Date:    Fri, 8 May 1998 16:09:00 -0400
<br>From:    Wendalyn Nichols <wnichols[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RANDOMHOUSE.COM>
<br>Subject: Re: bottles of beer
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<br>yes to both queries on lager louts and legless.
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<br>Mark Mandel <Mark [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] DRAGONSYS.COM> on 05/08/98 12:42:17 PM
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<br>Please respond to American Dialect Society <ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
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<br>To:   ADS-L [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] UGA.CC.UGA.EDU
<br>cc:    (bcc: Wendalyn Nichols/Trade/RandomHouse)
<br>Subject:  bottles of beer
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<br>>>>>> Andrea Vine <avine[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ENG.SUN.COM> writes >>>>>
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<br> [...]  So I asked [my English source] in what situation he would sing it:
<br>at a football game, in a pub?  To which he
<br>replied, "On long, boring coach trips when there's bugger-all else to do."
<br> <<<<<
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<br>Which is exactly the context in which I learned it: bus (= "coach"?) trips,
<br>or sometimes hikes. (But on hikes we had the
<br>danger of thirst from so much singing, breathing in the dust our feet
<br>kicked up from the road. Not that we were old
<br>enough for beer.)
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<br>>>>>> Wendalyn Nichols <wnichols[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RANDOMHOUSE.COM> adds >>>>>
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<br>Or on a fairly short coach trip, if the back of the coach is full of
<br>completely legless lager louts
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<br>I assume that "lager louts" are loutish because they're full of brew.
<br>"Legless" = 'too drunk to stand up'?
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<br>-- Mark
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<br>       Mark A. Mandel : Senior Linguist : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com
<br>    Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 796-0267
<br> 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/
<br>           Personal home page: http://world.std.com/~mam/
<br>