Canary Wharf Drink

[Martin Ryan]

Duncan and I are catching up for a beer tomorrow (Tuesday) after work in Canary Wharf, London. Anyone else in the area is welcome too.

Not sure about location yet but give me a call on 07979 154 900 if you're in the neighbourhood.

Martin

[David Usherwood]

Sounds a good idea.

I haven't been to it for years, but the Gun, on Coldharbour, is nearby, has the most amazing view, and has been done up - http://www.thegundocklands.com/index.html

Cheers
David

[Martin Ryan]

Looks good. I'll be there around 5:30pm.

Martin

[mattgoff]

I'm good for one or two. I should be done by 5:30 (no promises, it is quarter close), then another 20-30 to get to there from Southwark.

Matt

[Eric]

Sounds great. I got my Speed-o & swimming cap on I will look for you guys after the 4,000 mile* swim from Chicago's Lake Michigan to London. I will call when I get there. I am off!

<SPLASH>

*6,437.376 kilometers for those stubborn knuckleheads who won't conform to the rest of the world....ohh wait....

[John Hobson]

I got my Speed-o & swimming cap on

... and I've got my lycra cycling shorts on and am leaving Lytham now.

These are not attractive images are they

I guess I'll have to just join you for a virtual pint at the Multidimensional Arms

J

[stephen waters]

I can be there from about 7.45 onwards.

John, I will think of you in lycra, but not till I have had a few drinks. if you wish to be there in spirit you could always send me you credit card details and you will feel part of the crowd when viewing your next statement...

[Martin Ryan]

Starting to be a bit of a crowd!

I feel I should warn you I've got an interview the following day so will be letting all the kiwis down with my "No thanks, I'll just nurse my half".

Martin

[Eric]

In the middle of my breast stoke I came up for air to check the blackberry. I tried to run

so will be letting all the kiwis down

through Google translate but there is nothing for British Slang to American Slang.

Holla 2 my plug, ayudame?

[Martin Ryan]

I was referring to Kiwis (Y'know, from New Zealand - two little islands off the coast of Australia. We did Lord of the Rings and um, won the America's Cup a while ago. All Blacks used to be good at rugby - even won the world cup 20 years ago. Cricket team occassionally doesn't suck, or at least does less poorly than the opposition. Not that cricket will get through your translator!) in general having a reputation as big drinkers.

I'll be failing that stereotype, hence letting the side down.

What on earth is an "ayudame"? Someone who went to Notre Dame anon?

[Eric]

Ohh I am with you now.

"Ayudame" Spanish from Ayudar = To Help with the suffix "me" = Help Me .

Chicago slang combines not only english slang but spanish and a thick accent. I knew a guy from the UK that said we sounded like pirates with are hard R's. The ultimate goal to make sure no one know what the hell we are talking about. I am sure you have heard about the Chi-KA-go accent by itself is bad enough. examples below which are all true.

• Grachki (grach'-key): Chicagoese for 'garage key' as in, 'Yo, Theresa, waja do wit da grachki? Howmy supposta cut da grass if I don't git intada grach?'

• Sammich: Chicagoese for sandwich. When made with sausage, it's a sassage sammich; when made with shredded beef, it's an Italian Beef sammich, a local delicacy con sisting of piles of spicy meat in a perilously soggy bun.

• Da: This article is a key part of Chicago spe ech, as in 'Da Bears'
  or 'Da Mare' - - the latter denoting Mayor Richard M. Daley, or Richie, as he's often called.

• Jewels: Not family heirlooms or a tender body region, but a popular name for one of the region's dominant grocery store chains. 'I'm goin'
  to the Jewels to pick up some sassage.'

• Tree: The number between two and four. 'We were lucky dat we only got tree inches of snow da udder n ight.'

• Over by dere: Translates to 'over by there,' a way of emphasizing a site presumed familiar to the listener. As in, 'I got the sassage at the Jewels down on Kedzie, over by dere.'

• Kaminski Park : The mispronounced name of the ballpark where the Chicago White Sox (da Sox) play baseball. Comiskey Park was renamed U.S. Cellular Field (da Cell)

• Frunchroom: As in, 'Get outta da frunchroom wit dose muddy shoes.'
  It's not the 'parlor.' It's not the 'living room.' In the land of the bungalow, it's the 'frun chroom,' a named derived, linguists believe, from 'front room.'

• Use: Not the verb, but the plural prono un 'you! ' 'Where use goin'?'

• Downtown: Anywhere near The L ake, south of The Zoo (Lincoln Park
  Zoo) and north of Soldier Field

• The Lake : Lake Michigan (What other lake is there?)

• Braht: Short for Bratwurst. 'Gimme a braht wit kraut.'

• Goes: Past or present tense of the verb 'say.' For example, 'Den he goes, 'I like this place'!'

• Guys: Used when addressing two or more people, regardless of each individual's gender.

• Pop: A soft drink. Don't say 'soda' in this town. 'Do ya wanna canna pop?'

• Sliders: Nickname for hamburgers from White Castle , a popular Midwestern burger chain. 'Dose sliders I had last night gave me da runs.'

• The Taste: The Taste of Chicago Festival, a huge extravaganza in Grant Park featuring samples of Chicagoland cuisine which takes place each year around the Fourth of July holiday.

