Liveblogging a BrE language puzzle
Exchange from a Doctor Who audio adventure:
Character: You took the package from me when you helped me up!
Doctor: Well, when opportunity knocks...
Evelyn: Such a tea leaf!
Doctor: Full-bodied but full of flavor! Ha ha.
It's the tea leaf/full-bodied bit that interests me. I think it's a cute joke in which the Doctor compares himself and his physique to characteristics traditionally attributed to tea. What I don't understand is the reference that prompted it, Evelyn apparently calling the Doctor a "tea leaf." What does that mean? The action that prompted her name-calling was the Doctor being rather devious. By googling, I found one usage that's probably similar: "snotty tea-leaf national reporters" in a tirade from a local journalist in the UK who had his work plagiarized. So it might be something to do with stealing, but I still don't see what that has to do with tea.
Ah, Urban Dictionary helped me out. It's rhyming slang, so it doesn't have to actually have anything to do with tea. It's that "leaf" rhymes with "thief." Such an odd linguistic tradition! (Though probably not the oddest.)
The Sixth Doctor is up against a race of creatures with acutely color-sensitive eyesight. His coat gives them migraines. Snerk.
Character: You took the package from me when you helped me up!
Doctor: Well, when opportunity knocks...
Evelyn: Such a tea leaf!
Doctor: Full-bodied but full of flavor! Ha ha.
It's the tea leaf/full-bodied bit that interests me. I think it's a cute joke in which the Doctor compares himself and his physique to characteristics traditionally attributed to tea. What I don't understand is the reference that prompted it, Evelyn apparently calling the Doctor a "tea leaf." What does that mean? The action that prompted her name-calling was the Doctor being rather devious. By googling, I found one usage that's probably similar: "snotty tea-leaf national reporters" in a tirade from a local journalist in the UK who had his work plagiarized. So it might be something to do with stealing, but I still don't see what that has to do with tea.
Ah, Urban Dictionary helped me out. It's rhyming slang, so it doesn't have to actually have anything to do with tea. It's that "leaf" rhymes with "thief." Such an odd linguistic tradition! (Though probably not the oddest.)
The Sixth Doctor is up against a race of creatures with acutely color-sensitive eyesight. His coat gives them migraines. Snerk.
