Push bike

the Omrud wrote, in
on Mon, 11 May 2009 08:05:10 GMT:

Django Cat wrote:
Jerry Friedman wrote:

Speaking of
stickiness, though, may I venture to remind you of the Tar Baby?

Ah. Could be before my time...

BrE folk (apparently including DC) are not in general familiar with Brer
Rabbit and his friends, unless perhaps they are fans of "Sons of the
South". Dad had a book of Brer Rabbit stories which I suspect he may
have got from Warwickshire-based American soldiers during the war (he
also laid his hands on a number of now rare 78s), so I grew up knowing
all about the Tar Baby, although it didn't make an awful lot of sense to
me in the English Midlands in the late 50s.

Brer Rabbit was part of my childhood reading in the 1940s and I am sure
it didn't come to me via an American source.
--
Nick Spalding
BrE/IrE

On Mon, 11 May 2009 11:55:18 +0100, Nick Spalding
wrote:

the Omrud wrote, in
on Mon, 11 May 2009 08:05:10 GMT:

Django Cat wrote:
Jerry Friedman wrote:

Speaking of
stickiness, though, may I venture to remind you of the Tar Baby?

Ah. Could be before my time...

BrE folk (apparently including DC) are not in general familiar with Brer
Rabbit and his friends, unless perhaps they are fans of "Sons of the
South". Dad had a book of Brer Rabbit stories which I suspect he may
have got from Warwickshire-based American soldiers during the war (he
also laid his hands on a number of now rare 78s), so I grew up knowing
all about the Tar Baby, although it didn't make an awful lot of sense to
me in the English Midlands in the late 50s.

Brer Rabbit was part of my childhood reading in the 1940s and I am sure
it didn't come to me via an American source.

Ditto (1940s/50s).

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

On 11 May, 12:38, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)"
wrote:
On Mon, 11 May 2009 11:55:18 +0100, Nick Spalding
wrote:





the Omrud wrote, in
on Mon, 11 May 2009 08:05:10 GMT:

Django Cat wrote:
Jerry Friedman wrote:

Speaking of
stickiness, though, may I venture to remind you of the Tar Baby?

Ah. *Could be before my time...

BrE folk (apparently including DC) are not in general familiar with Brer
Rabbit and his friends, unless perhaps they are fans of "Sons of the
South". *Dad had a book of Brer Rabbit stories which I suspect he may
have got from Warwickshire-based American soldiers during the war (he
also laid his hands on a number of now rare 78s), so I grew up knowing
all about the Tar Baby, although it didn't make an awful lot of sense to
me in the English Midlands in the late 50s.

Brer Rabbit was part of my childhood reading in the 1940s and I am sure
it didn't come to me via an American source.

Ditto (1940s/50s).


Ditto (1950s/60s)

Mike M

On May 9, 3:59*pm, wrote:
John Kane wrote:
A push bike typically refers to bicycle (human powered). *I was
talking to a sport shop owner the other day and said that I was in
the shop to look at the push bikes not the motorbikes.
It's not an expression that I see or hear used frequently and I was
wondering if anyone has an idea of the origins of the phrase?
John Kane Kingson ON Canada

Push bike is a terribly British affectation. *

It may have a British orgin but it is not an affectation in Canada,
just a somewhat unused term. I was thinking that it might just be an
anachronism.

John Kane Kingston ON Canada

On Mon, 11 May 2009 06:49:35 -0700 (PDT), Mike Mooney
wrote:

On 11 May, 12:38, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)"
wrote:
On Mon, 11 May 2009 11:55:18 +0100, Nick Spalding
wrote:





the Omrud wrote, in
on Mon, 11 May 2009 08:05:10 GMT:

Django Cat wrote:
Jerry Friedman wrote:

Speaking of
stickiness, though, may I venture to remind you of the Tar Baby?

Ah. *Could be before my time...

BrE folk (apparently including DC) are not in general familiar with Brer
Rabbit and his friends, unless perhaps they are fans of "Sons of the
South". *Dad had a book of Brer Rabbit stories which I suspect he may
have got from Warwickshire-based American soldiers during the war (he
also laid his hands on a number of now rare 78s), so I grew up knowing
all about the Tar Baby, although it didn't make an awful lot of sense to
me in the English Midlands in the late 50s.

Brer Rabbit was part of my childhood reading in the 1940s and I am sure
it didn't come to me via an American source.

Ditto (1940s/50s).


Ditto (1950s/60s)

Same here, same time.

--
James

On May 9, 5:17*pm, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)"
wrote:
On 09 May 2009 21:00:14 GMT, wrote:





Nick Spalding wrote:

A push bike typically refers to bicycle (human powered). *I was
talking to a sport shop owner the other day and said that I was in
the shop to look at the push bikes not the motorbikes.

It's not an expression that I see or hear used frequently and I was
wondering if anyone has an idea of the origins of the phrase?

