I also found out that this expression had a certain Irish connection. It is linked to the Blarney Stone, which is a block of bluestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, Blarney about 5 miles (8 km) from Cork, Ireland. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of the gab (great eloquence or in Irish 'solabharthact'). The stone was set into a tower of the castle in 1446. Today the castle is a popular tourist site in Ireland, attracting visitors from all over the world to kiss the Stone and tour the castle and its gardens. (Next class trip, anyone?)
The origin of this custom is unclear, though the word "blarney", meaning to coax with soft talk or to mildly deceive without offending, probably derives from the stream of unfulfilled promises of Cormac MacDermot MacCarthy to the Lord President of Munster in the late sixteenth century. Having seemingly agreed to deliver his castle to the Crown, he continuously delayed doing so with soft words, which came to be known as "Blarney talk".
Well, some have it and some don't. Which brings me to this old photo below. This photo shows some who obviously had the Gift of the Gab, as they were members of the St Joe Debating Team (at least that's what Vernon Chew, who sent me this photo, said. Thanks Vernon!)
I'll leave you to name the individuals in the photo, as well as figure out what were all the awards they won.
Have fun !
Posts
Oh my G |
ReplyDeleteThat's Lawrence Chin. Hey , It's Ngu Chin Sun and Vernon Chew. And there Luke Kiew.
I give up .
Aman
This must have been 1973 or 74 ...
ReplyDeleteYa loh, we can consider next family trip to Ireland and go kiss the Blarney Stone and also visit Bro Columba and Bro Adrian ...
ReplyDeleteMust be in 1976. The Form 6 boys (VC and others) wore long pants and the Form 5 boys (NCS and LC) wore short pants.
ReplyDeleteTalking about the gift of the gab, I admire debaters but there was one orator amongst us who had no equal.
ReplyDeleteI recognised Vernon Chew (Bertram's bro) and Ngu Chin Sun. When I was in Primary 6, I remember seeing Vernon trained at the long jump pit near Polycarp Sim's (Dato) house. He was very good. I think his SJS records (long jump and triple jump) still stand??
ReplyDeleteI noticed Akbar Selvam's name on the Victor Ludorum in 1983 and 1986. I think Akbar won a gold medal in high jump in one of the SEA games. Correct me please.
Btw, where is Chin Sun? If I am not wrong, Chin Sun is a West M'sian or maybe his dad worked there and moved back to kuching. Correct me plaese.
That's the Champions of the Inter-House Debating Competition. Brown House !!!
ReplyDeleteBrown House were traditionally the wooden spoonists in track & field, notwithstanding that they did have some outstanding individual athletes like Vernon, Cocoa, Van Houten, Vochelle, Cadbury ( all famous Chocolate names )...Guess it's Team effort that decided the overall points.
But it was an entirely different story when they took to the floor and pitted their public-speaking skills against some of the school's best debators and carried the day.
As they say, Chocolate's good for the heart....but you have to put it in your mouth first !!!
Three Cheers to Brown House !!!!
Edmund AS Lee
Which orator is that, KC?
ReplyDeleteGerard, I believe Chin Sun is based in Calgary, Canada. And I think he is aware of this blog.
ReplyDeleteMy best friend, A-jam.
ReplyDeleteKC, do you mean NMB?
ReplyDeletecan name everyone in the photo, someone???
ReplyDeleteWill A-jam please say something ...
ReplyDeleteEdmund's right, its the Brown House Team,ya, think we were the Inter House Champions. It must be 1976, my Lower Six year, because Luke Kiew was my senior.
ReplyDeleteThe lone girl is my classmate, Noraini Alwi, she was recently elected the President of the malaysian Orthidontists assocaition. She is arranging their international conference to be held in Kuching.
Good old days when we had the Houses and Brown House was traditionally last. With the House thing, it allowed people from different classes and forms to mix together.
Dilai was blue house, Kia Kim red, Khoon Ted green, Nick Lau maybe red . John Lee maybe red or blue. Justin jinggut yellow
Vernon.
Hi Gerard, i have always thought about you, i knew there was you ( but cant remember the name )then you disappeared from the scene. you were good friends with bertram and probably had come to our house before.
ReplyDeletei know julian through business associations, i thought, until now, he was the mysterious missing guy. We talked to each other like good old friends but i darent pick up the guts to ask whether he was the bertram's classmate/friend that i knew.
