# Queue, Cue and Que



## Box_Of_Frogs (29 April 2011)

Because I have a headache coming on and I'm feeling bolshy, I thought I'd clear this up for once and for all. 

A queue is a line of something (people, cars, shoppers) waiting for something (traffic lights to change, loo, check out). So you might say something like: I'm in a queue for the 5 items of less till. (NB - it is also an old term for a pigtail but we can safely ignore that I think)

A cue is a signal or guide or stimulus for something else to happen. So you might say: my mum came to watch my well behaved horse jump - cue horse being a knob. This is a shortened way of saying: my mum came to watch my well behaved horse jump - her presence was the cue for my horse to be a knob. Get the idea?

Que isn't a word at all except in rare instances when it is either short for Quebec or a French conjunction (do I mean conjunction or do I mean preposition?) and needn't concern us here at all. 

Thank you and pass the ibuprofen.


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## VioletStripe (29 April 2011)

Thank you!! It irritates me when people switch and don't know the difference between the two - I'm aware this shows I'm shallow, pedantic and have no life but meh 

Sorry about your headache though, get well soon! xx


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## Mithras (29 April 2011)

But may I BUTT in and point out that LOSE is when something goes missing and LOOSE is when you set something free?


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## YorksG (29 April 2011)

Just to be extra difficult, cue is also the stick for hitting snooker balls with


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## Ravenwood (29 April 2011)

Mithras said:



			But may I BUTT in and point out that LOSE is when something goes missing and LOOSE is when you set something free?
		
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But to make life difficult we used to live near a village called Loose which was pronounced Lose - my sister's nearest school and also where Tony Hart lived - just thought I would throw that little bit of unimportant information into the equation


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## Karran (29 April 2011)

My absolute pet hate is people who get there, their and they're mixed up.  Grrrrr. 
Remember it's "their horse is over there and they're going for a ride"
I especially get annoyed when teachers email me with the wrong one. I have on occasion written back correcting them!! So irritating!!


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## Kallibear (29 April 2011)

Can we add to, too and two to the list? Oh, and their, they're and there. Plus a couple of others I can't remember right now.


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## Ravenwood (29 April 2011)

Karran said:



			My absolute pet hate is people who get there, their and they're mixed up.  Grrrrr. 
Remember it's "their horse is over there and they're going for a ride"
I especially get annoyed when teachers email me with the wrong one. I have on occasion written back correcting them!! So irritating!!
		
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But this is just a horsey forum - people should not be judged on their grammar or typing mistakes but instead their knowledge.

There used to be a very old man (RIP) who was a wealth of knowledge regarding horses - everyone would go to him for remedies and advice but I bet my bottom dollar he wouldn't have a clue which their/they're or there to use and what does it matter when taken in context?


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## Karran (29 April 2011)

It doesn't matter any more than the people who get queue and cue muddled. It's just something that irrationally angers me. It's the written equivalent to scratching your fingernails down a blackboard for me!!


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## CanadianGirl (29 April 2011)

When people mix up lose and loose it drives me crazy.

Especially when they call someone a "looser".  It always makes me think "is that the opposite of a tighter?


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## chessy (29 April 2011)

I need to add the proper pronounciation of the letter "H" to the list! It should be "aitch". NOT "haitch". You don't actually pronounce the H! It drives me mad when people do this!


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## kildalton (29 April 2011)

Box_Of_Frogs said:



			Because I have a headache coming on and I'm feeling bolshy, I thought I'd clear this up for once and for all. 

A queue is a line of something (people, cars, shoppers) waiting for something (traffic lights to change, loo, check out). So you might say something like: I'm in a queue for the 5 items of less till. (NB - it is also an old term for a pigtail but we can safely ignore that I think)

A cue is a signal or guide or stimulus for something else to happen. So you might say: my mum came to watch my well behaved horse jump - cue horse being a knob. This is a shortened way of saying: my mum came to watch my well behaved horse jump - her presence was the cue for my horse to be a knob. Get the idea?

Que isn't a word at all except in rare instances when it is either short for Quebec or a French conjunction (do I mean conjunction or do I mean preposition?) and needn't concern us here at all. 
Thank you and pass the ibuprofen.
		
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I t should be 5 items or fewer


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## Ravenwood (29 April 2011)

Karran said:



			It doesn't matter any more than the people who get queue and cue muddled. It's just something that irrationally angers me. It's the written equivalent to scratching your fingernails down a blackboard for me!!
		
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Then stop being so uptight and relax a bit -there are far more important things to worry about!


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## Karran (29 April 2011)

Why is the thing about there's seemingly upsetting people more than the loose/lose or queue/cue thing?

