I just came across an expression I have never heard of in my life--"sporting the oak". It's used several times in Above Suspicion by Helen MacInnes. It's used early in the book by a young woman going to see her husband in his Oxford University office. The context gave me no clue. I did Google it and was surprised to find the answer but wondered if anyone here has ever encountered this expression.

Spoiler--It means to close your outside door indicating you don't want visitors. Evidently there is an inside door as well which you can knock on if the outside door is open--but not if the outside door is sported. It was most commonly used at Oxford and Cambridge, not sure if it still is.

Ginny, I have never come across this. It would be particular to universities with living accommodation, I imagine.

I think that expression was just used at Oxford and Cambridge, as Ginny says. Probably very dated now.

Vee, you could try it out and see if anyone knows what you're talking about! :)

I've heard (read) the expression a lot, but then I've read a lot of murder mysteries set at those universities. It's surprising they have so many students left.

Oh, Carolyn, that made me chuckle. I need a laugh, the weather is atrocious, howling gale lashing heavy rain. Ugh!

Carolyn, I feel that way about the TV show "Midsomer Murders".

I never watched that show when it was originally screened but do now enjoy the reruns.

I have got the joke!

I know I should start a new thread 'US words/expressions with which I am unfamiliar' but think it might be too narrow a subject . . . so please will someone tell me what a slider is, in relation to foodstuff. I saw the word at the KT site along with appetizers and although that is another word we don't use over here I can guess its meaning.

Vee, they are small buns with various fillings. We have them here but I haven't had one.

Don't you have Google? It gives suggestions for the fillings.

Vee..... basically a slider is a small hamburger or sandwich in a small round bun.

The key is the mini-sized bun.

Thanks yoyo and Annpan. Yes I do have Google but it never occurred to me to use it on this occasion! How did they get the name?

The word slider was thought to be first used at Whitecastle restaurants to describe their burgers which were always small 2" diameter buns.

There are two stories about the history of the word 'slider,' both from White Castle. One is that they’re so small they slide down your throat—that’s the obvious choice. The other choice, which I like better, is that in the old days, White Castle was sort of like a show. You’d walk in and there would be two or three men behind the counter in white paper caps and clean white aprons on. They’d greet you when you came in, it was sort of a fun, happy environment. And if you were sitting at the counter, they would make your burger – everything was served on porcelain – and they would slide the burger down the counter to you. That’s how they became known as sliders. White Castle likes both stories; they haven’t picked a favorite.

And the White Castle burgers are topped with cooked onions. When my nephew was young, he could eat a lot of them at one sitting.

They opened a White Castle in Orlando a couple of years ago. First one in FL, I think. People camped out in the parking lot the night before they opened, and they ran out of food in 30 minutes. I never did make it there before we moved. Sounds the same as Krystal, though, and Krystal is nothing to get excited about!

We have "Sausage Sizzles" here. A cook up fundraiser stall always held on an Election day at the Polling places as well as on other occasions.

There is an argument about having the fried onions put below or above the sausage and either on a slice of folded white bread or in a bread roll! Serve yourself from a choice of condiments supplied.

We have to vote in Government elections or get fined so there is no problem in getting people to attend. Enjoy a "Democracy Sausage" as they are nick-named while you queue!

Thanks for all the explanations. Of course, I then had to look up 'White Castle' and all it came up with for the UK was a place called White Castle, just inside Wales, so near us where there is the remains of a castle who's walls had been whitewashed many centuries ago!

I don't think I would get on with sliders and especially the ones with onions on top . . . a veg that doesn't 'like' me.

White Castle

Vee, that is a shame about the onions. I love them in all ways, fried, pickled, raw sweet ones in salads, cooked whole and slathered in butter and black pepper. The base for soups and stews.

I am salivating just writing this!

It is sweet potatoes that give me indigestion so I have to go half and half when mixing a mash with an ordinary potato to make it friendly! Otherwise I can eat just about everything.

Ann, I have a great recipe for onions that is made with a lot of Cheddar cheese. I like them a lot, too.