So mystery solved.
Gerard, would love to meet you again. I'll be so nervous to meet you. (Is Julian your brother?)
Vernon.
hey guys, try out the new Chat Box.
ReplyDeleteVernon, is that Victor Tan next to you?
ReplyDeleteVernon, yes!! Julian is my brother. Practically, I was close to all classmates and schoolmates those days in SJS.
ReplyDeleteOh those good old days! Practically, I was always at the fields of SJS those days. I love sports BUT can not anymore. I would be running like 25 seconds for a 100m dash. haha...
And I too would love to meet you again. By the way, Vernon, what was your long jump and triple jump records?
Nice meeting you again, Vernon!!
Yes, its Victor Tan next to me.
ReplyDeleteHi Gerard again, yep it'll be great to meet again, get hold of Julian, my Hp 012-8885595.
thanks for talking so much about my long jump and triple jump. Not so nice to say what my distances are, let you know when we meet.
i did break Paul Su's Div B triple jump record and then i had the Div A records for long and triple jumps including the Div C long jump record. All have been broken.
it was embarrassing to beat my long jump idol from Dragon School Kuso Jantan by 1 cm when we met in my first year in Div A.
i did enjoy the sporting days..the atmosphere at Jubilee ground was electrifying.
KC, you really had the cheek to regard me as your "best friend" after cutting me off for almost 8 long years! Our dear friend, BC, took the trouble to drag you all the way from Melaka to meet me briefly at a mamak stall by the road side but after that we lost touch. I'm not just your best friend, you know. We are sworn brothers, remember -- same date and year of birth. I still keep your pictures taken on a bridge near Singkawang and in Jakarta. If my memory doesn't fail me, we used to "ronda-ronda" at night on your green Honda cub around Reservoir Road after doing our revision.
ReplyDeleteShould i have a chance to see you again, i'd surely knock your head three times for keeping mum all these years. BTW, how're your mom and brothers?
Really miss the many free lunches that i used to have at your house in Poh Kwong Park. Deeply indebted to you and your family. Thanks.
And to Vernon Chew, please kindly accept my apology for being evasive when we bumped into each other at Kota Damansara the other day.
Hope we'll meet again under better circumstances.
You're still as good looking as you were in Upper Six. My regards to Grace and Bertram.
Cheers.
Dear peepingtom, has it only been 8 years? I thought it was longer than that. No excuses on my part other than being pre-occupied raising a family. I also didn't have your contact details in KL. I still tell stories about you to my kids and some good friends here in Perth. I remember my deep desire when I was younger to write about your amazing escapades but I'm sorry to say that that desire has waned with age.
ReplyDeleteIf I should meet you again, I'd like to knock your head three times too for making me grieve over your situation.
Family's all well, my brother. Look after yourself and yours. I still cherish all those memories.
Gift of the Gab = Kay Poh
ReplyDeleteArtificial Intelligence = Kay Kiang
It's been said that ability to speak well is a good trait and allows one to go further in career. Let's test this hypothesis and see out of this bunch of 7 people in the St Joe Debating team what did they eventually do in life .... anyone can help?
ReplyDeleteI personally know two of this "bunch" of 7 people
ReplyDeletewhom I consider as successful in life, financially and socially but above all, have a very happy and loving family.
Btw, what is your standard yardstick for measuring success in life my dear friend, Kay Poh?
I wondered where the word "gab" came from, so I did a couple of Yahoo and Google searches. Here's what I found
ReplyDeleteGab is the base of many sayings. In earliest definition I found (1620) it meant to talk fluently. In the years since it has been used in many ways.
As in:
1. Gladstone's Gab about "masses and classes.
2. Blow the Gab is to inform.
3. Flash the Gab so as to show off in conversation.
4. A gab-string is a bridal.
5. To be a gabber is to talk too much.
6. To gabble is too talk rapidly with little sense
7. A gabble-grinder is a constant gossiper
8. A Gaby is a fool
Did you guys see how people kiss the Blarney Stone? Google it and you will see what i mean, leh
ReplyDeleteLadies and gentlemen, the opposition would like to point out that ... ha ha ha
ReplyDeleteI have kissed the Blarney Stone on 2 different occasions but still haven't found the gift of the gab!
ReplyDeletePip, I guess your lips just weren't puckered enough to qualify as a proper kiss ... ha ha ha
ReplyDelete