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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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close-up of the Kersey puddingstone near the bridge over the watersplash
There seems to be a theory that puddingstones are glacial erratics, stranded in the melt-water. I've seen puddingstones at Avebury but no-one would assume they were glacial erratics.
Kersey is a village in Suffolk, heavily involved in wool production
| The main street has a ford across a stream. Its principal claim to fame is that a coarse woollen cloth called Kersey cloth takes its name from it. The cloth was presumably originally made there, but later in many other places too. | |
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Hey, you've stumbled on something even more important. Official etymology of 'coarse'
| early 15c., cors "ordinary" (modern spelling is from late 16c.), probably adjectival use of noun cours (see course (n.)), originally referring to rough cloth for ordinary wear. Developed a sense of "rude" c. 1500 and "obscene" by 1711. Perhaps related, via metathesis, to French gros, which had a similar sense development. Related: Coarsely; coarseness. |
Unless somebody produces better, I'd say that coarse, the generic term for what we would call 'llan cloth' is Kersey cloth.
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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| Mick Harper wrote: | | Unless somebody produces better, I'd say that coarse, the generic term for what we would call 'llan cloth' is Kersey cloth. |
This sounds exactly right.
The written form of Kersey seems to have changed quite a lot as usual.
| Recorded in several forms including Carsey, Carssey, Cersy, Cersey, Cursey, Karsey, Kersy, Kersey, and possibly others, this is an English surname. It is locational from the village of Kersey in Suffolk. First recorded in the famous Domesday Book in 1086 as "Caresia", this spelling may well be the root for the later surname forms. The village name means "Cress Island" from the Olde English pre 7th century "caerse ey." |
It might be the inspiration for jerseys and guernseys. The dictionary says kersey was first used "in the 14th century", the highpoint of English wool trade.
Definition of kersey
plural kerseys
1
a : a coarse ribbed woollen cloth for hose and work clothes
b : a heavy wool or wool and cotton fabric used especially for uniforms and coats
2
: a garment of kersey | |
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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I just realised there's a wider issue. Since Kersey, Jersey and Guernsey all appear to be heavy woollen garments and Kersey at any rate doesn't seem to have any connection with the other two, the suffix -sey might be to do with heavy woollen garments rather than the "it's Nordic for island" that normally gets parroted out. eg
| The village name means "Cress Island" from the Olde English pre 7th century "caerse ey." |
But talking of "caerse ey" it would appear that both Jersey and Guernsey have claims to be known as Caesarea which, since Roman emperors had no great interest in either of them, is probably a corruption of "caese ey".
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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Let me know when you find Bethlehem.
Not joking.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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I'm sure you're not. Meanwhile I want to talk printers. I have to print out my work so I can read it properly lying on my back. I have an elderly Lexmark. Even using 'draft' the black cartridge ran out some time ago. Now the colour cartridge has reached the yellow stage and is illegible. I'll have to get new cartridges. I know from long experience that this will require about two hours toiling round the shops because nobody is inclined to stock elderly Lexmark cartridges. Eventually I will find a black 'refill' in some shifty little place on the Portobello -- which will malfunction after a few days. The colour one will be tracked down in the store room of W H Smith. Total time: two hours Total cost: £40 - £ 50.
Or I could ring up Argos and order a brand new Canon (with cartridges). Total time: two hours (lying on my back watching Drone Racing). Total cost £29.95 plus three quid delivery. No doubt I made the right decision but now I have to install my new printer. I see heartbreak ahead.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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If you order a shotgun from Argos, does it come with cartridges?
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Boreades
In: finity and beyond
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| Ishmael wrote: | Let me know when you find Bethlehem.
Not joking. |
Mick should know this.
It's on La Rue des Buttes, JE3 3DE, Jersey
also
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlem_Royal_Hospital
| The hospital was founded in 1247, during the reign of Henry III, as the Priory of the New Order of St Mary of Bethlem in the city of London. It was established by the Bishop-elect of Bethlehem, the Italian Goffredo de Prefetti, following a donation of personal property by the London alderman and former sheriff, Simon fitzMary. The original location was in the parish of St Botolph, Bishopsgate's ward, just beyond London's wall and where the south-east corner of Liverpool Street Station now stands.] Bethlem was not initially intended as a hospital, in the clinical sense, much less as a specialist institution for the insane, but as a centre for the collection of alms to support the Crusader Church and to link England to the Holy Land. De Prefetti's need to generate income for the Crusader Church and restore the financial fortunes of his see had been occasioned by two misfortunes: his bishopric had suffered significant losses following the destructive conquest of Bethlehem by the Khwarazmian Turks in 1244, and his immediate predecessor had further impoverished his cathedral chapter through the alienation of a considerable amount of its property. | |
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Mick vs The Dorchester Taxi-Drivers Round Five
Mick: My mum was presented to the Queen this week.
Taxi Driver: Oh, that Poundbury business. Played merry hell with the traffic. Met the Queen twice myself. Prince Phillip three ...no ... four tines. Princess Di once. Never Prince Charles for some reason.
Mick: Halloween passed off quietly this year.
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Boreades
In: finity and beyond
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Mick's love affair with taxi drivers got me thinking about transport. And then some casual remarks from 'merican friends got me wondering about a new curiosity.
This is especially for any TME members who have ever endured being on the old Circle Line in mid-summer when the tube train stopped underground and you had your head in someone's armpit.
It is, apparently, even much much worse in New York.
| The system is grotesquely filthy, so noisy that scientific studies say routine users suffer hearing loss, is slow, is unreliable, is vastly overcrowded, often reeks of human excrement, is a sweat-box throughout the summer months, and yet, in spite of huge numbers of passengers, loses money year after year. |
But (perhaps because of all that) they are celebrating the opening of the Second Avenue subway.
Except:
- planning for the Second Avenue subway began in 1919
- construction began in 1972. That’s 44 years ago
- what is opening on 1st January 2017 is just three stations and a distance of 1.5 miles
- these three stations have cost $4.5 billion
- that works out at $1.5 billion per station, or $3.75 billion per mile for the 1.5 miles built to date
- the official plans show another 13 stations still to come.
It makes Crossrail seem like a triumph of British railway engineering, on time and on budget. Isambard Kingdom Brunel would be proud (apart from him being French)
AEL folk are invited to ponder on why one is a success and one is not.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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It's all explained in The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the fall of New York, by Robert A. Caro. But at over a thousand pages it's probably better to take my word for it.
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Boreades
In: finity and beyond
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What word(s)?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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HE - BUILT - ROADS
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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