If you slice an onion and place it in a bowl of cold water for a few minutes, then squeeze it out the compound that offends is released into the water.

I also prefer the Vadalia sweet onions as they are not as strong.

I will eat almost every veggie under the sun except.........okra.

Years ago, a friend gave me a fabulous recipe for French onion soup. She said it was from a famous restaurant in St. Louis, where she was from. It involves peeling and slicing six pounds of onions--and therefore many tears. My husband used to help me and we made it once a winter. It made a lot and we could freeze it. You poured the soup over a large slice of French bread in individual bowls, then topped each bowl with Swiss cheese and put them under the broiler til the cheese melted. Delicious! Even the kids liked it.

I've come across this a lot : " Not by a long chalk."

In the US we say : "Not by a long shot. "

I wonder why " shot " or why " chalk " .

yoyo. funnily enough I read this (long chalk) only yesterday and wondered where it came from and how non-English speaking people manage with our many unusual expressions. Do they have a list that has to be memorised in language classes? There must be hundreds, if not thousands of such phrases that we just 'take for granted' . . . and there's another one!

Some telemarketers/scammers are taught catch phrases to use when chatting up prospective clients. They are not always apt! One girl used an old reference to "Agent 99" from Get Smart which was a red flag to me!

I didn't correct her any more than I told one dodgy caller who said I qualified for a Government handout (no doubt after my Bank details!) that we were having an election and there wasn't a government in place yet! Try that on someone else who may notice!

Bon, I wonder if ”chalk” is one of those cases where they are using the wrong word. I saw a funny article a while back about eggcorns (messed-up expressions).

Donna

Google says, "This mainly British expression goes back to the days in which a count or score of almost any kind was marked up on a convenient surface using chalk."

"Not by a long chalk" is a very common British English expression.

I've heard it in the U.S. also, but it's not as common as not by a long shot.

I was just watching the British Antiques Roadshow and they showed something briefly described as "furniture rests" and then moved on to something else. What the heck is a furniture rest? Even Google was no help. It keeps giving me "furniture restoration". They did show a book of ceramic furniture rests but again, no indication of how or why they were used. I don't even know if they are specifically British or of some particular historical period.

I can only suggest that they could be the things one puts under furniture legs, like chairs and tables, to prevent damage to the carpet or wood floors. Did the items look like that?

The ones on the show and in the book picture are much more elaborate. They are little ceramic or pottery sculptures and painted. They are just like a china cabinet ornament but smaller and with a place on top for the furniture foot. They seem pointless to me but who knows?

The use of a ceramic or pottery suggests outdoor use. Perhaps they are meant to go in a conservatory under plant pots. That is still an item which can be bought at a plant nursery.

Being elaborate would suit the Georgian and Victorian periods. Wealthy people would spend a great deal on their conservatories.

Ginny, I have never heard of a furniture rest. As you say they seem pointless, especially if used 'outdoors', plus if they were only used by wealthy people they would have had an endless stream of servants to keep the floors polished. Maybe they were a product of the middle-class Victorian idea of 'how things should be done', rather in the manner of covering up table legs etc.

The only modern equivalent I can think of is those little plastic 'disk' shaped items . . . we had some which went under the castors on the upright piano to help spread the weight on a hard floor, for which ceramic would be useless.

I have seen the "feet" for large flower pots in garden catalogs and nurseries. They are functional both to protect floors and decks and also to let air get at the bottom of the pot. Those on the Roadshow did look different tho. The appraiser was that cute elderly man, Henry, and he and the owner of the items seemed to assume that everyone knew what furniture rests are. But it stumped Google :)

Here's my logic : If a knife rest is something upon which you rest your knife, then a furniture rest must be something upon which furniture rests. I also believe they were used to protect the floor or carpet from the weight of the furniture leg.

But the weight of the furniture is the same, with or without a furniture rest. I do think there must be some other purpose for this mystery object. I wonder if it's to protect the furniture from a wet floor, as in a conservatory. Just a wild guess.

