What does Pretty Polly mean?

Alinestra Covelia · August 13, 2003, 14:27

Discuss.

Oerdin · August 13, 2003, 14:31

It means the bird's name is polly and she is a pretty bird.

SlowwHand · August 13, 2003, 14:32

Pretty dumbass thread, wouldn't you say ?

ONLY joking.

Alinestra Covelia · August 13, 2003, 14:32

I have heard it used in different situations. A Clockwork Orange and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy both have it used in different ways than the bird definition.

chequita guevara · August 13, 2003, 14:49

A Pretty Polly is a woman. Specific meaning is carried in context and verbal inflecton.

lord of the mark · August 13, 2003, 15:29

Quote:

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia
I have heard it used in different situations. A Clockwork Orange and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy both have it used in different ways than the bird definition.

Both of which, you will note, were novels by British authors - i believe the usage of "polly" for woman is Brit slang. Brits, please?

KrazyHorse · August 13, 2003, 15:33

Given what the average British woman looks like, it's not surprising.

FrustratedPoet · August 13, 2003, 15:40

Quote:

Originally posted by lord of the mark
i believe the usage of "polly" for woman is Brit slang. Brits, please?

I've never heard it used before. If it is Brit slang then it is very archaic.

Check this site out for more definitions of British slang than you can shake a stick at: http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/
(doesn't include Polly, btw)

Chris Wilkinson · August 13, 2003, 15:44

Doesn't ring a bell really, although I mange to come from one of the few places in the UK without an accent.

lord of the mark · August 13, 2003, 15:44

Quote:

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet

I've never heard it used before. If it is Brit slang then it is very archaic.

Tinker, Tailor was mid-70's, and Clockwork '60s IIRC, so it could be slang thats no longer used.

Any OLD brits

?

lord of the mark · August 13, 2003, 15:46

I also seem to recall that Clockwork used a lot of cockney - cockney anyone?

chequita guevara · August 13, 2003, 15:49

CO takes place in the future, so its slang is invented.

FrustratedPoet · August 13, 2003, 15:51

Yes, 80% of the slang in Clockwork Orange is totally made up - the rest is heavily modified versions of existing slang. It's part of what makes the book so excellent that it still makes perfect sense.

lord of the mark · August 13, 2003, 16:15

Quote:

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet
Yes, 80% of the slang in Clockwork Orange is totally made up - the rest is heavily modified versions of existing slang. It's part of what makes the book so excellent that it still makes perfect sense.

But the author mentions that some of the slang is "rhyming slang" which he explicitly compared to cockney rhyming slang. So given that the same use for polly also occurs in Le Carre (who may have made things up

but certainly not language) i would think this is "real" slang.

BTW - in honor of Le Carre -

5 points to whoever "gets it"

Alinestra Covelia · August 14, 2003, 00:53

Ali hsas just rertnured from a anight of the town, during the course of which she has llsto her shirt, literallyqaask and who knowss awhat else. If anybodsy has resssspondedde to the s wquqieostn in the lag trimes placesss to forgev vei.

I avhe heard teh ACO is actually in RUssains. because you have slagns such as devocthiak and orthers such as pieets and rookahs which means fist etc asnd Tinker TT S APSY is writen about RUsian spies so mayb ethat smaenas sit's sojething in RUsssains? Actehs prlsk kknx. df the precisely and sdkjfh eknk haven'tos the vefore.

FrustratedPoet · August 14, 2003, 04:36

You lost your shirt? That sounds like an interesting story.

The second paragraph kinda falls into gibberish there, though. Something about Russian spies??

Hey Ali, do you want a height-peeing contest?

lord of the mark · August 14, 2003, 09:16

Quote:

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia
Ali hsas just rertnured from a anight of the town, during the course of which she has llsto her shirt, literallyqaask and who knowss awhat else. If anybodsy has resssspondedde to the s wquqieostn in the lag trimes placesss to forgev vei.

I avhe heard teh ACO is actually in RUssains. because you have slagns such as devocthiak and orthers such as pieets and rookahs which means fist etc asnd Tinker TT S APSY is writen about RUsian spies so mayb ethat smaenas sit's sojething in RUsssains? Actehs prlsk kknx. df the precisely and sdkjfh eknk haven'tos the vefore.