I'm being bullied! :-(


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## hairycob (29 April 2011)

Can I add affect & effect to the list?


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## rubyrumba (29 April 2011)

My son is six and came home with a picture, it said "This is me and ......." That really annoyed me, I am forever correcting him, this is ....... and I!! Makes you wonder what on earth they teach them. Most people I know can't spell! I am forever correcting people, I just can't help myself!!


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## mcnaughty (29 April 2011)

God yes!  I have known of several people in senior executive positions that cannot get the simple to, too, two and their, there etc right!  Amazing - feel like correcting their emails in red and sending back to them!


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## Cuppatea (29 April 2011)

also when people say 'x  learnt me how to do it'

ITS *TAUGHT *DAMNIT!!!!!!!


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## tallyho! (29 April 2011)

I thought que was a snooker que... have I been misled?? Please enlighten me as I am now developing a headache...


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## Cuppatea (29 April 2011)

tallyho! said:



			I thought que was a snooker que... have I been misled?? Please enlighten me as I am now developing a headache...
		
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its a snooker *cue*!


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## tallyho! (29 April 2011)

cuppatea said:



			its a snooker *cue*!
		
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With a "c"???? NO way??? Glad that got cleared up. Headache - gone. (not sure if that is the prossecco or the iburofen)

Thank goodness for you cuppatea.....


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## Cuppatea (29 April 2011)

tallyho! said:



			With a "c"???? NO way??? Glad that got cleared up. Headache - gone. (not sure if that is the prossecco or the iburofen)

Thank goodness for you cuppatea.....

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*snigger* a good cuppatea is better than any painkiller.....!


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## tallyho! (29 April 2011)

*hugs cuppatea* "i love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" never mind if its mutual - it;s one of those weddingy drunky ones...

p.s. shouldn't be here I'm well pissed but I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what happens if you fit your telly to tinterweb via console ont kitcen n stuff... complicated but good to know ou cna type on't onion board.


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## POLLDARK (29 April 2011)

Adverts for horses with good 'confirmation' instead of conformation is one that crops up a lot. Though I dare say some may have been confirmed in this day & age ! In a local paper a firm had taken out a full page ad last week, all their kitchens were 'Taylor'  !!!!!!!!! made & it wasn't a pun. I think we are showing our age getting niggled by these things, the days of spelling being taught are long gone.


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## Pearlsasinger (29 April 2011)

rubyrumba said:



			My son is six and came home with a picture, it said "This is me and ......." That really annoyed me, I am forever correcting him, this is ....... and I!! Makes you wonder what on earth they teach them. Most people I know can't spell! I am forever correcting people, I just can't help myself!! 

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In fact 'they' are teaching your son the correct grammar.
In the picture caption, which you quoted, 'This' is the subject of the verb 'to be' (is) 'me' is the object.
You would NOT say "This is I", you would say "This is me". So you follow the same rule and say "This is my friend and me".
I have to say, it really annoys me when people  correct others wrongly.  Incidentally at the age of 6, most children are expected to write as they speak, as the act of writing is more important, followed by correct spelling.  It is a higher order skill to write in a more formal style.  If people want their children to write correctly at this stage, they should ensure that they speak correctly to them and in their hearing, as children copy their parents in preference to any-one else.


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## Rowreach (29 April 2011)

And then there's all those people on here who bruy horses - at least I assume they do, since their posts are usually entitled "I have just brought ..."

Oh, and the aitch/haitch thing - well I say aitch because I was brought up in England, but my kids say haitch because they are growing up here, and I won't be "correcting" that


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## Pearlsasinger (29 April 2011)

My personal bugbear is 'bear' and 'bare'.  I cannot BEAR to read people baring their souls to other forum members, who tell us that they are unable to 'bare' their horses' behaviour a moment longer, especially when they also get 'breaks' and 'brakes' confused.  If your horse has no brakes, you are likely to break, or to get broken.


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## hairycob (29 April 2011)

I must admit I always giggle at references to "bridal paths". I always have an image of women in long white dresses in soft focus!


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## welshwizzard (29 April 2011)

"uphauled" always makes me snigger


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## rubyrumba (29 April 2011)

Pearlsasinger said:



			In fact 'they' are teaching your son the correct grammar.
In the picture caption, which you quoted, 'This' is the subject of the verb 'to be' (is) 'me' is the object.
You would NOT say "This is I", you would say "This is me". So you follow the same rule and say "This is my friend and me".
I have to say, it really annoys me when people  correct others wrongly.  Incidentally at the age of 6, most children are expected to write as they speak, as the act of writing is more important, followed by correct spelling.  It is a higher order skill to write in a more formal style.  If people want their children to write correctly at this stage, they should ensure that they speak correctly to them and in their hearing, as children copy their parents in preference to any-one else.
		
