nip it in the bud".
Being in the same company as our Winnie? Now that I would give my eye-teeth for!
Oh yes..............the sands of ill repute are always better on the other side of the pig in the bush.
Slower than treacle running down a blanket in January.
You can't teach ducks to dance................ ;D
He bit the big green weenie
Quote from: Jeannine on July 14, 2007, 11:12:15
He bit the big green weenie
Now that has got to have come from the other side of the pond, what is a weenie? ???
Yes it does, a weenie is an abbreviation of a weiner, a hotdog sausage.
Bit the big green weenie come from the e coli time.It is a rather rude way of saying . He died, like kicked the bucket, or popped off.
XX Jeannine
springtime and lilac time I know, but when exactly is e-coli time?
Did you know that "coup de grace" was French for lawnmower?
and that cul-de-sac means "bottom of the bag" or even "bum-bag". The French say "rue sans issue"
Baguette? ............................................(has your Wife already eaten?)
Can I just say, I have found this thread really funny! ;D
My son has Aspergers and hates Idioms and the like, he's 17 now and he has to analyse them all the time! :-\
This thread has been like so many of our conversations at home but much, much funnier.
Thanks Georgie for starting it.
Donna xx
What is Asperger's?
Donna - Have you read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. It is about a boy with Asperger's and talks a lot, very wittily about the problem with metaphors and idioms.
Old Man http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome)
It's an excellent book Emma.
"chacon a son gout" - Jack has a distressing medical complaint
I was talking to some French people, and one of the got stuck for a word and said to the others (in French)- how do you say "Le weekend" in English?
As George Bush says "The French have no word for entrepreneur" Silly old thingy.
When I was a PA - (ie: before I realised there was more to life and escaped) _ if we got a task that was impossible to do in the time given - we used to say it was like "nailing jelly to the ceiling" !!
Some wit even gave me a set of jelly moulds for christmas once!
Louise
Louise, thank you for bumping this thread - it brings a smile on a Monday morning and memories of some happy times on the forum, and there are some people on then who haven't posted or visited for AGES - I wonder how they are - Hot Potato, Emmy1978, Oldmanofthewoods, Vegemite - to name a few.
An asian friend of mine once muddled some sayings up and said he was running around like a blue bottomed chicken!
I'd forgotten all about it. Such larks. ;D
G x
PS The guilty senior manager has not, to my knowledge, used such inaccessible language since. A minor victory I think. :)
We had a French friend who managed doors which said 'Pull' or 'Push' easily, but had hysterics when she came to one which said 'Lift'!
There is an incredible number of people on this forum (myself included) that have children with Asperger's. You probably know yourself that you recognise some symptoms they have in yourself so maybe the obsessive nature of gardener's is an indicator?
My ex Mother-in-law who was dutch went into the local shop (where she lived in NZ) and asked if they had any 'Homosexual milk'? meaning homogenised!
It was while before she dared go back.
My OH has a little trouble with words - he always tells me he is ravishing!! - he gets famished and ravenous mixed up! :)
T.
Quote from: asbean on January 26, 2009, 09:26:02
Louise, thank you for bumping this thread - it brings a smile on a Monday morning and memories of some happy times on the forum, and there are some people on then who haven't posted or visited for AGES - I wonder how they are - Hot Potato, Emmy1978, Oldmanofthewoods, Vegemite - to name a few.
You're welcome - I was bored last night and stumbled across it and thought it was hilarious!
Louise
Quote from: Kea on January 26, 2009, 12:10:07
There is an incredible number of people on this forum (myself included) that have children with Asperger's. You probably know yourself that you recognise some symptoms they have in yourself so maybe the obsessive nature of gardener's is an indicator?
My ex Mother-in-law who was dutch went into the local shop (where she lived in NZ) and asked if they had any 'Homosexual milk'? meaning homogenised!
It was while before she dared go back.
Did she also ask for a packet of 'Hermesexuals' as she didn't take sugar! ;D ;D ;D