…you see a plant named Hairy Spinifex and your immediate thought is: TMFTL
How about you?
http://i.imgur.com/3DNu5F3.jpg
You Know You’ve Been On The Afterword Too Long When…
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
Hairy Spinifex. I see them as a cross between the Edgar Broughton Band and Hendrix. With a touch of Free thrown in.
I remember Hairy as the drummer in the heavy folk-metal band Rancid Groin. Real name Stewie Thruppence, he quit the band midway through their 1972 tour of Norway to become the Blues correspondent on the magazine Jackie. Now works as an investment banker at Mutter Slater.
I think I saw Rancid supporting Crispy Ambulance at Bickershaw ’82
Hairy Spinifex was the roadie for “The Oort Cloud” at a mushroom eater’s festival in 1979.
Three More From Them Later is really a glorious subset of Douglas Adams/John Lloyd’s (and the earlier Paul Jennings) work, where place names become the word for something that has no name.
Problem is, everywhere I look is TMFTL. On the desk I’m working at, for example.
Opinel – French band, somewhat overshadowed by Air.
Wacom Bamboo – Noise-terrorist Japanese duo, label mates of Sunn (((o))).
Pentel Chubby – lost Mississippi bluesman.
Humbrol 96 Tinlet – sort of skiffley acousto-racket, heard once on ‘Loose Ends’, never heard of again.
I love TMFTL, but it has taken over large chunks of my brain.
Sadly, I believe Pentel Chubby was ripped off comprehensively by Led Zeppelin and died penniless, a hopeless alcoholic
actually if you look at the second pressing of In Through The Out Door, Pentel Chubby gets a writing credit for In The Evening
Chubby’s grandson Sharpie Chisel Tip will no doubt be glad of the royalties.
Some more plant-based TMFTL.
Lady’s Bedstraw – slightly twee 1960s acoustic band. Two of the band left to form Bird’s-Foot Trefoil.
Bastard Toadflax – one of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
Nah, Humbrol 96 Tinlet has to be a Half Man Half Biscuit song.
Humbrol paints and their colour names have cropped up in HMHB songs in the past. Fix It So She Dreams Of Me, on 90 Bisodol (Crimmond) includes the lines
“She in signal red
Me in drab olive
We made our way from Loggerheads to Hope”
Whilst I, Trog on Some Call It Godcore contains the line
“Swiss Army knife and every shade of Humbrol”
There may be others…
John Shuttleworth’s the sort of writer who’d do a song about small tins of paint;
*fires up the small Yamaha keyboard – bip-bip-parp*
The lady two doors down jogs past, she moved up here from Essex,
Correctly dressed in running shoes, and socks, and shorts and singlet,
But I’m a stay at home type, making models like this Wessex,
Correctly painted yellow and blue, from a Humbrol 96 tinlet’
*keyboard grinds to a halt*
‘Ooof, I think I’ve got a stray hair from me paintbrush in the RAF Blue Grey, Ken’.
That was rather wonderful, GCU. Have an Up.
We certainly can’t go back to savoury now.
Indeed, GCU’s post was worth reading for the word ‘tinlet’ alone.
*bows*
‘worth reading for word tinlet alone’. T-shirt.
When Paul Jennings (the original one, not the Aussie Bruce-come-lately) gets a namecheck it makes my day. Cheers, GCU.
You know you’ve been too long on the Afterword when…you must post about someone at work, attempting a lunchtime general knowledge crossword, who guesses “John Lennon” when the clue is about a Russian composer in 1936.
Good old Pik, he always was a bit lacking on the General Knowledge front.
Sorry Mr Fox, you’ve lost me…
…when someone posts an obvious TMFTL and you think “yes” and then go “nah, nobody will acknowledge my brilliant insight”.
*recalls previous bitter disappointments*
Wholemeal Bap. A funky folktronica trio. Schoolfriends from Bridport.
USB Dongle. Reclusive DJ/Mixer/producer from Hunstanton.
USB Dongle. Oh dear. Just sprayed coffee on keyboard.
“gloomy denouement”
This morning’s TMFTL.
…you’re watching Pointless and to the question “which trio contained Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb and Maurice Gibb?” the teenage contestant tentatively ventures “er, the Gibson Boys?” After you’ve dried your eyes and soothed your aching sides, you simply can’t wait to share the mirth with your Afterword chums.
But then you hesitate when you remember that some of the younger AW members get a bit sniffy about such elitism.
Yes, some of us are only in our mid-50s dontcha know.
And I believe there are those who don’t believe some music is “important”
You dread another lengthy list from duco, in the certain knowledge that it will trigger a slew of rash purchasing from the tax avoiding scumbags.
You receive an EPK from a booking agent including
“playing songs by The Beetels, Bryan Adam’s and the Roling Stones”
and can’t wait to post it, knowing how much mirth it will provide.
You are in the supermarket and you see the Fray Bentos pies and have a chuckle to yourself. Happened about an hour ago!
TMFTL. The IT business is full of third-grade prog bands. Currently on my desk “The ICS Project” , “The MR Protocol” and “Strange Orchestration”. I often say TMFTL to the utter bemusement and blank looks of my colleagues even when I try to explain it. Humourless gits.
When you add ‘Hurrr’ to an e-mail at work, and nobody knows what you’re on about.
See also: arf.
Although I believe “arf” originated as a Zappa meme
…when only the export-only b-side will do.
When you refer to anyone as: the [insert name of song] Hitmakers
When you can name at least one NWOBHM song…ideally by Trespass.
The viral campaign will continue!
I’ve told this before, but my most memorable TMFTL moment was when I had a dream where somebody mid-sentence uttered (as people do in dreams) the phrase “margarine nail” and I woke up just long enough to mutter to myself “Three More From Them Later!” and fell asleep again after a chuckle.
Margarine Nail – definitely prog.
Actually, I think margarine nail comes from an early draft of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds: margarine nails and marmalade skies…
The final version was definitely an improvement.
When your better half knows the names of regular correspondents without having visited the site.
You still try and think of band mash-ups in remeberance of an age old ‘Band Mash-up’ thread that ran to 2000 entries.
Things like:
‘The Beverly Sisters Of Mercy’
‘Yes Club 7’
‘Steely Daniel O’Donnell’
etc
Vinlies. I never even called them vinyls either.
Vinyls? Who would call them vinyls…
Can’t get enough of them “pop vinyls”
And if you can’t decide what to buy, one of our Christian Brothers will be more than happy to demonstrate how to get the best out of your ancient seven inch.
So Lego is now collectable? And what the hell is “Cosplay”?
I think it involves wearing your underpants outside your trousers.
Dressing up as your favourite superhero. It’s a thing.
I’m really out of touch
Lego collectors will play serious amounts of money for rare box sets like the Harry Potter series. Far too expensive for children. Sell your vinyls and invest in a few of those.
Imagine Roy Wood’s biggest hit had been “I wish it could be Halloween every day”. The very best examples are works of art better than wot you get in that Tate Modern. Most of the free to share pics are of ladies in skimpy cozzies – here are some kids instead:
http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/JohnDetail/image_zpsnm6v8igw.jpeg
Pop Vinyls aren’t records, they’re little figurines. Here are the GoT ones:
http://popvinyls.com/funko-pop-vinyls-series/game-thrones-series/
Aw, that’s ruined everything. You’re taking us into uncharted waters now mini.
What?
I yam disgustipated.
Popvinlys, surely.
Some Afterword friendly Pop Vinlys, yesterday.
http://i1058.photobucket.com/albums/t407/maggieloveshopey/amy_zpssm2ye4pw.jpg