Well, I *did* think of that connection - but it seemed so unlikely a joke that I thought Nigel must have really meant something else I couldn't see. (Sorry, Nigel.)Fiona1986 wrote:You said you were typing on her Mackintosh (In the UK anyway we would just say 'Mac' anyway) which to us sounds like you could be typing while sitting on your Mother's rain coat and hopefully it won't rain as your Mother will get wet without her rain coat. (Not nearly so funny when explained is it?).
Took me a moment to get his joke myself!
The computer's name is Macintosh, so that's what I say. I'm not on the whole inclined to use slangy abbreviations like "Mac". I don't use Australian colloquialisms like "info" or "arvo" or "pokies" or anything like that, either; I just don't like them. (Poker machines are *very* Australian nowadays!) I normally avoid any diminutive forms that end in "-ie" or "-o". We call rainwear raincoats here, not mackintoshes (or should that be "Mackintoshes"? - proper noun and all that - I suppose it was named after a person's surname); but if we did call them m/Mackintoshes, that is probably the word I would use, not "mack".
It's true that if a joke has to be explained, it loses all or most of its humorous effect; but it is still better to have the explanation than to be in an agony of puzzlement at what you missed that others found so funny.
Regards, Michael.