Yep, in the Aussie vernacular, 'to come the raw prawn' is to behave despicably, the etymology of the expression escapes me, why a raw prawn? why a prawn at all? Aaah, language is a beautiful thing.
Never mind, the prawn (shrimp, ebi) in my Christmas etegami is well and truly cooked and honours our tradition of a casual summertime approach to Christmas dinner which is likely to be a barbeque featuring seafood. There are a few die-hards like the Prof who want the full disaster, the baked ham, pork, chicken and vegetables followed by some kind of stodgy dessert...dream on I say! It is hard to get excited about slaving away in the kitchen when the mercury is above 30 degrees Celsius.
All of this is merely a preamble to explain my Christmas etegami. This year I am trying a bold experiment, printing the original onto thin washi, pasting it onto cards and sending them off (my printer jams if I try to print onto cards).
I hope no one is offended that they receive a copy but I just didn't have the time or energy to do individual ones and as 'they' say "it's the thought that counts". Maybe I have 'come the raw prawn'?
Anyway, to my friends who read or follow this blog, a happy, healthy and peaceful Christmas season wherever you are and whatever the weather.
Never mind, the prawn (shrimp, ebi) in my Christmas etegami is well and truly cooked and honours our tradition of a casual summertime approach to Christmas dinner which is likely to be a barbeque featuring seafood. There are a few die-hards like the Prof who want the full disaster, the baked ham, pork, chicken and vegetables followed by some kind of stodgy dessert...dream on I say! It is hard to get excited about slaving away in the kitchen when the mercury is above 30 degrees Celsius.
All of this is merely a preamble to explain my Christmas etegami. This year I am trying a bold experiment, printing the original onto thin washi, pasting it onto cards and sending them off (my printer jams if I try to print onto cards).
I hope no one is offended that they receive a copy but I just didn't have the time or energy to do individual ones and as 'they' say "it's the thought that counts". Maybe I have 'come the raw prawn'?
Anyway, to my friends who read or follow this blog, a happy, healthy and peaceful Christmas season wherever you are and whatever the weather.
I've made my own block-print cards every Christmas for about fifteen years now. The list is over a hundred. I hand-color each one after I print it. And then of course I hand write a letter in it. It's a complete bother and everyone expects it. This year someone talked me into making a few prints and coloring them and taking the best one to a print shop for the mass-production. I feel naughty, but they say no one will know the difference.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding of 'don't come the raw prawn' is that it was used as the rationale for vomiting copiously after too much to drink, and the excuse was not accepted~
ReplyDeleteI have just moved our furniture into its winter configuration with chairs drawn up to the fire: an Australian Christmas with barbeque and salad sound so alluring (though I know it's raining now in Sydney)!
Yes Tricia, like all of these expressions I guess it has many shades of meaning and that sounds about right, perhaps vomiting copiously and using the raw prawn as an excuse, comes under the heading of behaving badly.LOL
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