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Stone the crows

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on June 16, 2008 at 20:52

In Reply to: Stone the crows posted by Markku on June 13, 2008 at 08:10:

: I was searching info on the Scottish band Stone the Crows and bumped on the explanation that meaning "To hell with it". Now since the crows -to my knowledge- have special meaning in British mythology including the crows in Tower, King Arthur, could it be possible that the Scottish would have been more than delighted to stone them down? Hence Stone the Crows!

: I understood that the phrase is typically Scottish.

Your information is incorrect in just about every respect. "Stone the crows" doesn't mean "To hell with it" - it is an expression of surprise. (E.g.: "He really believed you? Stone the crows!") Nor is it remotely Scottish - it is Australian, of 1930s vintage. Its origin is still felt in the UK, to the extent that many British people will put on an Australian accent when they say it. Nor do crows have any special meaning in British mythology. The birds in the Tower of London are ravens, a different species of corvidae, and King Arthur is most associated with the Cornish cough, a different species again. And even crows had had some "special meaning in British mythology", unless they had had some specially evil significance, why on earth would than make Scots want to stone them? Scots are British, you know! (VSD)

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