May 15, 2007 11:54
17 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term
when the coster's finished jumping on his mother
English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
it's a line from the "pirates of penance", a gilber/sullivan opera
here's how it goes:
when the enterprising buglar’s not a-buglaring.
when the cut throat isn’t occupied in crime
he loves to hear the little brook a-gurgling
and listen to the merry village chime.
***when the coster's finished jumping on his mother***
he loves to lie a-basking in the sun.
take one consideration with another,
a policeman's lot is not a happy one.
what's a coster and why is he jumping on his mother? please help!
here's how it goes:
when the enterprising buglar’s not a-buglaring.
when the cut throat isn’t occupied in crime
he loves to hear the little brook a-gurgling
and listen to the merry village chime.
***when the coster's finished jumping on his mother***
he loves to lie a-basking in the sun.
take one consideration with another,
a policeman's lot is not a happy one.
what's a coster and why is he jumping on his mother? please help!
Responses
+7
4 mins
Kim Metzger
Mexico
Mexico
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
Mexico
Committed to Quality and Service
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
Works in: German to English
Related KudoZ points
:
277
Selected
when the street vendor is finished assaulting his mother
I'm not exactly sure what "jumping on" means here, but I think it means admonishing or striking.
• when the coster's finished jumping on his mother - costermongers (street vendors of fruit, fish, etc.) were sometimes rather rough characters
http://members.aol.com/gsvloc/pir_glo2.htm
• when the coster's finished jumping on his mother - costermongers (street vendors of fruit, fish, etc.) were sometimes rather rough characters
http://members.aol.com/gsvloc/pir_glo2.htm
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Rolf Klischewski, M.A.
: Yup!
1 min
|
| agree |
Ulrike Kraemer
8 mins
|
| agree |
Monika Silea
9 mins
|
| agree |
Armorel Young
: Yes. OED: "jump on - attack or criticize severely and without warning" - jumping on doesn't have to be physical, can just be verbal. (And I'd prefer "has finished" to "is finished" unless that was deliberate Cockney :-)
26 mins
|
| agree |
Tony M
: Yes, 'jupping' is just a graphic way of saying 'assaulting' or 'beating up' (for the sake of scansion); as Armorel says, it would more usually be 'has finished'
43 mins
|
| agree |
Refugio
: Ah, G&S! I remember Sylvia Fine's addition to that song: When the juvenile deinquent to the clink went..he hung his mother's picture in his cell.
3 hrs
|
| agree |
Richard Benham
: I just wonder what a "buglar" is. Some kind of brass player? I thought that was a "bugler".
5 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
4 mins
see info below
coster's finished jumping on his mother - costermongers (street vendors of fruit, fish, etc.) were sometimes rather rough characters
See this Glossary for the Pof P:
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:chcXJkePMREJ:members.ao...
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Note added at 5 mins (2007-05-15 11:59:18 GMT)
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Better here (see Act II)
http://members.aol.com/gsvloc/pir_glo2.htm
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Note added at 6 mins (2007-05-15 12:00:17 GMT)
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Another glossary:
Coster(monger)
"When a coster’s finished jumping on his mother - " One who sells fruit, vegetables or other goods from a cart, barrow or stand in the streets, especially in London. These people had a reputation for drunken and bullying habits. Coster is from the Elizabethan name costard for a kind of large English apple; a monger is a dealer in a specific commodity, such as an ironmonger.
http://www.pattersong.org/pirates_glossary.htm
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Note added at 6 mins (2007-05-15 12:01:00 GMT)
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Kim got there a second before me ....but I'm giving you links to glossaries, right:-)
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Note added at 7 mins (2007-05-15 12:02:10 GMT)
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http://www.labsoftware.com/Troupers/pirates2001/glossary_of_...
See this Glossary for the Pof P:
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:chcXJkePMREJ:members.ao...
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 mins (2007-05-15 11:59:18 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Better here (see Act II)
http://members.aol.com/gsvloc/pir_glo2.htm
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 mins (2007-05-15 12:00:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Another glossary:
Coster(monger)
"When a coster’s finished jumping on his mother - " One who sells fruit, vegetables or other goods from a cart, barrow or stand in the streets, especially in London. These people had a reputation for drunken and bullying habits. Coster is from the Elizabethan name costard for a kind of large English apple; a monger is a dealer in a specific commodity, such as an ironmonger.
http://www.pattersong.org/pirates_glossary.htm
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Note added at 6 mins (2007-05-15 12:01:00 GMT)
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Kim got there a second before me ....but I'm giving you links to glossaries, right:-)
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 mins (2007-05-15 12:02:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
http://www.labsoftware.com/Troupers/pirates2001/glossary_of_...
8 mins
6 mins
Caryl Swift
Poland
Poland
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
Poland
Related KudoZ points
:
76
coster - costermonger, a person who sold (fresh) goods in the streets (see below for more details
The costermongers were the people who sold things like fruit, vegetables, fish and meat in the streets - often, but not always from barrows.
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Note added at 11 mins (2007-05-15 12:05:52 GMT)
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One meaning of 'to jump' is to spring an attack on someone - so probably here, it means that the costermonger attacks his mother - beats her up.
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Note added at 17 mins (2007-05-15 12:11:15 GMT)
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"Although one woman told Margaret Loane in the early 1900s that she did not want to marry because "she didn't choose to be knocked about, or see her children treated bad," most women endured domestic violence whether or not they had a legal contract. (11) According to Henry Mayhew, e.g., in the 1850s and 1860s, the costermongers treated their women brutally, yet the women remained with abusive partners. Charles Booth reported several similar cases thirty years later in his study of London poverty. (12) ".
( From: http://tinyurl.com/2cz3ts )
(Henry Mayhew, quoted in the above passage, is generally considered to have been a leading authority on working-class life in the 19th century)
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Note added at 11 mins (2007-05-15 12:05:52 GMT)
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One meaning of 'to jump' is to spring an attack on someone - so probably here, it means that the costermonger attacks his mother - beats her up.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 17 mins (2007-05-15 12:11:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
"Although one woman told Margaret Loane in the early 1900s that she did not want to marry because "she didn't choose to be knocked about, or see her children treated bad," most women endured domestic violence whether or not they had a legal contract. (11) According to Henry Mayhew, e.g., in the 1850s and 1860s, the costermongers treated their women brutally, yet the women remained with abusive partners. Charles Booth reported several similar cases thirty years later in his study of London poverty. (12) ".
( From: http://tinyurl.com/2cz3ts )
(Henry Mayhew, quoted in the above passage, is generally considered to have been a leading authority on working-class life in the 19th century)
Discussion