Overheard

“The superior man contains the means in his own person. He bides his time and then acts. Why then should not everything go well? He acts and is free. Therefore all he has to do is to go forth, and he takes his quarry. This is how a man fares who acts after he has ready the means.”

“Greatness is only a matter of will.  It is the end result of patience, determination, direction and strength.”

“kindergarchy n. Rule or domination by children; the belief that children’s needs and preferences take precedence over those of their parents or other adults.”

“The Northeast Blackout affected 50 million people and zero PEER 1 customers. Find out why.”

“As in 2007, the average U.S. worker has 14 vacation days this year. Just across the Canadian border, our counterparts get an average of 17 vacation days annually. But if you want a real “vacation envy” complex, consider the vacation banks of European workers. France tops the list with an average of 37 days, followed by Italy (33 days), Spain (31), the Netherlands and Austria (28), Germany (27) and Great Britain (26). “

Comments

This morning I read in our newspaper that Walter Winchell, who died yesterday, was credited with originating the phrase "Ta-ta for now". This came as a total surprise, as I well remember Mrs Mopp, the 'char' in Tommy Handley's radio show ITMA who used to say this as well as "Can I do you now sir?". In fact the show was based on a stream of catchphrases which everyone knew and repeated in everyday life. It is also true that the phrase became distilled to TTFN by Handley, who's quick fire show was a real morale booster in those dark days.

There was a clue in the obituary, and that is that Walter Winchell creditied his British born wife with having come up with the phrase. Anyone brought up in Britain during WWII would have known the phrase only too well.

Posted by J.M.Bowen  at  4:15 am on Jun. 27, 2005

Paul Winchell, not Walter Winchell, died yesterday.



He put "TTFN" in Tigger's mouth, but didn't create the phrase itself.

Posted by Travis  at  10:03 am on Jun. 27, 2005

Add a Comment

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Submit the word you see below:

Your comment:

Remember my personal info

Email me about follow-ups