phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

Irony

Posted by Bob on July 11, 2003

In Reply to: Irony posted by Lewis on July 11, 2003

: : : : I'm setting up an all Australian gourmet business, and one of my suppliers refers to some of her products as 'Fine Comestibles'. I have never heard the word 'comestibles' before. Have any of you, and what precisely does it mean?

: : : Yes. Things to eat.

: : My bet is that your supplier doesn't just sell them either. Pound to a penny she 'purveys' them.

: : My brother is over in the UK from New Zealand at present. He's off to York today to be a tourist. I warned him to expect shedloads of 'ye olde' culture. 'Peddlers Inne, purveyor of fyne wynes to the gentry since 1492' - that kind of thing.

: "fine comestibles" is usually used with a degree of humour or irony. I recall a comedy in which somebody referred to "cheesy comestibles" as an alternative way of saying "a piece of cheese".

It was Monty Python, in "The Cheese Shop," one of their best. It's the *only* place I've ever heard the word spoken.

© 1997 – 2024 Phrases.org.uk. All rights reserved.