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Lama, LLama, LLLama Ding Dong 1

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S

SkipVought

Programmer
Dec 4, 2001
47,486
US
We all know that...

a ONE 'L' lama is a Tibetan priest

a TWO 'L' lama is a camel-like Peruvian animal.

What is a THREE 'L' lama?
Code: 
[white]
A Three alama is a hel-uv-a big fire in BOSTON!
[/white]

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And I suppose "fire" is pronounced more like "fayah?"

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Pahk the cah in Hahvahd yahd

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Alcohol and Calculus do not mix!
If you drink, don't derive! [tongue][/sub]
 
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Want to know how to speak in tongues? Say the following as fast as you can:

Untie my bowtie. He bought a Hyundai. She should'a bought a Honda!

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Ok, I'm a Brit... I thought this forum was meant to be in English, I'm lost...

Rosie
"Never express yourself more clearly than you think" (Niels Bohr)
 
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Rosie,

Native New Englanders, (from the US States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut) typically have an accent that pronounces the r as ah.

Just "picture" Maassachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy saying,

Three alarmer, or

Park the car in Harvard Yard

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[red]Be advised:[/red] [glasses]
Alcohol and Calculus do not mix!
If you drink, don't derive! [tongue][/sub]
 
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Skip
Thanks for the explanation, but I'm still missing something, I guess it's just me... Dazed and confused(as usual).

Rosie
"Never express yourself more clearly than you think" (Niels Bohr)
 
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rosieb,

Say "three ell llama" out loud.

The sound you made is close to the sound a southerner makes when he tries to say "three alarmer."

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A sacrifice is harder when no one knows you've made it.
 
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And the Boston link?

Guess I'm missing some references...

(Would Lynton/Lynmouth or Aberfan mean anything to you? And I'm totally guessing at what I'm missing, so the above may be / probably are completely out of court.)

Rosie
"Never express yourself more clearly than you think" (Niels Bohr)
 
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Rosie,

Boston is a major city in Massachusetts, smack dab in the middle of New England.

As a Brit, you ought to know about, The Boston Tea Party as a precursor to the Uprising in the Colonies, Paul Revere and "one if by land, two if by sea?" Hmmmmm, maybe not.

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[red]Be advised:[/red] [glasses]
Alcohol and Calculus do not mix!
If you drink, don't derive! [tongue][/sub]
 
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Skip

Yes, I've heard of the Boston Tea Party (damn colonies getting uppity - ha! they'll come to their senses eventually [smile])

Sorry, I still don't get the joke....

Rosie
"Never express yourself more clearly than you think" (Niels Bohr)
 
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I agree Rosie. Another good example of "Two countries divided by a common language"

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Sounds to me like all this is nothing but pointing out the differences in pronounciation based on local accents. Southern accent, New England accent, Mid-western accent, etc, etc.

Good Luck
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It is a better SPOKEN joke than written.

It all started with the lama, llama homonym posting. I can't remember a slew of jokes/puns, but a word, phrase, tune, circumstance may trigger an involuntary response. Hence... (along with the title ;-))

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[red]Be advised:[/red] [glasses]
Alcohol and Calculus do not mix!
If you drink, don't derive! [tongue][/sub]
 
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I think the main problem is that three-alarmer is not a common phrase for us Brits (in fact, so uncommon that I don't think I've ever heard it before). So, whilst I managed to figure out way back on the first post that "THREE 'L' lama?" could be pronounced three-alarmer, it meant nothing at all to me, prompting a mental "eh?" response.
 
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So is everyone clear on what a "three alarmer" is?

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A sacrifice is harder when no one knows you've made it.
 
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Whilst there's enough info in this thread to mostly figure it out I also looked it up to be sure. Here, for those still in the dark, is what I learned:

"A 'three-alarmer' is the name given to a fire so big that three alarms are sounded by the local fire department
 
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I've never heard it before, even though I live in the USA. I was able to figure out the meaning reading throughout this thread, but it does not mean anything special to me, either. I don't know how many alarms are used for all other fires and I'm not that familiar with New England pronounciation specifics, even though I've been a few times to a couple of New England states.
 
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strongm,

With regard to three-alarmer: The initial alarm is answered by the company in who's district the fire has occurred.

As the fire is assulted by the answering company, if it is determined that additional help is required, another alarm is struck and a second company is called; hence a two-alarmer.

This whole thing raises the issue of regionalization and inherent problems in communication even among people sharing the same basic language.

We could continue this in the forum1256 Making an Impression Forum.

Skip,
[sub]
[red]Be advised:[/red] [glasses]
Alcohol and Calculus do not mix!
If you drink, don't derive! [tongue][/sub]
 
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I'll go out on a limb here and say that most of us are not familar with the vernacular of the Emergency Services industry. I am not at all surprised that, even here in the USA, many are not familar with the term. However, I would be shocked if you asked anyone in the Emergency Services profession and they did not know what it meant.

How many phrases do we have in the IT profession that are meaningless to those not in IT, and I'll bet that we have very common phrases that we understand, but most people have never heard of.

Good Luck
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