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Well I was always taught to say "Whoever and I are doing whatever" You don't say "Me and whoever are doing whatever" Or "Whoever and me and doing whatever"


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## Pearlsasinger (29 April 2011)

rubyrumba said:



			Well I was always taught to say "Whoever and I are doing whatever" You don't say "Me and whoever are doing whatever" Or "Whoever and me and doing whatever"
		
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You were taught quite correctly.  
You should indeed say "Whoever and I are doing whatever" because you should say "I am doing whatever". In those sentences,"I" is the subject of the sentence.  In other words "I" is the one that the verb refers to.  
In the caption to your son's picture "This" is the subject.  In any instance where you would use "I" if only one person were doing whatever, then you use "I", even if at the end of a list of hundreds of names.  However, if you would normally use me, as in "This is me", then me is correct, even if at the end of a long list of names.


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## Lydz13 (29 April 2011)

This one is really more relative to where I live, but telling me to speak "proply" is not teaching me how to speak properly... Grrr


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## Dubsie (29 April 2011)

What I find irritating is the 'much sort after type' when they mean SOUGHT

Even estate agents use 'sort' when they mean 'sought'.


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## Box_Of_Frogs (30 April 2011)

And to all those who think it doesn't matter a rat's bottom how you spell, consider this. If you were entering a dressage competition, would you give a rat's bottom about how you or the horse were turned out? Ditto showing, jumping, hunting, driving. It's a courtesy to do things properly and by the rules: that way there's never any misunderstanding. If someone turned up for a dressage test in ripped jeans, trainers, old sweatshirt, horse just dragged in from the field and covered in mud.....what would the judge think? What would other competitors think? Forum members who don't bother with at least TRYING to get it right are the equivalent of the jean-and-trainers. It's a discourtesy to the very people who are reading your post in order to try to help. 

I'd recommend "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" to anyone interested in avoiding spelling and grammar howlers, whilst at the same time having a damn good laugh.


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## 0ldmare (30 April 2011)

I recently saw an advert for a horse for sale and it said 'works well in the skool'  I mean, aside from wondering what they taught in the skool that the person presumably attended, I couldn't help wondering just how you could be so unobservant as to not figure that one out!


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## Fuzznugget (30 April 2011)

Que = what (spanish)

Anyway, you all think that's bad, try this gem from the school my friend's son goes to:


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## Pat10 (30 April 2011)

'I should OF done something' instead of 'I should HAVE done it'. It's amazing how many seemingly well-educated people are guilty of this.

Oh and the Aitch one - it quite puts me off my dressage test if I hear someone calling and pronouncing it thus!


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## Tnavas (30 April 2011)

My pet hate is the Americanisation of Vehicle - Ve Hic cal grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr yet they say erbs for herbs. Weird.

Que is Spanish for 'What'

Also hate the misuse of '....'  &  "...."

" is for speach quotes  "I like horses" said Jane not for emphasising words.

My excuse for being crabby - the cat woke me up and I can't get back to sleep. Just after midnight here or is it hear or their, there or they're.


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## Double_choc_lab (30 April 2011)

I make many mistakes myself but one which irritates is "kerb" and curb".  I've seen "the car hit the curb" and I have visions of the car either hitting a curb on a horses leg or somehow hitting it under the chin on it's curb chain.


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## Stacey6897 (30 April 2011)

This thread is great, glad to see other (less timid) grammar police out there!


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## little_critter (30 April 2011)

One that always makes me giggle is when I see on menus:
"Scampi, chips and pea's"
I always wonder pea's what?
Or even better was when the menu said scamip...... (It was very tasty scamip)
But my main bugbear is the bought / brought thing grrrr!


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## Groom42 (30 April 2011)

Oh, ALL of the above, plus....
Accept and except
"I will accept most things except bad grammar"


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## touchstone (30 April 2011)

orsolya80 said:



			Que = what (spanish)

Anyway, you all think that's bad, try this gem from the school my friend's son goes to:





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That is shocking!


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## Rowreach (30 April 2011)

Ah, that reminds me of the time my son's class went on a farm trip and the resulting picture montage with the heading "Daisy the cow needs milked" -   - colloquial Norn Iron in case you are wondering 

Oh and "speach" marks ^^^ - ahem


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## Polo*Pony (30 April 2011)

rubyrumba said:



			My son is six and came home with a picture, it said "This is me and ......." That really annoyed me, I am forever correcting him, this is ....... and I!! Makes you wonder what on earth they teach them.
		