John Kane Kingson ON Canada

Push bike is a terribly British affectation.

Nothing affected about it, it is just what it is called (or named).

In that case, what does the Englisman visualize when the term
"bicycle" is used?

A "push bike" or "pedal cycle".

The point is that the word "bicycle" was soon abbreviated to "bike" or
"cycle". The "motor bicycle", as it was originally called in Britain,
was then introduced. That name was then abbreviated to "motorbike"and
then just "bike". That meant there was a need to distinguish between a
bike with an engine and a bike powered by its rider. The terms "pedal
cycle" (1905), "push bicycle" (1906) and "pushbike" (1910) were
invented. (The dates are the first know written uses of the terms as
quoted in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

Thanks Peter. That helps establish where it came from. I suspect that
I may have learned the term from my father who was around in those
days. It may have been normal usage in my part of Canada at the
time.

John Kane Kingston ON Canad

John Kane Kingston ON Canad

On May 10, 3:34*pm, Nick Spalding wrote:
Don Phillipson wrote, in
*on Sun, 10 May 2009 13:32:51 -0400:

"R H Draney" wrote in message
...

Push bike is a terribly British affectation. . . .

One of those penny-farthing jobs, innit?...r

Believe it or not, the penny-farthing was called in its day
the Ordinary Bicycle. *The design with two wheels of the
same size (and chain drive, which the Ordinary did not
need) was first marketed as the Safety Bicycle.

What was the Ordinary being distinguished from before the Safety came
along.

Bicycle (or possibly 'wheel'.) The term ordinary seems to have been
applied to differentiate it from the radially new "Safety" bicycle.

Wheel seems to have been a common British term for a cycle in the late
19th century at least among avid cyclists. See for example "Round the
World on a Wheel " by John Foster Fraser.

John Kane Kingston ON Canada

On Mon, 11 May 2009 07:29:17 -0700 (PDT), John Kane
wrote:

On May 10, 3:34*pm, Nick Spalding wrote:
Don Phillipson wrote, in
*on Sun, 10 May 2009 13:32:51 -0400:

"R H Draney" wrote in message
...

Push bike is a terribly British affectation. . . .

One of those penny-farthing jobs, innit?...r

Believe it or not, the penny-farthing was called in its day
the Ordinary Bicycle. *The design with two wheels of the
same size (and chain drive, which the Ordinary did not
need) was first marketed as the Safety Bicycle.

What was the Ordinary being distinguished from before the Safety came
along.

Bicycle (or possibly 'wheel'.) The term ordinary seems to have been
applied to differentiate it from the radially new "Safety" bicycle.

I assume "radially" is a typo for "radically".

Wheel seems to have been a common British term for a cycle in the late
19th century at least among avid cyclists. See for example "Round the
World on a Wheel " by John Foster Fraser.

John Kane Kingston ON Canada

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

On Mon, 11 May 2009 15:36:26 +0100, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)"
wrote:

On Mon, 11 May 2009 07:29:17 -0700 (PDT), John Kane
wrote:

On May 10, 3:34*pm, Nick Spalding wrote:
Don Phillipson wrote, in
*on Sun, 10 May 2009 13:32:51 -0400:

"R H Draney" wrote in message
...

Push bike is a terribly British affectation. . . .

One of those penny-farthing jobs, innit?...r

Believe it or not, the penny-farthing was called in its day
the Ordinary Bicycle. *The design with two wheels of the
same size (and chain drive, which the Ordinary did not
need) was first marketed as the Safety Bicycle.

What was the Ordinary being distinguished from before the Safety came
along.

Bicycle (or possibly 'wheel'.) The term ordinary seems to have been
applied to differentiate it from the radially new "Safety" bicycle.

I assume "radially" is a typo for "radically".

This is getting spoky.

--
James

In ,
Django Cat typed:
tony cooper wrote:

On Sun, 10 May 2009 23:06:03 GMT, "Django Cat"
wrote:

the Omrud wrote:

wrote:
John Kane wrote:

A push bike typically refers to bicycle (human powered). I was
talking to a sport shop owner the other day and said that I was
in the shop to look at the push bikes not the motorbikes.
It's not an expression that I see or hear used frequently and I
was wondering if anyone has an idea of the origins of the
phrase?
Push bike is a terribly British affectation.

"terribly"? "affectation"? Are the English not permitted a
dialect of, er, English?


I am seriously beginning to think the answer is 'no'.

I'm wondering whether to stop being Mr Nice Guy... er ... Bloke ...
about this crap, as I have been throughout PTD's recent xenophobic
rants. Nobody these days wants to claim our variety of English sets
a world standard, but I'm fed up with US-default posters suggesting
it's some quaint f***ing curiosity.

And we haven't even touched on bowlers and brollies.

Grrrrrr.....


Go on, Cat. Call 'im Tone again. That'll larn 'im.

--
Ray
UK