Much of the slang in A Clockwork Orange is based on Russian, thats correct. Tinker is written about British spies - one of whom turns about to be a "mole" for the KGB. I wont mention who that character is, as i dont know if youve finished the novel yet. IIRC, he is NOT the one who used the phrase "pretty poly", and even if he did, there's no implication that he had absorbed Russian into his daily speech.

MikeH · August 14, 2003, 09:42

Never heard the term Polly used for girl in Brit slang.

I have a pretty friend called Polly. Some of the poly meet people met her.

Elok · August 14, 2003, 09:56

Didn't "bird" used to be British slang for girl? Maybe you could stretch from that to Polly...

MikeH · August 14, 2003, 10:03

Bird is still slang for girl. Also girlfriend as in "Nah, mate, can't come out tonight, got to see my bird"

FrustratedPoet · August 14, 2003, 10:06

"Nah, mate, can't come aht t'nite, godda see mi burd"

MikeH · August 14, 2003, 10:06

I've just got a faint suvvern twinge, I'm not C0ckney.

Drogue · August 14, 2003, 10:16

IIRC the phrase Pretty Polly comes from it being use to mean a bird, as in an actual bird, usually a parrot, being pretty. Nowadays pretty polly is just a brand of underwear.

And in A Clockwork Orange it was used to mean money IIRC.

Alinestra Covelia · August 14, 2003, 10:39

Sorry about that last post. I was slightly drunk as I wrote it. This post should have more lucidity.

Clockwork Orange seemed to have Pretty Polly mean something like "piece of ass" or something similar. There's a bit when Alex says to his droogs that if they want pretty polly, they just take it. This is after he tells them that they can have all the money and cars they want.

Pretty Polly is also the nickname of the Russian attache of cultural affairs in London in Tinker Tailor, whose actual name is Polyakov (Balyakov). The female character Caroline tells George Smiley about how she used to listen to his beautiful voice on the tapes, and she nicknamed him Pretty Polly.

Do you think Pretty Polly means anything vulgar in Russian? It would make sense if it did because ACO is so heavily based on Russian words, and it would also be a very British way of giving a double-sided nickname to somebody...

FrustratedPoet · August 14, 2003, 10:49

Quote:

There's a bit when Alex says to his droogs that if they want pretty polly, they just take it. This is after he tells them that they can have all the money and cars they want.

Like Drogue said, Pretty Polly means money in ACO. At least that's what I had always assumed. Sometimes the meaning of the phrases is rather ambiguous, though.

C0ckney · August 14, 2003, 11:45

Quote:

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet
"Nah, mate, can't come aht t'nite, godda see mi burd"

a couple of errors here. here's how that phrase should read in cockney:

"nah mate, can't come aht t'nite, gotta see the bird init"

'pretty polly' is what parrots say. doesn't mean anything else as far as i know. and clockwork orange is such bollocks isn't it.

lord of the mark · August 14, 2003, 12:50

Quote:

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia
Sorry about that last post. I was slightly drunk as I wrote it. This post should have more lucidity.

Clockwork Orange seemed to have Pretty Polly mean something like "piece of ass" or something similar. There's a bit when Alex says to his droogs that if they want pretty polly, they just take it. This is after he tells them that they can have all the money and cars they want.

Pretty Polly is also the nickname of the Russian attache of cultural affairs in London in Tinker Tailor, whose actual name is Polyakov (Balyakov). The female character Caroline tells George Smiley about how she used to listen to his beautiful voice on the tapes, and she nicknamed him Pretty Polly.

Do you think Pretty Polly means anything vulgar in Russian? It would make sense if it did because ACO is so heavily based on Russian words, and it would also be a very British way of giving a double-sided nickname to somebody...

so are you done with Tinker?

Alinestra Covelia · August 14, 2003, 21:15

Lord of the mark, yes I'm done with Tinker. So you can respond without fear of spilling the beans.

(I found the book quite hard to get through, compared to the excellent BBC TV series. That was a really good series.)

finbar · August 14, 2003, 21:21

One of the great adaptations for TV, IMHO. Because they had the courage to follow the novel's structure. I recall that Le Carre started out doing the adaptation but decided he was too close to the material.

st_swithin · August 14, 2003, 21:40

I figure it's sort of like the way Bugs Bunny pronounces the word 'moron' as 'maroon' and creates an instantly new bit of slang.

For years I wondered why dumb people should be a dark reddish brown rather than baby-sh1t green.

Aussies use the term 'bloody sepos' to describe Americans.

The etymology: Bloody Yanks -> Septic Tanks -> Bloody sepos.