Thread: I am shite....

The marvel of calories.

Don't worry about it, mate.

It's a bunch of bollocks. Sod that.

This week you can get off the p*ss and hit the gym.


I'm buggered.

Mr Snafu...r u by any chance teasing the brit lingo??

He's all sixes and sevens anyway.

hmmmm. you got me interested so i looked it up...


The clearest evidence points to the origin of sixes and sevens in a complicated medieval dice game called "hazard." The two highest numbers on a die are, of course, five and six, and the original expression was probably "to set on cinque and sice" (from the French numerals). Anyone who tried for these numbers was regarded as taking a tremendous risk (with the possibility of "hazarding" his whole fortune). By Chaucer's time there was a play on these words, and "five and six" became "six and seven," an impossible throw of the dice. To set all at six and seven or to set the world on six and seven meant 'to risk everything': "Lat nat this wrecched wo thyn herte gnaw, But manly sette the world on six and sevene" (Don't let this wretched woe gnaw at your heart, but be a man and risk it all) (Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, c1425).

From another site, that agrees with what I thought the definition was...

I think you mean "at sixes and sevens." It is British and does mean "in a state of confusion or disorganization." (e.g., Janet was at sixes and sevens on the morning of her wedding.) I don't think I've ever heard any Americans use it.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of Slang, the expression dates from 1670 and may come from the gambling expression "set on cinque and sice," which means betting everything on throwing a five and six at dice. I don't know if I believe that, but at least it's interesting.

Originally Posted by robousy

Mr Snafu...r u by any chance teasing the brit lingo??

No.

I hang around a lot of British mates, and Aussies too.

I hear a lot of British terms and I like them.