To be filed under ‘mundane things you did not need to know’, I have just discovered my dishwasher has died while carrying a full load right when I need to start tea. So this Q&A has served as a welcome distraction.
Like John, I’m pleased to know the significance of the term “under the sea”. “TV en Francais Sous la Mer” is a fine record, and has one of my favourite album covers. I love the acoustic version of “Buckle” and would be very happy to see a recorded version of it. Perhaps that, and other songs from your back catalogue that have not already been recorded acoustically, is something we could be treated to here in the future? I’d pay good money for that album!
While it is a little gutting to think we might not see you in the UK this year, if it means new music is on the way, I guess that’s OK with me. At least we have these substack newsletters to keep us going!
Thanks for another excellent read. Here’s to the next 100 🍻
I genuinely laughed at this, mostly because I'd forgotten that tea = dinner, but didn't at all question the idea that a broken dishwasher would interrupt making a pot of tea.
Of course Hayley, in some parts "dinner" means "lunch". And as someone whose adoptive home is in West Yorkshire, don't get me started on the multitude of names for what is just "a bread roll"
Ha! Topper, crust, butt, heel (I’m sure there are others) Daps or plimsolls are the main alternatives for PE footwear. I was always a plimsoll girl but 10 years in a Bristol primary school has brought me round to daps.
I did wonder what motivated this comment as I had to stop reading halfway through (see above dishwasher crisis!) I’ve now reached the end of the Q&A and all has become clear!
Fascinating discourse on all manners of topics, as ever 🤩
My husband insists on calling all uncarbonated soft drinks "juice" (even cordial /squash!), but I'm absolutely flabbergasted that Keith goes as far as to include fizzy pop in that bracket.
Tangential anecdote:
My dad once asked for an 'Orange Fanta' in a Manhattan branch of Burger King. They had no idea what he meant, even when he desperately offered the term "carbonated orange juice????" while the braying NYC crowds grew in volume behind him. Finally, another customer had to step in with the word "soda". We still talk about this two decades later.
As for the pseudonym stuff: very interesting! A quandary indeed. It did not escape my attention that you neglected to answer part 1a.1 of the question 👀👀👀🔍🔍🔍
I once went to a bar in London asking for a “soda”—a “7 Up” and they were like “fizzy drinks?”
That may have been the only thing that really made any kind of communication difficult. I ended up with an Appletiser which is undoubtedly my favorite fizzy drink.
Okay—the water thing was actually something I really had to get used to 😂 Because apparently if you say water, it could mean table water or carbonated water.
Thanks for clarifying the difference between "acoustic" and "under the sea." I was curious, but it's like asking someone's name after you've been working with them for a full year; I was ashamed to admit that I didn't know.
The second half of this Q&A has really made me lol. Have to say I love all your music videos even more than it sounds like you hated making them so I hope that is some consolation.
Great set of answers to all the questions. On one hand I'm intrigued about Keith's experiences as a director's assistant, on the other hand, I'm worried as I thought my favourite philosopher was a closely guarded secret.
Lectern sounds like a very Keith Murray thing to say. It’s that literature degree, I think. (You know how people with those degrees are 👀)
But Chris, I thought getting “smashed” as you say, was more of the sexual variety and getting squashed by a car is actually “getting hit.” Isn’t that what “It’s a Hit” is about? Boy, I’ve been wrong about the meaning of that song for YEARS.
To be filed under ‘mundane things you did not need to know’, I have just discovered my dishwasher has died while carrying a full load right when I need to start tea. So this Q&A has served as a welcome distraction.
Like John, I’m pleased to know the significance of the term “under the sea”. “TV en Francais Sous la Mer” is a fine record, and has one of my favourite album covers. I love the acoustic version of “Buckle” and would be very happy to see a recorded version of it. Perhaps that, and other songs from your back catalogue that have not already been recorded acoustically, is something we could be treated to here in the future? I’d pay good money for that album!
While it is a little gutting to think we might not see you in the UK this year, if it means new music is on the way, I guess that’s OK with me. At least we have these substack newsletters to keep us going!
