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Post by Uncle Henry on Aug 24, 2017 2:08:38 GMT -5
To-day we luncheoned at Gloria's upon a delicious stew of tomato and chicken with two forms of potato, swede, broccoli, German "sauer-Kraut", carrots and cauliflower, accompanied by a pot of authentic English tea. The required monetary payment was sixteen so-called "dollars" and eighty "cents" (A$16.80).
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Post by ahinton on Aug 24, 2017 4:04:26 GMT -5
To-day we luncheoned at Gloria's upon a delicious stew of tomato and chicken with two forms of potato, swede, broccoli, German "sauer-Kraut", carrots and cauliflower, accompanied by a pot of authentic English tea. The required monetary payment was sixteen so-called "dollars" and eighty "cents" (A$16.80). Why are the dollars and cents in ""s and described as "so-called"? As for "authentic English tea", I've no idea what that might be, given that tea has been grown in UK for the first time only recently and even that is on the Tregothnan Estate in an area described by some of its residents as the country rather than the county of Cornwall; that said, it sounds to me to be an inappropriate "accompaniment" to what you consumed, a dish that seems akin to an Aussie take on an English dish that is itself a sad corruption of coq au vin sans le vin. I suppose that A$16.80 - which is a whisker over ten quid while the British pound still lasts - doesn't seem expensive for what you had, but I'd sooner have had a truly "authentic" French baguette rubbed with some fine olive oil and freshly picked tomatoes or good garlic with a glass or two of good red wine which wouldn't have cost much more!
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Post by Uncle Henry on Aug 24, 2017 7:17:00 GMT -5
To-day we luncheoned at Gloria's upon a delicious stew of tomato and chicken with two forms of potato, swede, broccoli, German "sauer-Kraut", carrots and cauliflower, accompanied by a pot of authentic English tea. The required monetary payment was sixteen so-called "dollars" and eighty "cents" (A$16.80). >> Why are the dollars and cents in ""s and described as "so-called"? Because they are an invention of Robert Menzies and not supported by gold. >> As for "authentic English tea", I've no idea what that might be, given that tea has been grown in UK for the first time only recently and even that is on the Tregothnan Estate. The English authenticity to which I was attempting to refer is authenticity not of production but of serving style - a teapot, sugar, milk and a second pot containing hot water - none of which are often found upon the disconcerting cross-Channel tables.
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Post by ahinton on Aug 24, 2017 8:01:41 GMT -5
>> Why are the dollars and cents in ""s and described as "so-called"? Because they are an invention of Robert Menzies and not supported by gold. Given that no currency is literally "supported by gold" (whose own value constantly fluctuates in accordance with market conditions in any case), one might assume that all demonations of all currencies could be regarded as "so-called" - i.e. "so-called" euros and cents, "so-called" pounds and pence and so on, so I remain puzzled as to why you added this descriptor to Australian currency denominations as though they were somehow different. In any case, the term "dollar", already in use in US, was not an "invention of Robert Menzies" and it is unclear that the term "cent", also already in use in US, was even recommended by him; for one thing, they were introduced after Menzies had stepped down as Australia's premier and, for another, as en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_dollar informs us: "With pounds, shillings and pence to be replaced by decimal currency on 14 February 1966, many names for the new currency were suggested. In 1963, the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, a monarchist, wished to name the currency the royal. Other proposed names from a public naming competition included more exotic suggestions such as the austral, the oz, the boomer, the roo, the kanga, the emu, the koala, the digger, the zac, the kwid, the dinkum, and the ming (Menzies' nickname). Menzies' influence resulted in the selection of the royal, and trial designs were prepared and printed by the Reserve Bank of Australia. The Treasurer, Harold Holt, announced the decision in Parliament on 5 June 1963. The royal would be subdivided into 100 cents, but the existing names shilling, florin and crown would be retained for the 10-cent, 20-cent and 50-cent coins respectively. The name royal for the currency proved very unpopular, with Holt and his wife even receiving death threats.[citation needed] On 24 July Holt told the Cabinet the decision had been a "terrible mistake" and it would need to be revisited. On 18 September Holt advised Parliament that the name was to be the dollar, of 100 cents." It rather looks, therefore, as though Holt had more to do with all of this than did Menzies but, as I stated, these were not new terms "invented" by either. >> As for "authentic English tea", I've no idea what that might be, given that tea has been grown in UK for the first time only recently and even that is on the Tregothnan Estate. The English authenticity to which I was attempting to refer is authenticity not of production but of serving style - a teapot, sugar, milk and a second pot containing hot water - none of which are often found upon the disconcerting cross-Channel tables. I'm not sure how often you'd find thé à l'anglaise on "cross-Channel tables" at all but I'll be sure to check on this next time I travel by Brittany Ferries. If sugar in tea's "authentic" for anywhere, that place ought to be ashamed of itself; that said, my concern was its place as an "accompaniment" to the dish that you had, which would surely have benefitted far more from a glass or two of wine, a product which is hardly scarce in Australia (indeed, a Sydneysider friend once amusingly observed to me "d'ya know, that make wine in France as well!"). Still, each to their own, I suppose. That said, there can be little doubt that, in past decades, the visits to France made by certain Australian winemakers did much to improve winemaking on parts of the south of that country where some of it had until then been somewhat undistinguished. Anyway, I'm very much looking forward to sampling one of the 1953 Bin 2 Grange Hermitage bottles in my cellar tonight (and, as you may note, one of the disadvantages of being a composer is having an imagination...)
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2017 12:22:52 GMT -5
Is Gloria's your preferred holiday destination, Uncle Henry?
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