I got a chuckle from this phrase towards the end of the article:
‘Lirepynrel’, which means ‘irresponsible penis’
I know several men who could be described as such.
TIL that Kokomo is a town in Indiana, nothing to do with Jamaica or the Caribbean at all (per The Beach Boys).
I learned that in my current podcast A History of Rock and Roll in 500 Songs Ep 24, on an unrelated song Ko Ko Mo , originally by a black R&B duet Gene and Eunice, which was re-recorded (essentially stolen) by dozens of artists including Louis Armstrong, Perry Como (bizarrely!) and Andy Griffith (yes, that Andy Griffith), mostly within months of their release of the record.
They did not go on to much success in the US but their music attracted a following in Jamaica, ironically enough, inspiring a recording featuring … Bunny Whaler and Bob Marley’s future wife Rita Anderson !
I was at first very puzzled by the Beach Boys song, because I ONLY knew of Kokomo as a town in Indiana, and was wondering why they were singing about it in the company of Caribbean resorts like Aruba, Jamaica, Bermuda, and the Bahamas.
“One of these things is not like the others”
The Beatles’ ethnic and religious backgrounds shake out into a curious pattern.
Lennon: Irish Anglican
McCartney: Irish Catholic
Harrison: English Catholic
Ringo: English Anglican
They all have Irish ancestors. Harrison’s and McCartney’s being the most recent (grandparents). John Lennon’s father was nominally Catholic. Liverpool was one of those chunky melting pots like the US.
OK, I apparently fudged several details. Thanks.
It was the departing port for a lot of ships to the New World. A lot of Irish people left during the famine, some of them hated the sea voyage to Liverpool so much they decided to settle there instead of enduring an even longer trip. So say some of my Irish descended friends from Liverpool, but they probably just drank their passage money.
John’s dad caused him lifelong emptiness by his abandonment, and added irritation when he resurfaced during Beatlemania.
Still, the image of his drunken dad smashing a wedding shop window and dancing in the street with the mannequin is charming.
As this thread exists, I assume that string vests have at least been heard of in the US. In case anyone needs it, here’s an image of one
I was made to wear them briefly as a kid in the North of England. Because “They keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer”. And uncomfortable (and looking ridiculous) all year round. I don’t know why, but I can’t get this question out of my head: is that just a myth, or was there ever any research? Well…
If you looked at the image, you’ll have seen it was a string vest worn on an antarctic expedition - the owner apparently visited antarctica a couple of dozen times, so I guess this is quite a testimonial, but it still isn’t research. However:
…Results of tests on soldiers serving in the Suez Canal Zone reveal the best string vest to wear in warm weather.
Noting growing numbers of string-vest “adherents” during British summers, the government set out to fathom the “indefiniteness of its function”.
The papers have been made public by the National Archives at Kew, west London.
With temperatures soaring to 98F (36C) in Egypt during the summer of 1955, members of the 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment were ordered to wear vests under their bush jackets to see if they had any “definite advantage” as a summer garment.
Three models were tested - a standard Army string vest, a less stringy civilian version, the Sherpa, and a conventional, non-string singlet.
Woah there! - the papers are in the National Archive? Red rag to a bull.
I won’t keep you in suspense. The paper is, at least in principle, publicly available - but you have to have an account to download it.
In any case, the BBC article summarizes the results. Yes, the soldiers found the string vests kept them cooler in the heat - but when the experiment ended they still couldn’t persuade the men to wear them. And I’m not in the least surprised.
j
Never heard of the military history of the string vest (and also not the name), but I understand they were underwear, while in my youth in the mid to late 80s in Germany, they were popular as summer wear substituting for a t-shirt and considered cool for young dudes. I sometimes used to wear them. We called them “Netzshirts” (net shirts) and also “Muskelshirts” (muscle shirts).
Your link is funny:
Among its noted benefits were an ability to: “obviate the difficulties of dragging and doffing”.
Could have told you that, old chap.
Let me put it this way: how emotionally scarring do you think being made to wear them must have been if I’m still fretting about it nearly sixty years later? 
j
I think I can relate: my trauma was the verdugo (which means executioner or hangman, also called pasamontañas, ~ mountain crosser), something that looks like a balaclava. To keep you warm in winter. It looks awful and made me sweat and it itched.
My bold
This is kind of a social history of the string vest; it notes (quoting a museum curator*):
If you’ve got an amazing body, it shows it off.:
j
* - the curator in question being Carol Tulloch. Of course I totally respect the views of women, but there’s a part of me that deeply regrets the loss of words like curatrix.
A fist sized rock dropped over the Marianas trench takes 6 hours to reach the bottom
A fact, and advice: You can buy bagpipes on Temu for $51. Don’t.
Well, you’ve just ruined my Christmas plans.
While trying to think up a clever reply to this joke in another thread…
I discovered that Santa’s reindeer are likely all female because only female reindeer keep their antlers through the winter and into Christmas, while males shed theirs after the autumn mating season. The only exception is castrated bucks…I always suspected Santa had a dark side.
today in Reddit, I saw a map that showed that about 1 half of Japan runs on 60hz electricity, whereas the other half runs on 50hz electricity.
[ possibly: citation needed ]
.
I had no idea, and wonder for what (historic?) reasons that might be. IIRC runs universally on 110v
When I do a search on this, I find that it’s a historical accident. This has been true since the 1890s. Eastern Japan imported German 50hz generators, while western Japan imported American 60hz ones. It’s now too complicated to fix this.