Sticking Plaster? « Thread Started on Apr 26, 2012, 6:37pm »
Today I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, A Way With Words. This episode briefly touched on an American caller who had been in England. She frustrated one of the natives who asked her for a "plaster." She didn't know what that was and even the description didn't help. Finally someone produced what we Americans would call a band-aid. She called into the show to find the origin of the word "plaster" as a type bandage.
The hosts went into a long history about people formerly making little poultices to cover small wounds, often sticky. Thus they were originally called "sticking plaster."
The Tull fan in me went "A-ha!" Is that what the term "sticking plaster" means in Crash Barrier Waltzer?
"Oh, Mr. Policeman, blue shirt ballet master, Feet in sticking plaster, move the old lady on . . ."
I had always pictured a policeman swaggering up to her, oblivious of stepping into a wet concrete sidewalk, but could this mean he had bandages on his feet instead? (And why would that be?) Is it a double meaning?
Today I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, A Way With Words. This episode briefly touched on an American caller who had been in England. She frustrated one of the natives who asked her for a "plaster." She didn't know what that was and even the description didn't help. Finally someone produced what we Americans would call a band-aid. She called into the show to find the origin of the word "plaster" as a type bandage.
The hosts went into a long history about people formerly making little poultices to cover small wounds, often sticky. Thus they were originally called "sticking plaster."
The Tull fan in me went "A-ha!" Is that what the term "sticking plaster" means in Crash Barrier Waltzer?
"Oh, Mr. Policeman, blue shirt ballet master, Feet in sticking plaster, move the old lady on . . ."
I had always pictured a policeman swaggering up to her, oblivious of stepping into a wet concrete sidewalk, but could this mean he had bandages on his feet instead? (And why would that be?) Is it a double meaning?
Are there any UK residents who can clue me in?
I always worry about this important stuff.
I've always taken it to be the sticking plaster / or plaster [UK] = band-aid [US]. I can only presume [at this stage] that the term plaster relates to dressing a wound in a similar fashion to using plaster of paris to form a protective seal.
The policeman link is probably related to the police then having regulation issue footwear that wasn't easy on the feet, plodding the beat all day [back then our police spent more time walking than patrolling in cars] probably meant covering their feet in sticking or sticky plasters to prevent blisters etc.
Two english speaking nations separated by a common language!
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-sticking-plaster.htm In Britain and many former colonies, the term “sticking plaster” is used to refer to an adhesive bandage. Some people also call a sticking plaster an Elastoplast, after a popular British brand. The regional slang term has become well known through numerous popular books from these nations, and many people recognize what it means from the context. In the United States and Canada, an adhesive bandage is better known as a Band-Aid, thanks to a well-advertised trademarked brand of bandage manufactured by Johnson and Johnson.
There are three primary components to a sticking plaster. The first is a layer of bandage tape for the outside. Underneath the tape, a small non-stick pad is designed to be oriented over an open wound or burn, and a sticky compound is spread onto the surrounding bandage tape so that the bandage will stick. Some manufacturers make bandage tape which strongly resembles plaster, and a sticking plaster could also be said to be “plastered” over a wound to cover it.
The basic design of the sticking plaster was developed in the early twentieth century. It represented a sizable improvement over cumbersome gauze and bandage tape. The sticking plaster is also highly convenient, since it is ready for use, and the only thing a consumer needs to do is select the right size.
This is all new to me. I always took it to mean the cop, "Blue shirt ballet master" in charge of the "show" or ballet of life on the street, representing the law, and is point man for the city government, which is supposed to represent protection and care of the people, is yet clumsy, graceless and ineffective in carrying out that aim faced with the woman in need. "Feet in sticking plaster" he's hamstrung and unable to carry out the simpliest act of kindness, as it is outside his job description. This "band aid" explanation plays in beautifully with what we all have known as the genius of Ian's wordsmithing and double entendre. Then again I could be entirely wrong! Darin Cody
We also call them "band-aids" here but I think when when we make up a dressing from scratch we use "sticking plaster" from a roll.
