# Sherbet The Herbet



## gonzalo attenborough

He don't need no ironing board to *SHERBET THE HERBET*. Si alguien me puede dar una mano, porque ando perdidisimo.


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## alexacohen

Sherbet, que yo sepa, es un sorbete.
Con el resto ando tan perdida como tú.


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## mariposita

No tengo ninguna idea de lo que significa, pero sé que debería ser: sherbe(r)t to Herbe*r*t.

Sherbe(r)t es un tipo de helado (parecido al sorbete--¡No es un verbo!)
Herbert es un nombre masculino.

Buscando en google, encontré unas referencias a otra expresión parecida: *ship the sherbert to Herbert*. Parece que es lo que dicen unos jugadores de póquer cuando ganan el bote. Es una especie de fanfarronería que significa "dáme el dinero" (otra es *give the bread to Fred*).

http://internetpokerpro.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_archive.html

Espero que te ayude un poco...


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## Txiri

If mariposita's idea about poker doesn't apply, this might be an example of "cockney rhyming slang". 

"In this list of example Cockney slang for parts of the body, you'll notice that some expressions omit the rhyming word but others do not.
English   Rhymes with     Cockney
Feet       Plates of meat   Plates
Teeth      Hampstead Heath   Hampsteads
Legs       Scotch eggs    Scotches
Eyes       Mince pies     Minces
Arms      Chalk Farms   Chalk Farms
Hair       Barnet Fair     Barnet
Head     Loaf of bread   Loaf
Face      Boat race       Boat race
Mouth    North and south   North and south"


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## gonzalo attenborough

Seguimos sin poder dar con el significado, pero les agradezco el esfuerzo puesto, que bien nos vendria una/un ingles para iluminarnos.


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## alexacohen

Gonzalo, ¿es parte de una frase más larga?


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## gonzalo attenborough

Honestamente no lo sé. Creo que un ingles nos podra sacar de la duda. Igual muchas gracias


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## alexacohen

Gonzalo, yo creo que Txiri tiene razón y es una rima Cockney.
Garden Gate is slang for Mate 
Hit And Miss is slang for Kiss
Teapot Lid is slang for Kid 
Cheese And Kisses is slang for Missus

I got those from a friend. However, he doesn't know them all.


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## alexacohen

La verdad es que no, Gonzalo. Mi imaginación no da para tanto. Las únicas rimas Cockney que sé lo que significan son las que te escribí, y lo sé porque me las "tradujo" Robert, un amigo.  Para mí son totalmente indescifrables. Lo siento de veras.


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## gonzalo attenborough

Figurate Alexacohen. Estuviste genial, muchas gracias de verdad.


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## Txiri

Ahora, Gonzalo, ¿por qué no poner el trasfondo de la pregunta?  ¿dónde la encontraste?  ¿en qué contexto?  ¿qué venía antes y después?


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## gonzalo attenborough

No me acuerdo Txiri el contexto, lo saqué sí de alguna serie de la BBC. 

Este enlace me lo pasó alexacohen. Capaz que a vos te ilumina....??


http://www.fizzyfunnyfuzzy.com/showpoem.php?poemID=71


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## Txiri

Pues sí, pero no voy yo a adoptar la frase en mi propio léxico ...

Cuando comes el helado muy rápido, te puede dar un dolor dolorosísimo de cabeza. Sabes lo que digo. Un brain freeze.   Ergo:  que se te para el funcionamiento intelectual.

Pero no veo la conexión con "ironing board".

Repito: si vas a insistir, nosotros vamos a insistir, pero por favor, ¿en qué serie de la BBC? ¿programa de noticias? ¿comedia? si es un programa de televisión, ¿qué tipo? ¿por qué hace falta arrancarte la información?

Puntualización: es posible ... posible, eh? que "sherbet" alude a un homosexual. 

Miré en el Urban dictionary y nada viene al caso. No hay nada en el internet que viene al caso. Si realmente quieres saberlo, tendrás que cooperar más en la indagación. Explicar el CONTEXTO


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## Chris K

Could it be "heat the sheet"?


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## Txiri

Chris K said:


> Could it be "heat the sheet"?


 
Chris, sabes de mucho ... ¿puedes explicar lo de heat the sheet?


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## Moritzchen

Well, there´s a kid´s poem called Sherbet the Herbet:

_Herbet loves his sherbet when it fizzes on his tongue,_
_Like a million minute people celebrating with a song!_
_But Herbet loves it too much and he gulps it far too quick,_
_So it oozes from his ears and nose and leaves him feeling sick!_

But where would the ironing board fit into it?


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## Chris K

Txiri said:


> Chris, sabes de mucho ... ¿puedes explicar lo de heat the sheet?



Just a hunch, guessing that it's some kind of rhyming slang, with the addition of a spoonerism (reversal of initial sounds) : heat the sheet --> sheet the heat --> sherbert the herbert.

