Rocket mystery

[Sir William]

Here's a luxury mystery bamboozler for all you dumb members.

How come that Robert Louis Stevenson called his steam engine 'The Rocket'?

Rockets didn't even exist in the 1820s, so where did he gett*en the word from?

If the word already existed, what did it mean.

[Runaway]

Rockets did exist in the form of fireworks. Mystery solved.

[Sir William]

I don't think so.

For a get-go, there were probably no milk bottles.

[Runaway]

Do some research. I am correct. In fact there's a reference to such fireworks in 1752.

And there were no milk bottles because milk wasn't invented until the 1950s, when all children were forced to drink it at school to give the cows something to do.

[Sir William]

These facts were previously unknown to me.



But Mr Ru*naway is completely wrong as usual.

Fireworks were invented in China in the 9th century, and rockets were invented in the 1200s. What an ignoramus that Mr R*unaway must be not to know these simple facts.

But Robert Louis Stevenson didn't know anything about those ancient Chinese fireworks. He must of named his locomotive after the Saturn 5 rocket that took Borman Lovell, and Anders to the moon in Apollo 8*.

So how did he know about this in the 1820s? The mystery is still unsolved.

* You may not realise it, but these were the first people to leave the Earth and head out to another world.

[Runaway]

I am far from wrong. I agree re the Chinese, but the rest of your diatribe is poppycock. Apart from Robert Louis Stevenson who did invent the Rocket one afternoon when he was bored with writing The Ascent of Man in the 1600s.

Oh and those three Americans didn't go to the moon - they'd have of become very ill due to radiation, travelling through the Van Allen belt in their thinly-walled craft. Most lived to a good age, which proves my hypothesis.

[Sir William]

I am far from wrong. I agree re the Chinese, but the rest of your diatribe is poppycock.

Apart from Robert Louis Stevenson who did invent the Rocket one afternoon when he was bored with writing The Ascent of Man in the 1600s.
Oh and those three Americans didn't go to the moon - they'd have of become very ill due to radiation, travelling through the Van Allen belt in their thinly-walled craft. Most lived to a good age, which proves my hypothesis.

They weren't wearing Van Allen key belts.

[Prizemaster]

Actually one of the more surprising words to come from the Italian language is rocket. In Italian, ‘rocca’ was originally the word for the part of a weaver’s loom that held the wool, and the diminutive form of this, ‘rocchetta’, came to be utilised for a self-propelling cylinder in sundry mechanical devices. (like shuttle, another word assimilated with space flight) In French, this became ‘roquette’, and the word finally entered English as ‘rocket’ in the 17th century. Mr Steamson's train was named rocket because his cleaner lady (whom he was probably bonking at the time) was Italian, she happened to be preparing him a 'Pret A manger' style salad using the rare Italian ingredient known as Roquette. Steamson was known to be biting into his hot salad when he burnt his tongue and shouted out the words f***ing Roquette, but this was just at the moment that his neighbour had popped in and happened to say "What are you going to call that heap of junk you have of in the garden" The neighbour was so delighted at the repsonse that he immediately decided to paint the name on the contraption whilst Steamson was having his tongue quartered. The neighbour being a portion of a prude decided to leave the word f***ing off in case it upset the board of investors and so ever since the invention of Mr Steamson has been known as the Rocket (because the neighbour couldn't spell in the Italian fashion) and there you have of the story of how Mr Steamsons train came to be called the Rocket.

[Sir William]

Well I never!

Why has Mr T*ree taken so long to impart to us this vital information?

[Prizemaster]

Months and months of in depth research

[Runaway]

And not a single spelling error.
Who wrote it?

[Prizemaster]

You mean you read it? all of it?

[Runaway]

Yep. And it was good.

[Prizemaster]

Short sharp and factual - history as we like it with none of your trumpery and fake news

[Runaway]

I think the Prizemaster has disappeared, and his posts are being written by the Chairman.

[Sir William]

[Runaway]

1. They are much longer
2. They are spelleded without errors
3. They manufacture sense
4. The grammar is correct
5. There are loads of them

This is most unlike the Prizemaster.

[Sir William]

The Prizemaster must of juxtaposed his trowziz.

[Prizemaster]

The PRZEMASTER is one member who has no need to pull his s*x more elevated, not like some others I could mention round here