mickyv wrote:Actually I’ve noticed that lately when using this phrase, he sometimes says it’s a phrase that he has popularised, rather than invented. With him being in the media, and using it so often, we can allow him the credit of bring it into common usage. (Also he uses it both about Brown & Blair, as well as Blair & Cameron.)
I actually also email him once, because I was concerned with the story he sometimes tells of being told by his father to never grapple with a chimney sweep as you end up covered in soot, which is exactly the same story/saying that Tony Benn tells about his father (!), so I asked if this was a common saying in his father’s generation, otherwise people might deduce that Tony & George are siblings ! I meant that last bit as a joke, but perhaps he took it the wrong way, as there was never an answer !
Yes the story about his mother is repeated so often, that it now very tedious to the ears, especially as he always quotes it in a respond to being accused of being anti-American, which I actually find very strange, because all this story surely demonstrates is that his, presumably Irish, (great?) grandmother, didn’t like the US either which is why she got the ship back home !
I'd noticed he'd used that term "I popularised the phrase" which was good at first, as he did really, but over time it's like he's laying claim to it as if it's an umbrella he found on a train.... "I popularised the use of this umbrella in the area of London, so therefore it's mine". I reckon the chances are that it's a well used phrase in Aberdeen, but I don't really know anyone from there, so I'm not sure.
There are plenty of people out in the world who would happily take his money to write lines for him that are fresh, genuine, and funny and I think he really should look at finding someone... and he'd be promoting productive British industry into the bargain!
Your point about his great-gran coming here is a cracker - I'd not thought about that before, haha
