Things you were shockingly old when you learned

Malkamus went to high school in Lodi CA

This threw me off a little too, because there's a Linden, NJ one town over from where I lived for 25 years (it's not close enough to Lodi, NJ for them to have been rival schools, though).

Yes, I assume everyone is from NJ unless explicitly told otherwise, it seems.

There was for a time a lot of people who thought Manowar were British because of Hail to England, doing most of their touring in Europe, and not being funny

JK the latter would make them from the America South

*American

Levon Helm was from Arkansas, to be fair

That "it's all downhill from here" is meant to mean "it all gets easier from here", like you're on a bike ride, not "it all gets shittier from here".

I have never heard that before.

i had a quick hunt around for the histories of each meaning (turns out they both go back a long way) (by which i mean centuries).

The most useful bit of advice i came across is this: "To avoid misunderstanding you need to be clear about what is meant."

I assumed the title of the Jam's third album was a dig at the mod revival they were trying to extricate themselves from. I learned last week that "all mod cons" is also an abbreviation for "all modern conveniences" used in British newspaper real estate/rental listings.

The mod revival didn't really take off till the following year so I doubt they were trying to extricate themselves from it.

Also konda surprised the phrase all mod cons is not used in the US!

Let me guess, a "modern convenience" in the UK is something like a refrigerator.

It certainly was in the 60s!

i wasn't really checking real estate/rental listings much at that time but i feel the phrase was actually a bit dated in the late 70s

(and that this was part of the little retro pop art joke they were making)

Probably, it basically meant modern and up-to-date anyway by then anyway

I thought a "mod con" was some sort of Artful Dodger scheme before learning the actual meaning.

probably many counterexamples but there are a lot of UK/Australian shortened phrases that just don't happen in the US

Quite a lot. In the US we don't speak of argy bargy, chrissy prezzies, arvo, brekkie, or ciggies. Throw up / threw up or vomit/vomited/hurled instead of "sick."

And certainly not "mod cons," which can mean wildly varying things. Amenities, maybe.

I was the exact opposite, I knew the all mod cons phrase but the pun on mod didn't occur to me until years afterwards

worst British abbreviation is "spag bol"

spag bol might have been the one where I realized, oh, this is what you're doing as a culture with all these weird abbreviations

Pretty sure nobody outside of the oft-derided metropolitan liberal elites ever said spag bol

you remember those heinz beans adverts soundtracked by ladysmith black mambazo in the 90s, like this flavourless industrial gloop made by a german-american company is in fact your intangible cultural heritage which you should be willing to die for!!! - that's the lineage of fucking spag bol.

everything wd have been so difft if the jam had only called their third lp "all spag bol"

Multi xpost Always understood “it’s downhill from here” as things will get worse as you’ve reached the peak. Can see how it could be read the other way though.

I always thought it was the "gets easier" interpretation

I thought a "mod con" was some sort of Artful Dodger scheme before learning the actual meaning.

― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, August 1, 2023 9:36 AM (thirty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

well, power pop was always sort of a different thing

you know who definitely calls it "spag bol"? ladbaby. and presumably the people who like ladbaby, not met any so far but they apparently exist.

Spag bol sounds like public schoolboy speak to me.

It was about 8 years ago when I discovered the og recipe from Bologna doesn't have any herbs or garlic and what is served up as SB in most UK Italian restaurants ain't nothing like it. Problem was nobody in my house liked the authentic stuff I made (with some pretty lousy tesco brand pancetta) and I soon reverted back to doing it wrong.

"it’s downhill from here" confusion similar to that of "a rolling stone gathers no moss". Does that mean you should constantly move on in order to keep things fresh, or that if you do so you'll miss out on the good things in life? Could go either way!

I've eaten spag bol in Bologna! It was pretty plain.

still the peasant dishes of Italy are a massive improvement on beans on toast

Why does no-one ever talk about the peasant dishes of the UK, cookbook industry missing a trick here

the jam's iconic third LP "all footy scran"

he did once do a lyric saying be thankful for what you've got cos there are no frozen fish fingers in Zaire

do they know its findus time at all

I was quite surprised when I went to live in Italy (25 years ago) that there was no such thing as 'bolognaise/ese'.

When I lived in the UK mostly I heard “spaghetti bo”

I was quite surprised when I went to live in Italy (25 years ago) that there was no such thing as 'bolognaise/ese'.

― Nasty, Brutish & Short, Tuesday, August 1, 2023 9:43 AM

In Bologna they just call it spaghetti.

What do they call bologna? Lunch meat?

I guess not all bologna has a first name.

https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/video-jon-stewart-gives-pepper-spray-cop-anthony-bologna-his-own-tv-show

Baloney

Spray Bol

That "mod cons" doesn't mean indoor flush toilet!

I guess not all bologna has a first name.

Post of the day.

I always thought spag bol was a Ben Elton thing, I remember him saying it in a routine on that Ch4 Saturday Live thing in the mid 80s

there are pockets of Australia where the abbreviation has degenerated to "spag bog"

Ha I thought it was just me saying spag bog because I like saying dumb things. But yeah I feel like Aussies say Spag Bol a lot and can get away with it more cos its... like, what we do.

What do they call bologna? Lunch meat?
By the way why is that pronounced "baloney"? I thought they were 2 different words until reasonably recently.
Here, you've got yer mortadella, of course. but theres also devon, luncheon, lunchmeat. Depends where u live. "Fritz", in Adelaide apparently which I have just now learned upon reading the wiki about it.