Conference thebay::joyoflex

    Re: .0
    
    That's what it seems to be in Gilbert and Sullivan.

	Cards?  I think I once heard that it has an English origin.

	My grandmother used it frequently.

    H.M.S. Pinafore
    Gilbert and Sullivan
    Op�ra Comique, London, May 25, 1878.

    Captain Corcoran sings:

    	Fair moon, to thee I sing,
    	Bright regent of the heavens,
    	Say, why is everything
    	Either at sixes or at sevens?
    	I have lived hitherto
    	Free from breath of slander,
    	Beloved by all my crew--
    	A really popular commander.
    	But now my kindly crew rebel,
    	My daughter to a tar is partial,
    	Sir Joseph storms, and, sad to tell,
    	He threatens a court martial!
    	Fair moon, to thee I sing,
    	Bright regent of the heavens,
    	Say, why is everything
    	Either at sixes or at sevens?

    >Who changed it from OR to AND?
    
    Gilbert or Sullivan, of course.

    		
    		:-)

    It's still current. One of the songs in Evita has the lines
    
    ...dressed up to the nines
    At sixes and sevens with you
    
    (or something like that). That juxtaposition has always struck me as
    extraordinarily meaningless, but that's by the way (and probably in
    violation of some rule).
    
    b

    But Bob, Lloyd Webbbber song lyrics don't have to be meaningful,
    dontcha know?
    
    -dick

    W.S. Gilbert's lyrics aren't always meaningful either.  Why should
    we expect A.L. Webber to be any better?

"This particularly rapid
Unintelligible patter
Isn't genreally heard
And if it is, it doesn't matter."

	-Ruddigore

    matter matter matter matter matter

So pardon us, oh pardon us

    	if we decline to dance and sing

    tra lalalalala, tra lalalalala 

    Is this some kind of source of innocent merriment?

    No, it's a non-parliamentary train of twisted cues.

    ...and shows much finer consideration
    than we expect in persons of your station.

    Be careful!  He is descended from a primordial protoplasmic globule.

    ...of pre-adamite ancestry.
    
    

    ... arriving txixt tea and dinner, maybe...
    
    
    
    
    
    
    that is at sixes or sevens....
    
    
    
    djw

    The following is from the new Oxford Eng. Dict. (it may be in the old 
    OED too, for all I know), under the entry SIX:
    
      5. In phrases with _six and seven, sixes and sevens,_ etc., 
    originally denoting the hazard of one's whole fortune, or carelessness 
    as to the consequences of one's actions, and in later use the creation 
    or existence of, or neglect to remove, confusion, disorder, or 
    disagreement.
    
      The original form of the phrase, _to set on six and seven,_ is based 
    on the language of dicing, and is probably a fanciful alteration of _to 
    set on cinque and sice,_ these being the two highest numbers.  
    Subsequent variations arise from the use of _at_ for _on,_ of _or_ for 
    _and,_ of other verbs in place of _set,_ and of the plurals _sixes_ and 
    _sevens;_ the latter became the standard form in the 18th cent.  To 
    illustrate the development more clearly, the chief types are here 
    grouped in separate paragraphs.
    
      (a) c 1374 CHAUCER _Troylus_ IV.622  Lat nat this wrechched wo thyn 
    herte gnawe, But manly set the world on sexe and seuene. ...
    
    ...

    Perhaps an updated version of "at sixes and sevens" will be just "at
    sevens"; pay heed to the following clip from today's Weekly World
    Telegraph:
    
    DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) - A police corporal was suspended and ordered to
    undergo psychiatric evaluation because he writes the number seven with
    a line through the downstroke.
    
    Brian Yinger said he tried to break the habit when he was ordered to
    six months ago but was brought before a department disciplinary board
    when he forgot while writing some reports.
    
    "The way he was writing them was confusing for the typist," said Police
    Chief Robert Deziel. "He defied the order to stop. He was told he would
    face disciplinary action."
    
    The board suspended Yinger without pay for three days. He also was
    ordered by Deziel to undergo psychiatric evaluation to determine
    whether the old sevens are out of his system.
    
    ***
    
    Hmmm. I don't slash my sevens, but I slash my z's and 0's. Does this
    mean I should seek counseling?
    
    -b

    Dearborn's problems solved at the (missing) stroke of a pen.  Nothing
    to do with the US auto industry at all.  It's all a result of this cop
    slashing sevens.  What a revelation.  I hope this is spread to other US
    cities, such as LA.  I mean, like, after all, it's a most simple
    solution.  All you have to do is find the one guy in the police
    department who does it, eliminate him, and the city's problems will be
    solved. Applied world wide, the mind boggles.  War, pestilence, famine,
    and death defeated after millennia.  And it will save pencil lead too. 
    The conservationists will love it.  I'll bet that's why GHWB got
    defeated.  I bet he slashes his sevens.  Somebody should have told
    Barbara years ago.  I'll bet she could have stopped it.  I'm sure
    Millie doesn't slash her sevens.

    	In continental Europe a 1 is frequently written with a top stroke,
    and to distinguish a 7 it *always* has the cross stroke. He should be
    promoted to head of their International Relations department. The habit
    is becoming more common in Britain too.
    
    	It *is* nice to see the U.S. making serious efforts not to become
    international. The typist, psychiatrist and Police Chief should be 
    sentenced to 6 months of a clerical job in France before any further 
    action is taken on this case.
    
    	Dave, who *always* crosses his 7s since moving to France, as he
    discovered it was essential to avoid being misunderstood.

    >He should be promoted to head of their International Relations
    >department.
    
    Wouldn't work.  In Japan, when I wrote crossed 7's, people thought
    they were funny 2's.  In Japan, a 7 MUST be written without a cross,
    and MUST be written with a big hanging serif in the upper left, which
    to me makes it look more like a 2....
    
    After a bit over 4 years, I was finally able to do it myself.
    
    It's the same in most (if not all) of Asia.  And Asia outnumbers Europe.
    Sorry sir, your numbers are just too moderated.

    Hmmm.  What sort of competition is implied here?
    
    	*  Procreative capacity and cumulative population
    
    or 
    
    	*  Digital penmanship
    
    Empyrean mimes wane to noh. 
    

    >  *  Digital penmanship
    
    Digital keyboardpersonship:
    
    ���󻰻͸�ϻ��Ȭ�彽ɴ�����
    
    
    
    Incidentally, when a correspondent apologized for her poor penmanship,
    I offered to show her the difference between penmanship and penwomanship,
    but she declined.

    Re: .22
    
    I have two solutions which I believe are better than the one
    implemented by the disciplinary board....
    
    
    Sack the typist ;-)
    
    or
    
    
    Teach the corporal to type his reports himself then sack the typist :*)
    
    
    Jon (the Hun)