Liverpool sign Bent

Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-0, courtesy of a Torres brace!!!!

I really can't express my bloody joy at this.

Bah! Fooey!

Blues fan, you Margo?

And fooey is Ozzie slang?

Pretty impressive! We finally got a win too - without Darren Bent!

Fooey is American slang, too, although it is rarely used these days, when all the kids think it's cool to use really foul language.

Thanks for filling me in!

Reminds me of a quote I read somewhere: Americans have given us just two things - slang and fast food.

No harm intended, of course, Set.

The slang is a wonderful thing--i would hate to think of a world in which there were not a great diversity of language and expression. The more slang the betterer.

You can keep the fast food, though . . . well, except for fish and chips, which ain't exactly American.

I always liked the line 'England and America are two nations divided by a common language' which of course is only vaguely relevant as I'm Australian and Spidey is Indian - who are both equally divided by a common language.

What about the fish and chips . . . can one get the fish and chips in Oz?

Absolutely, though we like our chips crispier and our fish barramundi or coral trout....

Then there is hope for the antipodes yet . . .

I arrived in London in 1997 on the day of the FA Cup final, which Chelsea won.

As I was getting the cab to my friend's place, I listened to some after-match discussion of the game and it's players.

When I got to Alison's place, her good friend Johnny was there, and he'd been a Chelsea fan all his life- and was just about crying for joy. Alison and her family had absolutely zero interest in football, and as I had heard some duscussion on the way there, was able to sort of discuss things with him.

I made a friend for life, and have kept an eye on Chelsea ever since.

Mind you - a Wallabies fan first and foremost.

Understood.

I often feel I might have a thing for the All Blacks.

I'm from Lancashire and I don't get it

Ain't nithin'wrong with that - haven't we all?

It's the uniforms, I think.

Once were, and should still be, warriors
Martin Flanagan
November 6, 2010
http://www.theage.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/once-were-and-should-still-be-warriors-20101105-17hkg.html

IN NOVEMBER 2005, in The Times, former Welsh winger and British Lions manager Gerald Davies wrote something I was amazed to read about the place of the haka in professional rugby.
The controversy over the haka re-awoke this week after an article in the Sunday Times by Welsh rugby writer Stephen Jones.
Stephen Jones opened his article by declaring: "Pre-game posturing has no place in rugby today." So there you are. The haka is posturing. He goes on. "The All Blacks and their followers have made it … an instrument of the worst kind of sporting arrogance." That's strong stuff - a verbal haka, it might be said. Jones assures us that opposition to the haka is growing and one of its critics recently referred to it as a ''politically correct lunacy''. And if there's one phrase we can take our bearings from in Jones's article, it's that one.

Full artical
http://www.theage.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/once-were-and-should-still-be-warriors-20101105-17hkg.html

May have a point, consdering the problems with the rugby league match Oz vs NZ in N Z last week.

Apparently the over-long haka prompted a range of missiles from the stands. Sounds charming!

Well Margo, care for a wager on the Black Cats visit to Stamford Bridge this Saturday? Give us a four goal start and you're on!

With you on the Wallabies - long for the days of the team dominated by the great Brumbies players at the turn of the millenium: No Knees Larkham, Gorgeous George Gregan, Melonhead Finnegan, Roffy, Tugboat Kafer, Justin 'The Plank' Harrison. Sigh. I used to like watching Australian Rugby.

As long as the All Blacks don't win the RWC I'll be happy.

They're currently said to be the best team in the world, hinge (even though we beat ém 2 weeks ago) - but they usually choke in the RWC.

I found out only yesterday the the Wallabies tour matches, or at least tests, are being broadcast on Channel 10. What are they doing there? I presumed that they weren't telecast on free-to-air, because they weren't on Ch 7. Be able to watch the Poms this weekend!

That is weird - seems like 10 gets the leftovers whenever 9 0r 7 have competing events