Tournament grade table brands

[Geoff Large]

ryannh147 is correct my old boss corrected me many years ago after I used to pronounce it like gordon strachan the footballer , he was one for getting things right and said it is pronounced Strawn , I once had a tour of the Factory about 30 years ago , where they showed me how the wool from bales shipped from Australia or new Zealand where spun into threads then woven on machines then boiled and shrunk plus dyed which killed off the fleas , then brushed with a rotating drum containing Genuine teasel thistle heads or sometimes man made wire Brush sections imitating thistle heads to form the nap , then put on another machine to cutt the nap to lenth , finaly getting its iron on transfer every 10 foot , before being Quality checked under ultra violet lights .

[ryanah147]

Thank you Geoff. Having used he word `Strawn` for years when describing the brand of cloth, snooker hall owners looked at me as if I had 2 heads. No matter how many times I tried to correct them they always pronounced it `strack-en`. Of course the English language if full of names which are pronounced quite differently to the spelling. The few that come to mind would have to be firstly Capt. Mainwaring (Mannering), Colonel Beauchamp (Beecham), and finally Major Cholmondley (Chumley).
I suppose if we had to go into placenames we`ll be here all night.

[Geoff Large]

well to tell you the truth Gerard, it is impossible to convince some people about the pronounciation of Strachan is realy Strawn so I sometimes do pronounce it like they think it is because it's a losing battle with them , they do think youre bonkers when you try and correct them as I did with John Hopkin all those years ago , I thought he was winding me up as the new kid on the firm , you know like a left handed screwdriver or tartan paint or get me a set of Square balls from the Office.

the best wind up I ever did on an aprentice was a kid that came in with his ear bleeding as he had picked a scab off it , I had a look and said wow youve got Gonna Ear , you had better get yerself of to the doctors that can turn nasty , and the Kid did , the doctor told him to drop his pants and he said no its my ear ... the doctor sent a letter back with him warning me not to waste his time .... he did not get the funny side of it

[DeanH]

see the BBC iPlayer show from a few days ago where they have a segment about baize manufacture, (go from about 47 mins)
Interesting but obviously they miss a lot of the process.
I am sure that this is "Strack-en" in the segment
"strack-en" "straw-n" interesting discussion - maybe the founders where Scottish?

[philip in china]

Many years ago there was a musical called "Kismet". It was very successul. So successful that a newspaper headline declared "Kismet Pronounced Success" which led one overseas student to blow his brains out.