[Martin Taylor 2006.06.12.19.46]
[From Rick Marken (2006.06.12.1530)]
Martin Taylor (2006.06.12.16.41) --
Hello, all --
You probably all got this message, but our old CSG wiki is back in operation, and the link from the CSG web page works again.
I went there, and admittedly I didn't firkle around,
Firkle? Is that something you Canadians do, like providing adequate healthcare to your citizens and catching terrorist plots before they are hatched?
Actually, it's not a Canadian word. I think it's a Cheshire word from England. (My early memories are of Cheshire).
I heard it on a very funny record (vinyl disk) many years ago, and it stuck with me as a word worth keeping. I use it from tiem to time. It means rummaging around rather in the dark in the hope of finding some gold in the rock pile. If you can ever find a record of lectures by "Blaster Bates", an explosives expert, get it. It's a set of hilarious stories of some of his experiences doing blasting jobs. In one of them, some amateur tried to loosen a pile of rubble with dynamite, but some of it didn't go off, and Blaster Bates had to firkle around to find it, while hoping it continued to not go off.
You can find a shortened version of the scripts of a couple of his stories at <Account Suspended; and the next page. I got 10,700 hits when I searched him on Google, and I found there are 8 disks listed at <http://www.townsend-records.co.uk/artist.php?artist=Blaster+Bates&pType=music>
I know this isn't PCT, but this was my first opportunity to advertise Blaster Bates:-)
Martin