The phrase appears in an episode of “The Odd Couple,” which aired on 16
Feb 1973, title: “My Strife in Court.” If not the origin, this is certainly
when the phrase went mainstream.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0405b&L=ads-l&P=7605

Perhaps its origin was in the original film made in 1968 with Lemmon and Matthau. The TV series came later with Jack Klugman and…??? memory escapes me.

Oh, Mike – you are an old pessimist…….:(

I’ve just seen the score…………………so I might have to re-phrase my last comment!

I can’t remember whether it was Jimmy Edwards or Benny Hill ( I think it was the latter) but one of them once said Never assume because when you assume you make an ass out of U and me:D

Very apt. Wasn’t it Jack Lemmon in the Odd Couple?

Oh dear here we go again: 1 test so-so, 1 win and lose three. Why is it Britain is so good at giving the sports to the rest of the world and then being soundly thrashed at them? Rugby, football, cricket you name it there doesn’t seem to be any sport we are consistent in unless it is consistently losing.

Oh, Mike – you are an old pessimist…….:(

Yes, but there have been, and will continue to be, times when the moderating team interpret the Code of Conduct differently. The moderators then are forced to resort to the ‘company’ line of telling us to talk to the webmaster. There have been many occasions across all these boards when enquiries to the webmaster elicit not even the courtesy of a response let alone action.

For me, one of the questions remaining contentious is the webmaster. Are they there purely as an IT consultant? Running the day to day technicalities of operating a site such as this? Or are they the final arbitrator and decision maker regarding the content of threads? I think the webmaster should be an identifiable entity we can relate to as members as well as one who interacts more fully with the moderating team during times of crisis.

Regards,

kev35

Well here’s another, probably contentious thought.

Surely Moderators could be seen as old-style umpires and referees who made their decision, which was duly accepted, even though the injured party felt hard done by.

I cannot believe that, in the overall scheme of things, contributions need to be arbitrated by a “third party” in the manner of modern cricket or rugby. I enjoy these threads and the multitude of interesting and valuable comment but I cannot honestly admit to losing too much sleep if my post was censored or my wrist was slapped.

But perhaps for others here it is that important and their grievances are too great to be appeased.

Hmm… Anyway, speaking of self-moderation we already have a thread discussing such matters, so let’s leave this one be. 😉

Paul

To which I have been contributing but to little effect, self-moderation not seemingly anything of great relevance, so I’ll creep away from both.:D

Eh? Assume is the crucial word. Assumption and fact are two very different things, that’s the only point I’m making.

Paul

And that’s how I read it and therefore drew the inference that the majority may not have the intelligence to self-moderate responsibly.

Yup, so the match is perfectly poised for nail-biting pair of 2nd innings.