LetThemTalk Paris closing for the holidays

We are now closed for the holidays the English courses will recommence Monday 5th January 2009. I will be checking my email from time to time until then but perhaps less often than usual. If you have any queries about courses you can, however, still contact me.

I wish everyone a happy holiday and a great new year.

Recipe for flapjacks

Thank you to everyone who came to the LetThemTalk end of year party on Saturday. I hope you enjoyed it and best wishes to everyone for the holiday season and the New Year.

I was asked at the party for a recipe for flapjacks. If you’re unfamiliar with flapjacks they are a delicious crunchy tray baked cake very popular in Britain. Here is the recipe I use which is based on one by Delia Smith.

For about 10 flapjacks

Ingredients

110 g soft brown sugar
110 g butter or margarine
1 rounded dessertspoon golden syrup (if you can’t find golden syrup use honey)
175 g oats
¾ teaspoon ground ginger

Pre-heat the oven to 150°C.

You will also need an 18 or 20 cm square baking tin at least 4 cm deep, lightly greased.

Place the sugar butter and golden syrup, together in a pan and heat to it gently; so that the butter melts stirring the mixture from time to time. Take the pan off the heat and mix in the oats and the ginger. Now pour the mixture into the tin and spread it out evenly, Bake for 40-45 minutes. Then allow them to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before cutting it into oblong bars. Leave them in the tin until quite cold before removing them. Store them in a tin.

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The Cockney Bible

Cockney is the dialect of London recently a bible was printed in cockney.

Peculiar to Cockney is its rhyming slang. Wikipedia defines it like this “Rhyming slang is a form of slang in which a word is replaced by a rhyming word, typically the second word of a two-word phrase (so stairs becomes "apples and pears"). The second word is then often dropped entirely ("I'm going up the apples"), meaning that the association of the original word to the rhyming phrase is not obvious to the uninitiated. “

The Cockney Bible (from the story of Joseph) by God translated by Mike Coles.

The brothers want Joseph Brown Bread. He ends up in Egypt!

One day, Joseph popped off to a place called Shechem. His brothers were there lookin' after sheep. Jacob 'ad asked Joseph to check that everything was ok. When Joseph got there, 'e had a good ol' butcher's around, but couldn't find 'is brothers. Some geezer came up to 'im and asked, "Are you alrigh' me ol' china? What are you lookin' for?"

"I've been having a good butcher's for me brothers. They're taking care of their sheep," he answered. "You ain't seen them 'ave you?"

"They've moved on to a place called Dothan, I think I heard one of 'em say," replied the geezer. So, Joseph moved on to Dothan.

When 'is brothers saw 'im coming in the distance, they planned to kill him 'cos they hated his guts. "Let's kill that bloomin' little dreamer boy," they said. "We'll kill 'im and chuck his body dahn one of the dry wells. We'll say some nasty, wild animal killed 'im, then we'll see if his stupid dreams come true innit?"

One of the brothers Reuben, didn't want to see Joseph brown bread. "Don't kill 'im fella's," he said. "Let's just chuck him dahn the well for now." Reuben said this 'cos he wanted to return Joseph home safely a little later on. The brothers tore off Joseph's lovely new weasel, and they chucked him in the dry well.

As the brothers were 'aving their Judy and Punch, they saw some Ishmaelite traders pass by on their way to Egypt. The brothers suddenly came up with a plan. They said, "Let's not kill our little dreaming brother, 'cos 'e is our own flesh and blood. Let's just sell 'im to those traders." They all agreed, and they sold 'im for twenty bits of silver. The traders took 'im to Egypt.

A little alligator, Reuben returned to the well to get Joseph to send 'im home. When 'e saw that the well was empty, 'e got himself in a righ' ol' two and eight, and he tore his these and those. He wandered what 'e was gonna do.

The brothers then killed a goat, and dipped Joseph's weasel in its blood. They then took the weasel back to Jacob and said, "Dad. We found this weasel. Does it belong to your currant?"

"Oh no... it does," he said. "A wild animal must have killed him. My little currant has been ripped apart." Jacob was so sad, he tore his these and those (that's what they did in them days when they was really sad if someone died). He then wore some sack cloth material as his these and those, 'cos 'e was in a righ' ol' two and eight. His favourite currant was brown bread. He was real, real sad. All 'is currants and bottle's tried to cheer 'im up. But, 'e wanted no-one to help 'im. Jacob was never gonna get over the death of Joseph.

While all this was goin' on, the traders had arrived in Egypt. They sold Joseph to some geezer called Potiphar, quite an important fella. He was one of the Pharaoh's officers, captain of the Pharaoh's palace guard. Joseph became 'is slave.

Cockney rhyming slang glossary

Brown Bread = dead

Butcher’s =butcher’s hook = look

(ol') china = china plate = mate = friend

Weasel = weasel and stoat = coat

Judy and Punch = lunch

Alligator = later

two and eight = state = agitated

these and those = clothes

Currant = currant bun = son

Bottle = bottle of porter = daughter

Other cockney expressions

Geezer = guy, chap, man

Bloomin’ = damned

Innit = isn’t it (won’t we, aren’t they….etc)

‘cos = because

fella = fellow

dahn = down

gonna = going to

Jamie Oliver - a famous cockney geezer

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Sandrine's Blog

LetThemTalk's very own Sandrine writes a fascinating blog superflu full of book reviews and recommendations from the literary world. Check it out Here

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