The weight of the furniture remains the same, but often Georgian and Victorian furniture had relatively spindly legs, so like a stiletto heel, all the weight was concentrated into a very small area and therefore more likely to damage a wooden floor. So maybe the furniture rests were to distribute the weight over a wider area, so lessening the potential for damage.

Yes, Colleen, and I have a heavy glass-topped coffee table with sharp little legs to prove it. Those dents will never come out of the rug they rest (?) on. I haven't ever seen any carpet protectors that were not plain, though.

Ok, I have searched 'British furniture rests" and "English furniture rests" and have had a bit of luck. I will have to put this in two posts. First, from One Baker Street on Etsy re a furniture rest shaped liked the Duke of Wellington, sold for $213+.

" This rare and decorative pottery furniture rest was produced in England during the early 19th century, circa 1820. The ceramic furniture rest is modelled as British Military hero The Duke of Wellington.

Furniture rests were used to keep the furniture of the damp floor, they were often very decorative. For this reason it is remarkable that any have survived, they led a hard life holding up heavy wooden chests and dressers! Erroneously often called window rests, which is incorrect - try resting one of these in a wooden sash/casement window....impossible."

" This finely modelled hand coloured pottery furniture, or platform rest to be specific, would have likely been produced in the county of Staffordshire. Notice the scoring to the flat section of the platform, used as a key for the heavy item of furniture resting upon it. Notice also the faux wood style finish to the base section. "

Measuring: Width 2 inch (5 cm) by height 3 ¾ inch (9.5 cm). Depth 3 inch (7.5 cm).

Here is a photo of a set of English furniture rests from a dealer. More info on furniture rests is in the post just above this one.

Ginny I learn something new every day!

Tenacious Ginny! Well done. I had an idea of the purpose, as I posted but couldn't find anything to back me up. I started to look at museum sites but they listed too many items by picking out the Furniture clue I submitted and ignoring the "rest".

Ginny......although the weight is the same, when distributed over a larger surface it has less impact. Ex: stiletto heels vs flat shoes on a wood floor. The person's weight is the same but focused on a stiletto heel it will cause damage to a wood floor.

I read a handy hint to take furniture dents out of the carpet. You put an ice block in the dent, allow it to melt, then brush up the pile. It didn't work for me! Perhaps the dents were too impacted.

At least I can use dents in my rugs to see where the chairs go back to after I remove them to clean.

BTW...Anyone know how to get rawlplugs out of bathroom tiles? They are leftovers from previous shower head fittings.

Furniture rests seem to have been used to protect furniture from damp floors, from what the site I posted says. It was an age of stone and slate floors and dampness would rot wooden feet. But we can't be 100% sure without an expert turning up. Regardless, we have all now earned a Diploma of Interesting but Useless Facts!

Annpan, the ice cube trick didn't work for me either :)

I could fill a wall with those framed diplomas. I love trivia! Also collecting useless articles of kitchen gadgets. I have a large spoon with drain holes and a saw edge for cutting something but what? It must have had a use at some time. I used to buy oddments in job lots in Market sales.

Some items I have never identified!

Having nothing else to do at a wakeful 2am, I took a magnifying glass to the mark on the back of this spoon and found Sipelia which clue gave me similar spoons for sale online but still no explanation for it's use. It also featured on a What is This? website. Some suggestions did not fit, like a peeler and draining combo. The edge isn't that sharp and the spoon would be too awkward to hold. As it is listed as Vintage, I am guessing it was for serving an old fashioned dessert of some kind.

I have also tried the ice cube remedy. It didn't work for me either.

Ann, it might be Sipelia's version of the Drain R Cut spoon which was alleged to be a multipurpose spoon you could use to drain food, cut frozen food or peel potatoes with. I'm guessing that like the Jack of all trades, it wasn't very good at any of the tasks except possibly draining food :-)

I will go along with that! I have only occasionally used it for draining purposes. I have had it a long time and have no memory about how I got it but I will bet I didn't pay much!