Thanks for another excellent read. Here’s to the next 100 🍻
(rather relevantly, you should probably clarify that "tea" = "dinner" 😜)
I genuinely laughed at this, mostly because I'd forgotten that tea = dinner, but didn't at all question the idea that a broken dishwasher would interrupt making a pot of tea.
Of course Hayley, in some parts "dinner" means "lunch". And as someone whose adoptive home is in West Yorkshire, don't get me started on the multitude of names for what is just "a bread roll"
Potentially the only word more divisive than that used for the end slice of a loaf or for gym shoes!
In my ignorance, I've always just called it the end of the bread. And trainers, which works for a multitude of shoes.
Ha! Topper, crust, butt, heel (I’m sure there are others) Daps or plimsolls are the main alternatives for PE footwear. I was always a plimsoll girl but 10 years in a Bristol primary school has brought me round to daps.
Heel I'm familiar with but surely the crust surrounds the whole loaf? Daps is definitely a new word for me.
DAPS ftw. They can only ever be daps.
I did wonder what motivated this comment as I had to stop reading halfway through (see above dishwasher crisis!) I’ve now reached the end of the Q&A and all has become clear!
🤣 Yes it was one of my regular weak attempts at comedy.
Nothing weak about it! I was just being slow on the uptake.
🍽️
Fascinating discourse on all manners of topics, as ever 🤩
My husband insists on calling all uncarbonated soft drinks "juice" (even cordial /squash!), but I'm absolutely flabbergasted that Keith goes as far as to include fizzy pop in that bracket.
Tangential anecdote:
My dad once asked for an 'Orange Fanta' in a Manhattan branch of Burger King. They had no idea what he meant, even when he desperately offered the term "carbonated orange juice????" while the braying NYC crowds grew in volume behind him. Finally, another customer had to step in with the word "soda". We still talk about this two decades later.
As for the pseudonym stuff: very interesting! A quandary indeed. It did not escape my attention that you neglected to answer part 1a.1 of the question 👀👀👀🔍🔍🔍
I once went to a bar in London asking for a “soda”—a “7 Up” and they were like “fizzy drinks?”
That may have been the only thing that really made any kind of communication difficult. I ended up with an Appletiser which is undoubtedly my favorite fizzy drink.
Yeah, soda tends to refer to soda water while fizzy drink is anything sweet and carbonated (coke/ lemonade etc)
Okay—the water thing was actually something I really had to get used to 😂 Because apparently if you say water, it could mean table water or carbonated water.
Yes. Is that not a thing in the US?
Nooooo! Water is plain old table water. Carbonated cost extra. It’s equivalent to a soda 🙃
Ah! But they’ll charge you for still water too unless you specify tap water 😂
*manner (singular)
Thanks for clarifying the difference between "acoustic" and "under the sea." I was curious, but it's like asking someone's name after you've been working with them for a full year; I was ashamed to admit that I didn't know.
It was definitely time for a clarification.
The second half of this Q&A has really made me lol. Have to say I love all your music videos even more than it sounds like you hated making them so I hope that is some consolation.
They are my kids' favourite things to watch 🥹
They will grow up wise.
And unfathomably fond of briefcases 💼
Great set of answers to all the questions. On one hand I'm intrigued about Keith's experiences as a director's assistant, on the other hand, I'm worried as I thought my favourite philosopher was a closely guarded secret.
Lectern sounds like a very Keith Murray thing to say. It’s that literature degree, I think. (You know how people with those degrees are 👀)
But Chris, I thought getting “smashed” as you say, was more of the sexual variety and getting squashed by a car is actually “getting hit.” Isn’t that what “It’s a Hit” is about? Boy, I’ve been wrong about the meaning of that song for YEARS.
It would be a hell of a night, but you could get smashed (UK pissed, that's drunk, not angry), smash someone in your car, then get in a car smash 🫨
It might be the RE teacher in me but I thought a lectern was most definitely something found in a church 🤷♀️
I'm with you Lou, you speak and read from a lectern.