SUCH A TOWN WAS FRIP

[freckles_and_doubt]

I've just had to change the mouse on my campus computer, on the grounds that it was a sad, limp, sluggish thing. This new one is slightly weird, though: if I leave it unattended for any length of time, the cursor starts slowly making a break for the nearest edge of the screen. I'm having to resist an impulse to hit it with my shoe.

I nearly wrote "takes the gap towards the nearest edge of the screen", but in fact I think that's unregenerate Rhodie slang liable to cause confusion and incomprehension in the bulk of beholders, so I won't. (Other than pausing to note that LJ apparently accepts "Rhodie" as a correct word unhighlighted by spellcheckers, while not so recognising "LJ" itself. Confusing). "Taking the gap", however, reminds me of the perfectly delightful book I have just read, courtesy of the dread jo&stv.

The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip is a wonderful example of the classic McSweeney's deadpan off-the-wallness, and should be read by all right-thinking lovers of nonsense, fable, goats, small orange fuzzy things, tag-team house removals, and fishing. I shall carry it close to my heart in the hopes that it will armour me against my morning's inescapable fate, viz. checking board schedules.

Comments

[bumpycat.livejournal.com]

I have acquired the verb "gap" from you, and possibly rumint. As a result, when I was giving orders a few weeks ago, I used the phrase "if the enemy gap it back over the ridge". No clarification was requested, so presumably it was clear from context (and filed alongside the other "weird South African vocabulary").

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

If you acquired it from rumint, it can't be Rhodie slang, or at least not exclusively Rhodie slang. Kudos on the smooth transition to the verb form, incidentally.

Clearly there must be more overlap on Rhodie/SA slang than I thought. Let's experiment. Are you, or have you ever been, able to translate the phrase "Chuck some sky in my rounds!"?

[bumpycat.livejournal.com]

O_o

That is beyond me, I'm afraid.

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

I confess myself relieved to hear it.

(Context: petrol station. Meaning: please put some air in my tyres.)