So I always understood what sticking plaster was. I think IA has contrasted the ethereal image of the policeman at work ("ballet master") with the mundane reality of everyday - he might be in theory a "ballet master" in his mind, but in reality, his feet hurt!
This is all new to me. I always took it to mean the cop, "Blue shirt ballet master" in charge of the "show" or ballet of life on the street, representing the law, and is point man for the city government, which is supposed to represent protection and care of the people, is yet clumsy, graceless and ineffective in carrying out that aim faced with the woman in need. "Feet in sticking plaster" he's hamstrung and unable to carry out the simpliest act of kindness, as it is outside his job description. This "band aid" explanation plays in beautifully with what we all have known as the genius of Ian's wordsmithing and double entendre. Then again I could be entirely wrong! Darin Cody
The line "blue shirt ballet master" refers to the cop directing the dance which occurs in the title "Crash Barrier Waltzer". This is further enhanced in the line "strange pas-de-deux/his Romeo to her Juliet" (a "pas-de-deux" is a dancing duet in ballet, and Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet" was scored for ballet by Sergei Prokofiev). So Ian here is describing the interactions between himself and the old lady and the policeman in the form of an odd, late-night dance. Powerful imagery.
P.S. Darrin, you offer an excellent analogy, and no, you are not wrong at all. "Feet in sticking plaster" is a double entendre for the policeman's bandaged sore feet from walking a beat, and his immoveable and pitiless stance ("sticking plaster" in its underlying meaning like "cement shoes"). He "moves the old lady on" but he himself remains behind like a merciless rock to castigate the main character (Ian) about his "do-good overkill".
And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George, who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision...
This is all new to me. I always took it to mean the cop, "Blue shirt ballet master" in charge of the "show" or ballet of life on the street, representing the law, and is point man for the city government, which is supposed to represent protection and care of the people, is yet clumsy, graceless and ineffective in carrying out that aim faced with the woman in need. "Feet in sticking plaster" he's hamstrung and unable to carry out the simpliest act of kindness, as it is outside his job description. This "band aid" explanation plays in beautifully with what we all have known as the genius of Ian's wordsmithing and double entendre. Then again I could be entirely wrong! Darin Cody
The line "blue shirt ballet master" refers to the cop directing the dance which occurs in the title "Crash Barrier Waltzer". This is further enhanced in the line "strange pas-de-deux/his Romeo to her Juliet" (a "pas-de-deux" is a dancing duet in ballet, and Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet" was scored for ballet by Sergei Prokofiev). So Ian here is describing the interactions between himself and the old lady and the policeman in the form of an odd, late-night dance. Powerful imagery.
P.S. Darrin, you offer an excellent analogy, and no, you are not wrong at all. "Feet in sticking plaster" is a double entendre for the policeman's bandaged sore feet from walking a beat, and his immoveable and pitiless stance ("sticking plaster" in its underlying meaning like "cement shoes"). He "moves the old lady on" but he himself remains behind like a merciless rock to castigate the main character (Ian) about his "do-good overkill".
Darin I like your perspective and Greg I think you have summed it up quite well. Thanks guys
The line "blue shirt ballet master" refers to the cop directing the dance which occurs in the title "Crash Barrier Waltzer". This is further enhanced in the line "strange pas-de-deux/his Romeo to her Juliet" (a "pas-de-deux" is a dancing duet in ballet, and Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet" was scored for ballet by Sergei Prokofiev). So Ian here is describing the interactions between himself and the old lady and the policeman in the form of an odd, late-night dance. Powerful imagery.
P.S. Darrin, you offer an excellent analogy, and no, you are not wrong at all. "Feet in sticking plaster" is a double entendre for the policeman's bandaged sore feet from walking a beat, and his immoveable and pitiless stance ("sticking plaster" in its underlying meaning like "cement shoes"). He "moves the old lady on" but he himself remains behind like a merciless rock to castigate the main character (Ian) about his "do-good overkill".
Darin I like your perspective and Greg I think you have summed it up quite well. Thanks guys
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