It would make sense, if you were talking about someone who was good in bed, to say that he didn't need to use an iron to get the sheets hot.


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## Txiri

Ahhhh ha!  maybe so, mebbe so ...

Now if we could just get Gonzalo to tell us if that´s what the thing is. 

If you´re right-- and I think you´ve solved the puzzle-- it might indeed be cockney rhyming slang, (although it does vary a little from the examples we found), but the most encouraging thing of all ...!  is that it makes sense.


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## loladamore

Sherbert, from "sherbert dab" is cockney rhyming slang for taxi cab, but I don't think that's particularly relevant here. Sherbert (a white powder) is also slang for cocaine. There are some popular culture references (British TV programmes) here. Ring any bells?


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## alexacohen

> Originally Posted by *Txiri*
> If you´re right-- and I think you´ve solved the puzzle-- it might indeed be cockney rhyming slang, (although it does vary a little from the examples we found), but the most encouraging thing of all ...! is that it makes sense.


Yes it does. Maybe we should start a new dictionary, Cockney-English, English-Cockney.
I'm completely lost with the logic. Sounds Ok once someone explains... but explanation *is* needed!


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## Txiri

Maybe what´s needed here is some cultural background on cockney rhyming slang. (You can find glossaries on the internet). I heard about it a couple of years ago, from a colleague who had lived in Ireland a while. 

All I can say about its logic is that ... like other types of "caló", it seeks to communicate by disguising itself. It does obey certain rules, and with rhyming, and knowing how common something like Hampstead Heaths are ... which I would not ... then it becomes a de facto game of rules for disguising meaning.

I picked the word "el pestañí" out of one of the films in the Trilogy of Carlos Saura, as a gypsy word for cops. Pestañas and eyes and being on the lookout ... that´s the same general type of caló that disguises itself.


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## Moritzchen

But this part of the sentence: _He don't need no ironing board..._ is it cockney speak?  Because it sounds a lot like bad American English.


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## alexacohen

Txiri said:


> All I can say about its logic is that ... like other types of "caló", it seeks to communicate by disguising itself. It does obey certain rules, and with rhyming, and knowing how common something like Hampstead Heaths are ... which I would not ... then it becomes a de facto game of rules for disguising meaning.
> I picked the word "el pestañi" out of one of the films in the Trilogy of Carlos Saura, as a gypsy word for cops. Pestañas and eyes and being on the lookout ... that´s the same general type of caló that disguises itself.


Oh, sorry, Txiri, it's my fault. I'm not any good with slang. I never understood caló either.


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## Txiri

It´s not your "fault", it´s just one of those really strange unusual wonderful ways language functions.  When lolademore comes back, hopefully she will enlighten us a little on cockney rhyming slang.


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## E180

Txiri said:


> All I can say about its logic is that ... like other types of "caló", it seeks to communicate by disguising itself. It does obey certain rules, and with rhyming, and knowing how common something like Hampstead Heaths are ... which I would not ... then it becomes a de facto game of rules for disguising meaning.


I'm not from London or a Cockney, but there are a few Cockney rhyming slang words and expressions that are of common usage in most parts of the UK. Based on the ones I know, the slang (or at least the simple version) works like this...

Take a short phrase (usually two words, and can be absolutely anything) and rhyme the last word of the phrase with another word. For example: 

Barnet fair > hair
Then take out the "fair" part and use "Barnet" to mean "hair".

Another example: China plate > mate .... china = mate
So: "Nice barnet, me old china!" = "Nice haircut, my old friend!"

It probably gets more complicated than that, but that's about as much as I know about it.


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## E180

Looking on the web, its seems the original phrase was "*He don't mean no ironing board, or Sherbert the Herbert*". Here's the rest of the quote:

_He's push and pull. He's a carrier. A shuttle pigeon. A ming and a mong. He's  boomshakalak to the boomshakalak. Moose, he's a goose. He's a sucky, not a  chewy. He phones home. He's saggy, yeah? He likes Paxton's toasted sandwich. He  cries freedom. *He don't mean no ironing board, or Sherbert the Herbert*. What  more can I say? He's eggy bread.

_It comes from a BBC comedy series from the late 90's called "Rock Profile" (sounds good but I must have missed it) which basically just took the piss out of various rock stars. The above monologue comes from the episode about the Happy Mondays (a famous British group from Manchester, where cockney ryhming slang is a foreign language) and is said by the character who plays the group's singer, Shaun Ryder, who is (or at least was) a drug addict well-known for his nonsensical but sometimes strangely profound, gobbledegook lyrics. So to sum up, "_*He don't mean no ironing board, or Sherbert the Herbert*", _probably doesn't mean anything at all, it's just immitating in a humorous way the lyrical style of the abovementioned singer. That's what I think, anyway.


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## Txiri

You´re amazing, E.  I looked on the web, and couldn´t find anything.  Could we trouble you to post the link?

