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English Vocabulary


dry stone wall

AhQ ['a: kiu]
User since 2006
Posts: 2715

21 July 2007

I have received a postcard from friends being on vacation in Wales. The picture shows sheep looking down at tourists sitting at the foot of a stone wall. It is raining. The tourists say: "Why they call it a dry stone wall is beyond me... I'm soaked"
I suppose that the stone are not dry as it is raining, they are wet.
But the expression "dry stone wall" appears in a lot of web sites, sometimes as "dry stone walling association" or "dry stone wall festival of music".
I would be grateful to anyone who would be so kind as teaching me about it, for I can't make up my mind at reading those websites.

6 comments

  • User since 2006
    Posts: 41

    23 July 2007

    Even in French we say « un mur de pierres sèches ». A dry stone wall is a wall made of dry stones. That means it’s built with stones and only stones. The stones stay up without any cement, and concrete neither. Only lizards between the stones. When it’s raining it turns into a stone drag for them. They do prefer to bum in the sun. The vacationers as well. I guess, but still.
  • User since 2006
    Posts: 2715

    24 July 2007

    I had been walking along "dry stone walls" without knowing they were.
    At some point in my life, I had seen swiftly crawling lizards without being aware they were "bumming" around.
    If it is a "drag" for a lizard to be forced to take shelter into a dry stone wall, it was not a drag to me to learn more about three new expressions in a so pretty way.
    Thanks you for your time, Jean-Pierre.
  • User since 2007
    Posts: 86

    26 July 2007

    Not many lizards in Wales, I fear!
  • User since 2006
    Posts: 2715

    27 July 2007

    Mind you if I interfere?
    Helen's statement got me into a sleepless night. Why wouldn't it be lizards in Wales since there are dry stone walls as well?
    I got up in the middle of the night and sent a request by mail to relatives of mine living in Abergaverny, Wales.
    This afternoon I got their answer in French even though my request had been written in sheer GymGlish English. Here is an excerpt as it writes with some mistakes but I'm still amazed that they can write French that way.


    "Il y a trois genre de lezard au Pays de Galles - le lezard commun, le lezard de sable et l'orvet, mais tristement, ils deviennent rare."


    For non-French possible readers, I translate so:
    There are three species of lizard in Wales - the common lizard, the sand lizard and the slow worm, but sadly, they become scarce.
    Scarce or rare? What's the best?


    So, Helen, next time you go to Wales, watch out for lizards.
  • User since 2007
    Posts: 1

    6 Aug. 2007

    hi i just want to know the meaning of peace out please
  • User since 2006
    Posts: 2715

    9 Aug. 2007

    Paguy Mwewa, Paguy Mwewa, Paguy Mwewa... The Guardian Angel calling.
    You are flying there right inside "the dry stone wall" airway.
    To get the "peace out" destination you should have clicked on the link "Add new topic".
    As I know that you probably won't be able to change your heading, here is the information you requested.


    “Peace on earth, goodwill to all men.”
    That’s a tune that’s coming back at every Christmas cheering.
    Peace?
    To be at peace, to live in peace, to make peace, … that’s what any proficient security officer endeavours to carry out.
    Out?
    A conversation can be said “out”, as it is “over”, as it is finished.
    In a two-way radio communication, speakers have to broadcast in turns because, if two radio sets are transmitting at the same time, the carrier waves get in a mixture without any meaningful shape. As a speaker wants to leave the floor to the other, the standard phraseology stipulates that the message ends with "over". As the conversation comes to an end, the last word broadcast is "out".
    "Peace out" is like saying "Be at peace + See you later"


    Willy, the security guard, is used to taking leave of the forum guests with a "Peace out!"
    It’s an American slang expression to friendly say goodbye. It has already been used for half a century.
    If you feel deeply American in the bottom of your heart, say "Peace out!" when leaving.


    Read more at http://www.englishdaily626.com/slang.php?089


    Peace out and good will to all men on earth as it is in heaven.(*)
    The Guardian Angel


    (*) If you don't believe in anything, just say "Peace out!"

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