What does Pretty Polly mean?

[FrustratedPoet]

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]

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]

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]

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

[MikeH]

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

[FrustratedPoet]

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

[MikeH]

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

[Drogue]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.