THE NINE TAILORS: Batman

[Choisya]

Oh sorry folks - I haven't got the book yet and thought Debs was referring to cricketing references she found in the book, which wouldn't be unusual in an English novel of this period!

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Peppermill wrote:

Deb -- doubt the problem was your proficiency with search engines; it might well have been ambiguity about spelling (batman vs batsman).

Anyway, thanks to you that brought this trivia tidbit to our attention and gave us the background.

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debbook wrote:

Ah, thank you! I tried Batsman + military in yahoo and got nothing. I'm not good at search engines!

That makes alot more sense for the reference than the cricket definition

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pedsphleb wrote:

Hi Deb - I ran "batman military" through Google and got a Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(military)

But in short:

A batman (or batwoman) is a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant.

The term is derived from the obsolete bat, "packsaddle" (from French bât, from Old French bast, from Late Latin bastum) + man.

(from the Wikipedia article)

(addendum: I guess the BNBC text editor doesn't like the last )  in the article link - so you might have to cut and past the Wikipedia link)

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Message Edited by Peppermill on 06-06-2009 03:05 PM

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[dulcinea3]

Ooops!  Sorry about that spelling error!  I was writing that from memory, hadn't read the books in many years, and thought that the term was "batsman", when all along it was "batman"!  My mistake!!!

[Peppermill]

Dulcinea -- this is why we talk to each other!  I'd hardly even call it a mistake.

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dulcinea3 wrote:
Ooops!  Sorry about that spelling error!  I was writing that from memory, hadn't read the books in many years, and thought that the term was "batsman", when all along it was "batman"!  My mistake!!!

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[dulcinea3]

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Peppermill wrote:

Dulcinea -- this is why we talk to each other!  I'd hardly even call it a mistake.

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dulcinea3 wrote:
Ooops!  Sorry about that spelling error!  I was writing that from memory, hadn't read the books in many years, and thought that the term was "batsman", when all along it was "batman"!  My mistake!!!

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Well, you would think that I could have gotten it right, considering that I am also reading Dracula for Classics!  I should have batmen on my mind!  LOL!

[Choisya]

There are several references in the first chapter to the 'Fens' and 'fen country' so I thought I would explain that this is a low lying area of eastern England (East Anglia) which was reclaimed from the North Sea by Dutch engineers on the instructions of Oliver Cromwell after the English Civil War.  There is an area around Spalding called Little Holland which the Dutch settled and which is famous for its bulb growing and annual flower festival.  Cromwell and many of those in his New Model Army were from the Fens.  It was formerly reed beds, grown for thatch, with primitive, isolated settlements, but the reclamation made it into some of the best arable land in England, the fields being separated by long drainage dykes. It is unremittingly flat and there is a constant wind from the North Sea - my mother was from East Anglia and in my youf I cycled across the Fens facing a biting wind many times to visit relatives.   Here are some images of the area around Cambridge which Sayers is writing about. Note the reference to Vermuyden's 40 ft drain, which perhaps is the inspiration for the 30 foot drain mentioned in the book and the Denver Sluice may have been the inspiration for Lord Wimsey's family name.  Here are photographs of a Cambridgeshire village.  

Does America have the equivalent of the Fens?  I think that the Skagit Valley was also settled by the Dutch and is a famous bulb growing area north of Seattle - is that reclaimed land?   

Message Edited by Choisya on 06-09-2009 06:03 AM

[Choisya]

There are a few expressions in the first chapter which may need explanation. 

'An afternoon with the Australians at Lords' is about playing test cricket against the Australians at the Lords cricket ground in North London - a very famous and prestigious venue.

Lord Wimsey was careful not to walk 'widdershins' around the church because this would be unlucky - going widdershins is going counter-clockwise, circling something but keeping it on the left.  It is a pagan concept related to going contrary to the sun.

A 'muffler' is a long, warm scarf, often knitted - I am sure Melissa has some patterns!  Coal miners were once famous for wearing pure white silk mufflers which contrasted strangely with their otherwise dirty appearance. 

Incunabala means something that was printed, not handwritten, in Europe before 1501.

[Laurel]

That's my country, Choisya. The Skagit Valley is a few miles to the south. I don't think any draining had to be done, but there are frequent floods. The tulip fields are glorious. I've heard that they send bulbs to The Netherlands for sale.

Just to the north of me is the town of Lynden, which has obvious Dutch heritage. I like to go there at noon and hear the hymns from the tower of one of the Dutch Reformed churches (don't know just what form the music is). There is rich farming land (dairy and raspberries) all around. When I was growing up, we earned money for our school clothes by picking strawberries, but the strawberry business has moved to California now.

One big difference between this country and the fens is that here you can almost always see majestic snow-capped mountains to the north and the east.

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Does America have the equivalent of the Fens?  I think that the Skagit Valley was also settled by the Dutch and is a famous bulb growing area north of Seattle - is that reclaimed land?   

Message Edited by Choisya on 06-09-2009 06:03 AM

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[Choisya]

My friend in Seattle sent me a couple of lovely posters of the Skagit tulip fields Laurel, and from time to time she sends me tulip bulbs too.  So my garden has a link with you.  One of my favourite European trips is to the Dutch Bulbfields and the Keukenhof Gardens where Dutch bulb growers exhibit every variety of bulb ever produced - there is a display of 7 million bulbs every year in different combinations, a breathtaking sight.   

I wonder if there are any Dutch churches with carillons in your area?  

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Laurel wrote:

That's my country, Choisya. The Skagit Valley is a few miles to the south. I don't think any draining had to be done, but there are frequent floods. The tulip fields are glorious. I've heard that they send bulbs to The Netherlands for sale.

Just to the north of me is the town of Lynden, which has obvious Dutch heritage. I like to go there at noon and hear the hymns from the tower of one of the Dutch Reformed churches (don't know just what form the music is). There is rich farming land (dairy and raspberries) all around. When I was growing up, we earned money for our school clothes by picking strawberries, but the strawberry business has moved to California now.

One big difference between this country and the fens is that here you can almost always see majestic snow-capped mountains to the north and the east.

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Does America have the equivalent of the Fens?  I think that the Skagit Valley was also settled by the Dutch and is a famous bulb growing area north of Seattle - is that reclaimed land?   

Message Edited by Choisya on 06-09-2009 06:03 AM

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