Tuesday, October 18, 2005

A cup of tea, a Bex, and a good lie down


Some Enchanted Evening, originally uploaded by starbexxx.

See, see! See what I have won from ebay! What a perfect evening this program promises -- I can think of nothing better than a cup of tea, a good lie down and me.

The question, of course, is what do I do with this?
Perhaps if I ever become an escort, I could use it as my ad in the back of the Village Voice.

I'm trying to figure out what "A cup of tea, a Bex, and a good lie down" means.

Apparently, Phillip Adams, a broadcaster, film-maker and writer claimed that Australia was "built on a cup of tea, a Bex, and a good lie-down."

Ah-ha! It's oldfangled dinkum Australian slang, the Aussie equivalent of "Take a chill pill." Check it:
Language is dynamic and consequently expressions that are widely accepted and commonplace for one generation will disappear when circumstances change. No one today talks about "a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down" partly because Bex (a form of powdered aspirin) does not enjoy the popularity it did in the 1950s.

See? They used to prescribe Bex as a cure for "nervous tension". Teehee. That's a silly, silly idea. I cause nervous tension, I don't alleviate it.

And, oh no! The Bex-taking Aussie ladies developed kidney failure!

Oh, dear. Perhaps that explains why I was so unpopular in grade school.

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