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Shave and a Haircut

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Re: Shave and a Haircut

#101

Post by [deleted] »

munificent wrote: post #85
bitwize wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Louisiana has a long list of place names like this. New Orleans street names alone have standard pronunciations, many of which are not obvious especially if you've seen the name in other contexts. Then there are the city names like Plaquemines, Natchitoches, and even New Orleans itself (if you say "new or-LEENZ" like Chuck Berry you will be immediately flagged as an outsider). I reminded my wife of Natchitoches every…

I grew up in New Orleans and now live in Seattle, and all of my intuition for pronunciation is just totally broken. In many places, if you see a "weird" (as in non-English-seeming) place name, a reasonable pronunciation guess is to just assume it's from a Romance language and pronounce it vaguely Spanish/French-ish. This works because so many foreign names that are common in the US that aren't obviously Anglo/Germani…

[deleted]

Re: Shave and a Haircut

#102

Post by ddingus »

StevePerkins wrote: post #87
samatman wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the US, "where does the shortstop play" is a pretty good one. Some people might get through K-12 without learning that, but surely not many.

I don't give a damn! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who%27s_on_First%3F#Sketch

Well, that is who plays short stop.

The position is a different matter.

As if! (the shortstop cares)

Great bit, BTW. I loved it as a kid.

Re: Shave and a Haircut

#104

Post by [deleted] »

scelerat wrote: post #76

I like the variation where the note for "hair" is played a half step flat. In the example on the wikipedia page, the implied chords for "shave and a hair- cut" would be (original) G / . C G shave and a hair cut (variation) G / . Eb7 D7 shave and a hair cut

[deleted]

Re: Shave and a Haircut

#105

Post by psunavy03 »

floren wrote: post #88
kcorbitt wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once interviewed a candidate for an engineering position in Seattle. It quickly turned out that he had fabricated his entire work history and education. My first clue was that he claimed two years of work experience at Costco HQ in Issaquah, Washington but he pronounced it as "Is-ACK" (the local pronounciation is "IS-uh-kwah"). No one who spent two years in Issaquah would ever pronounce it that way, regardless of t…

I'd say the Washington shibboleth should be "Puyallup"

Or Snohomish. Or Sequim. Or Cle Elum.

Re: Shave and a Haircut

#106

Post by MrJohz »

hprotagonist wrote: post #3

regarding “bits” as a monetary term: it took me a solid decade to get the joke in “Making Money” regarding why Reacher Gilt taught his parrot to say “12.5%”

I was thinking of a different Pratchett joke: in Making Money, Moist is told to use the barber's knock: "shave and a haircut, no legs!"

I'm rereading the Moist series again, and it is so incredibly thick with humour and references. I mean, all of the books are, but that series really feels like him at the top of his game.

Re: Shave and a Haircut

#107

Post by gerdesj »

mkmk wrote: post #7

> The former prisoner of war and U.S. Navy seaman Doug Hegdahl reports fellow U.S. captives in the Vietnam War would authenticate a new prisoner's U.S. identity by using "Shave and a Haircut" as a shibboleth, tapping the first five notes against a cell wall and waiting for the appropriate response. With the mass export of western culture, I wonder if there are any songs, tunes, or patterns like this that would still…

A British or Irish person might kick off with an approved weather discussion (appropriate with strangers, for the use of) opening gambit and await a sanctioned response.

Another option is "fork 'andles". The correct response is a repeat followed by childish giggling but the rubbish assumed accents are also part of the shibboleth. This one may be gradually dying out.

A final option is to surreptitiously start a queue.

Re: Shave and a Haircut

#110

Post by Sharlin »

Clapping the rhythm of the "challenge" part can be very effective in getting the attention of a group of distracted people that you want to address. It’s so well known that almost anyone instinctually claps the response when they hear the challenge. As a sharp percussive sound, clapping is also readily audible over chatter.
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