Post by JumboOn Sun, 18 Dec 2005 18:20:01 -0000, "Mike Lyle"
Post by Mike LylePost by Jumbo"The back side of Great Britain" (meaning that there is a good -
positive - side, and a less flattering side)
Trickier than it may seem. As I guess you know, "backside" means
"arse". Consider "underside", "seamy side", "dark side",
"underbelly", "hidden side", "Britain behind the scenes", "private
life", "wild side". The founder of the Salvation Army neatly
followed
Post by JumboPost by Mike Lyleup Livingstone's "Darkest Africa" with "Darkest England".
Thanks for your answer.
In Danish we use an old word "vrang", which actually means the
reverse
Post by Jumboside of for instance a jacket 0r a coat ("vrang", I assume, being the
same word as wrong).
So we says "vrang of GB", "vrang of GB" etc. - meaning that there is
also another truth then the most welknown.
I think that's an exact equivalent of our "seamy side".
Post by JumboSo, if I need it very short, wouldn't "dark side of GB" be the
best?
I think that would be fine: it echoes the language of _Star Wars_ ,
so people would pick it up intuitively.
(By the way, more people will read your messages if you use
alt.usage.english or alt.english.usage. The latter, like this one,
seems probably to have been set up by mistake! On the other hand,
there's a pretty poor "signal-to-noise ratio" on a.u.e; so you may
find a.l.e. more convenient, if slower. A.e.u. is in between: if I
didn't have valued friends who use a.u.e., I'd use it alone.)
--
Mike.