Thanks for the comment.  It´s rather nice to know we weren´t all completely crazy.


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## E180

Hi Txiri (thanks for the "amazing" comment ). Here is the link to the page about the series:

imdb.com/title/tt0220931/usercomments
I still can't put proper links so you'll have to copy and paste it. 

And here is where I found the rest of the quote, someone wrote it in a forum:
forumplanet.com/planetbaldursgate/topic.asp?fid=2355&tid=1861466&p=544

Saludos


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## loladamore

Moritzchen said:


> But this part of the sentence: _He don't need no ironing board..._ is it cockney speak? Because it sounds a lot like bad American English.


Bad AE and bad BE have quite a lot in common - non-standard forms are international. We don't need no education, either, whether we're cockneys or Mancs.



E180 said:


> Looking on the web, its seems the original phrase was "*He don't mean no ironing board, or Sherbert the Herbert*". Here's the rest of the quote:
> [...]
> The above monologue comes from the episode about the Happy Mondays (a famous British group from Manchester, where cockney ryhming slang is a foreign language) and is said by the character who plays the group's singer, Shaun Ryder, who is (or at least was) a drug addict well-known for his nonsensical but sometimes strangely profound, gobbledegook lyrics. So to sum up, "_*He don't mean no ironing board, or Sherbert the Herbert*", _probably doesn't mean anything at all, it's just immitating in a humorous way the lyrical style of the abovementioned singer. That's what I think, anyway.


 
Well, twist my melons! Well done E180 (rubine?). Nice skit, and quite close to the mark, if you compare the pseudo lyrics with some of the Mondays' genuine lyrics, such as: "Stay away from the peppermint twist Where the Humpty Humpers meet".

Talking of 24 hour party people, RIP Tony Wilson.


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## alexacohen

Loladamore, after reading your post, I've decided I'll go back to reading Shakespeare. Far easier to understand!


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## gonzalo attenborough

Needless to say, you were -everyone-very helpful. I'm sure i writted this sentence down from a bbc's series, which one? don't remember but  it has to be a comedy. 

Getting to the point.  Sherbert the herbert does it means heat the sheet or horny? to put it mildly. So does it a figure of speech? At this point i think i can forget the spanish translation.

Thank you very much indeed


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## alexacohen

E180 says it probaly means nothing at all. It doesn't mean anything to me. 
Just like Supercalifragilisticexpialidosous.


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## gonzalo attenborough

Getting so close to the idea E180 tell us that it means nothing. i didn't even writted down properly.I'm awfully sorry. Shame, doesn't it?


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## Moritzchen

Gonzalo, por favor no te lo tomes a mal, pero antes de Sherbet the Herbet, dale una miradita a esto.


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## E180

Gonzalo, Alexa tiene razón, a mí me parece que no significa nada esa frase, sólo está imitando en plan cómico al cantante del grupo mencionado arriba. Ese tío (Shaun Ryder) escribe letras que muchas veces no tienen mucho o ningún sentido [ejemplo: uno de sus discos se llamaba: *Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)*], aunque suelen tener cierto algo.



			
				loladamore said:
			
		

> Well, twist my melons! Well done E180 (rubine?).


No, a blank video cassette , but I'll give them a twist if you like (just kidding!).


			
				loladamore said:
			
		

> Nice skit, and quite close to the mark, if you compare the pseudo lyrics with some of the Mondays' genuine lyrics, such as: "Stay away from the peppermint twist Where the Humpty Humpers meet".


I agree, it's a funny and pretty clever skit. _He's saggy, yeah? _made me laugh.


			
				loladamore said:
			
		

> Talking of 24 hour party people, RIP Tony Wilson.


Yeah, RIP, he was a good guy.


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## gonzalo attenborough

As i said thank you for your invested time. 

Moritchen tenes razón un error imperdonable. Que te puedo decir que son casi las 4 de la mañana y mientras ando por aca, cafe for medio laburo sobre una tesis. No, no tengo perdon, a la fosa de los leones ya.


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## Txiri

ay, Gonzalo, para qué afligirte ... la verdad es que ha sido un viaje de descubrimiento para todos que han participado


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## loladamore

gonzalo attenborough said:


> I'm sure i writted this sentence down from a bbc's series, which one? don't remember but it has to be a comedy.


Como ya dijo E180, viene de la serie llamada Rock Profile que salía en BBC2 (mira). Parece ser que el programa aludido, sobre The Happy Mondays, fue el capítulo 14.
Qué hilo tan genial... Lamento no haber podido ilustrarles sobre _cockney rhyming slang_, pero ahí les va un vínculo a una rola de los Mondays, cuyo lenguaje (des)afortunadamente hablo, en la que cantan la inmortal línea "You're twistin' my melon, man".

Saludos.


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## gonzalo attenborough

Les agradezco infinitamente, espero que el  futuro mis preguntas vengan atentidas por gente como ustedes. Unos fenómenos todos.


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