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Actually... if your son's teacher has taught him that the picture if "of X and me", then s/he is correct. It would be a picture of X and me. Think about it without the X - you would never say, 'this is a picture of I', would you? You'd say 'this is me'. It's the same when you add someone else into the equation. It works the other way too - 'Mark and I went to the cinema' is correct, whereas 'Mark and me went to the cinema' is not (because you would never say 'me went to the cinema').

Sorry to be pedantic. I hope I don't come over as rude but your line about 'Makes you wonder what on earth they teach them' made me feel I had to comment. I am a teacher and it is so frustrating when pupils say, "but my Mum says..." when what their parents have said is mistaken - the poor children get really confused.

Sorry - just realised Pearlsasinger has beaten me to this one.

Also though, not sure who brought up 'could of' and 'could have' but I completely agree - that is my grammatical 'nails on a chalkboard'!


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## SonnysMum (30 April 2011)

Hi All!

I'm not particularly skilled with grammar, however, its the use of your and you're that really winds me up, and i have no idea why its just that one that drives me mad though!


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## andraste (30 April 2011)

Evelyn said:



			My pet hate is the Americanisation of Vehicle - Ve Hic cal grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr yet they say erbs for herbs. Weird.

Que is Spanish for 'What'

Also hate the misuse of '....'  &  "...."

" is for speach quotes  "I like horses" said Jane not for emphasising words.

My excuse for being crabby - the cat woke me up and I can't get back to sleep. Just after midnight here or is it hear or their, there or they're.
		
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Actually, since we're all being pedants, this is not the case.  There are no rules for using single or double quotation marks to indicate speech except that you must use the same one to both open and close the quotation.  Double quotation marks are generally preferred in the USA but, as a rule, there is no preference in the UK.

If you were 'nesting' one quote within another then there are conventions for which to use but not for straightforward quotation.


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## Stacey6897 (30 April 2011)

My personal bugbear, using "should of" instead of "should have", makes me scream, but quietly, on the inside


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## trakehnersrock! (30 April 2011)

One of my particular bugbears is when people say: "That is so fun!". Um, no it is not. It is either such fun, or so funny.
Imho, correct spelling is essential, particularly if you want to learn a foreign language, because if you want to translate 'here' and look up 'hear', you will get the wrong word, so will most likely end up with total gibberish!


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## Sayra (30 April 2011)

My neice came home from nursery one day with her book which said on the inside "Abigail had fun today playing with sequences".

There are other gems in her book but can't remember them off the top of my head!




P.S is anyone else tripple cheking there speling when they rite on this thred?!


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## Hedgewitch13 (30 April 2011)

'Off of' bugs me. Surely it's just 'off'? Happy to be corrected!


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## blitznbobs (30 April 2011)

rubyrumba said:



			My son is six and came home with a picture, it said "This is me and ......." That really annoyed me, I am forever correcting him, this is ....... and I!! Makes you wonder what on earth they teach them. Most people I know can't spell! I am forever correcting people, I just can't help myself!! 

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Actually your son is right... you wouldn't say "that's a picture of I" You would say "that's a picture of me" so the correct grammar is 'that's a picture of XXX and me."...

BnBx

PS the one that bugs me is brought and bought. 2 seperate words and I don't get why people keep adding the r when you don't even say it...


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## rubyrumba (30 April 2011)

blitznbobs said:



			Actually your son is right... you wouldn't say "that's a picture of I" You would say "that's a picture of me" so the correct grammar is 'that's a picture of XXX and me."...

BnBx

PS the one that bugs me is brought and bought. 2 seperate words and I don't get why people keep adding the r when you don't even say it...
		
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Ok everyone, the pic didn't say this is me and i or whatever I initially said, it was definitely wrong, I just wrote it wrong in my post!!

Blitznbobs it is sepArate!


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## Tnavas (30 April 2011)

Hedgewitch13 said:



			'Off of' bugs me. Surely it's just 'off'? Happy to be corrected!
		
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Off of is wrong - eg get off the carpet with your dirty boots.


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## pintoarabian (30 April 2011)

One that has been driving me to distraction for a long time because it seems to be creeping in everywhere is 'norty'. It is NAUGHTY! N-A-U-G-H-T-Y!

and......

Just because a word ends in an 's' doesn't mean it has to have an apostrophe!


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## Ali2 (30 April 2011)

The vast majority of the above and when brought is used instead of bought. Gaaaah!


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## Tnavas (30 April 2011)

Pole - instead of Poll

rapped instead of rapt

Ankles - horses don't have ankles!


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## Paddy Irish (1 May 2011)

Whether the  weather is good or bad i'm off to ride the boy.


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