Friday, January 3, 2003

Letter To S.S. From Mametz Wood Comments

Rating: 2.8

I never dreamed we’d meet that day
In our old haunts down Fricourt way,
Plotting such marvellous journeys there
For jolly old “Après-la-guerre.”
...
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Robert Graves
COMMENTS
Roger Cooper 13 March 2017

In stanza 4 we read: 'Robert will learn the local bat' which obviously means here 'language' a sense not found for the word in English. Could it be, I wonder, an abbreviation for 'patois' = 'slang' or 'regional dialect of a language'? The letters p and b are phonetically related. Or could it even be a misprint for 'pat'?

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Roger Cooper 13 March 2017

In stanza 4 we read 'Robert will learn the local bat'. 'Bat' here obviously means 'language', but that sense is nowhere to be found in English. I wonder if it could be short for 'patois', with the 'p' becoming a 'b', or even a misprint for 'pat'!

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Robert Graves

Robert Graves

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