• 'Jeetyet?': Translates to, 'Did you eat yet?'

• Winter and Construction: Punch line to the joke, 'What are the two seasons in Chicago ?'

• Cuppa Too-Tree: is Chicagoese for 'a couple, two, three' which really means 'a few.' For example, 'Hey Mike, dere any beerz left in da cooler over by dere?'
  'Yeh, a cuppa too-tree.'

• Junk Dror: You will usually find the 'junk drawer' in the kitchen filled to the brim with miscellaneous, but very important, junk.

• Gym Shoes: The rest of the country may refer to them as sneakers or running shoes but Chicagoans will always call them gym shoes!

[Martin Ryan]

Confirmed time for tonight is 6pm onwards at http://www.thegundocklands.com/

My mobile is 07979 154 900, give me a call if you don't recognise any faces and I'll let you know where I'm at.

Martin

[jim wood]

Tonight! great. I'm on my way.... Doh it's now Tuesday! IS was too busy getting smashed in Center Parcs Cumbria on Saturday evening. (This would have lead to a cycle even further than John's. I don't do lycra though.)

[John Hobson]

in Center Parcs Cumbria

What - When you could have been renting my pine lodge right near Windermere

(Shameless plug for www.windermerelodge.co.uk - special rates for TM1 administrators)

[mattgoff]

Turns out I can't make it after all-- off to Wimbledon tonight. Next time....

[jim wood]

in Center Parcs Cumbria

What - When you could have been renting my pine lodge right near Windermere

(Shameless plug for http://www.windermerelodge.co.uk - special rates for TM1 administrators)

I'm up for it If you don't mind 17 people including 7 kids staying there? Oh and by the way, next time there will be 20 of us including 8 kids. I'm sure you'll be able to squeeze us in?

Jim.

PS. Before anybody start drawing the wrong conclusions they are all friends. No wife swapping happens (Well nobody wants mine anyway) at all. Just safe family fun with a small lashing of beer in the evening.

[Alan Kirk]

PS. Before anybody start drawing the wrong conclusions they are all friends. No wife swapping happens (Well nobody wants mine anyway)

Does anyone else really, REALLY not want to be Jim in the event of his good lady wife suddenly taking an interest in his OLAPForums postings?

[jim wood]

PS. Before anybody start drawing the wrong conclusions they are all friends. No wife swapping happens (Well nobody wants mine anyway)

Does anyone else really, REALLY not want to be Jim in the event of his good lady wife suddenly taking an interest in his OLAPForums postings?

Luckily there are 2 hopes of that happening: no hope and Bob Hope. Bob is dead so I think I am safe.

[Alan Kirk]

PS. Before anybody start drawing the wrong conclusions they are all friends. No wife swapping happens (Well nobody wants mine anyway)

Does anyone else really, REALLY not want to be Jim in the event of his good lady wife suddenly taking an interest in his OLAPForums postings?

Luckily there are 2 hopes of that happening: no hope and Bob Hope. Bob is dead so I think I am safe.

Ah. So clearly you haven't had the "We never talk any more, I don't know anything about your friends or your work" discussion.

Yet.

If it does come to that, though, I offer you the following survival kit.

First, tell her that you hang out in OLAP Forums, but obviously don't point her to your own posts first; tell her that since she's interested in finding out about both your friends AND your work, she should look at OTHER peoples' posts. Send her off to my recent diatribe about the brain dead programming code of Microsoft Outlook. Follow up with Eric's erudite opus magnum on how to ask for a sammich while sitting in your Speedos watching da Bears play. (An instructive work on all things Chicargian which was let down only by the absence of any reference to the administration of Mayor Richard J Daley, the landmarks visited in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and the significance of Meigs Field to Flight Simulator aficionados. And possibly a passing reference to the ER of County General hospital. I trust that these will all appear in the next volume.) Then it's on to one of John's discussions about the customer service standards of {cough} certain software companies. After that...

No, who are we kidding? By then the status quo ante will be restored, and she'll be back to telling you to take out the garbage and to never, under any circumstances, mention your work again or the people that it brings you into contact with.

Another marriage saved! Just call me the Dr. Phil of OLAP...

[Eric]

Chicargian Volume Dos

-Dedicated to Dr. Phil of OLAP-

You know you live in Chicago....

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May, you live in Chicago

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you live in Chicago

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in Chicago .

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you live in Chicago

If 'Vacation' means going anywhere south of I-80 for the weekend, you live in Chicago ..

If you measure distance in hours, you live in Chicago .

If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day and back again, you live in Chicago ..

If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in Chicago ..

If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you live in Chicago

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you live in Chicago

If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and everybody is passing you, you live in Chicago

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you live in Chicago..

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you live in Chicago ..

If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you live in Chicago

If you find 10 degrees 'a little chilly', you live in Chicago ..

Volume Tres will include the much anticipated references to
Politics: Da Mare
Da 2012 Olympics
Movies:Ferris Bueller's Day Off
The Dark Night
Other: Da Burbs
O'Hare
Da El
Al Capone


===For your entertainment====

I did look for a humors picture regarding speedo's..... result my eyes are still burning from the keyword Speedo in the Google Image search. I almost went blind my search criteria might as well have been "banana hammock", I should have known better.