Cecilian In-jokes

---

Naturally when people spend a lot of time getting drunk together there are certain things which happen, or are said, which at the time seem amusing. If these events are recollected they can subtly creep in to the realms of Cecilian In-jokery. In order to make persons new to the Society aware of these in-jokes so they are slightly clearer on why they are believed to be funny I have made this section. As well as this MUGSS have one and it is a really good way to waste time if you are bored... Below you will find some of the Society in-jokes past and present. If anyone has any more let me know and I shall add them.

1. Item 1
2. The Pajama Game
3. The Treasurer
4. Cecilian Hall of Fame #1 - Andy Walker
5. Cecilian Hall of Fame #2 - Fraser McGibbon
6. Hole
7. Stage Crew Awards
8. The Mink Gag
9. The Bumblebee Costume
10. Ra ra ra...
11. None
12. The Sweet Charity Set
13. The Auction Scene
14. Boo
15. Rubbish
16. The Forest of Fun
17. Instrumental Phil
18. Committee Meeting Jokes
19. Glover Price
20. The Slip
21. Fanny Fingers
22. The poncho of gaiety
23. Marvelling"
24. "Fuck yeah, penguins diving"
25. Cecilian Hall of Fame #3 - Sam de Smith
26. Cecilian Hall of Fame #4 - Ed Allan
27. "The Pre-Show"

Also known as Item 1 - Yada, yada, yada. This stems from the committee meetings where invariably the first item is Item 1. Item 1 is the switching off of mobile phones. Needless to say there is always someone that has forgotten. So strict is the rule that one of the Former Presidents has gone to the lengths of phoning someone during the committee meeting to complain that their mobile was switched on.

A reference to the musical. Its name for some years cast fear into the heart of Cecilians as it was used during ticket talks to indicate why tickets had to be sold beforehand (other than the obvious fact that we need money to buy set). the story goes that The Pajama Game was being put on in the Kings Theatre by the Society. Comparatively few tickets had been sold beforehand on the principle that they always got high sales on the door. Unfortunately the weather was awful, blizzards, hurricanes, things like that and so they didn't get many sales on the door. This excitement nearly bankrupted the Society and so lots of Jumble Sales were undertaken.

The second part of this is that The Pajama Game is still a good show. One man, a Mr David Orr, has taken it upon himself to remind the Society of this. Annually. Every year during the AGM one of the items of correspondence is some form of communication from David Orr informing us that The Pajama Game is a good show and that the Society should consider it. In fact Mr Orr has taken this to the level of an art form and has never failed to send a message no matter what bizarre backwater of the globe he was in at the time. It hasn't been.

This is another AGM joke. Every year, without fail, someone mentions, when the time comes for the election of the Treasurer, that the role of the Treasurer is an important one. Another person then points out that this was pointed out the previous year. Much hilarity ensues. The source of this is unclear, it may have originated after one of the Former Treasurers was less than skillful with their book-keeping.

Not so much of an in-joke, more of an Honorary Member. Andy Walker is a long-time member, former President, former Tech. Director and, as of recently, an Honorary Member. He has given a lot to the Society and its members, some members more than others. He is often to be found at Cecilian Parties puffing on a big cigar. The Society has invested in an Andy Walker detector in the form of the current President. The President will, when Andy is in the vicinity shout "Andy Walker, come here so I can give you a kiss on your big baldy Noggin!" I am sure there is something in the constitution against this sort of thing...

Another long-standing member of the Society. Known to many as 'Butterfingers' McGibbon after an unfortunate incident during his stint as lighting technician for one of the shows. Whilst adjusting one of the lights on the stage his otherwise sure grip failed momentarily and the light in question plummeted earthwards. Nobody was injured. He has since given his name to a stage crew award (see later).

Another story attatched to Fraser (which I have just recalled) occurred during Guys and Dolls in the Old Atheneum. The Old Atheneum had a number of levels with the bottom level being the stage, the next level up was the props room, then the Girls' Changing Rooms and finally on the top level was the Boys' changing room. During one performance Fraser wandered into the Girls' changing room without warning. Stood there for a short while looking confused and then walked out again. He later claimed that he had been going to the Props room.

This is something of a coarse one. Such things would not normally reach in-joke status, but the story behind it beggared such disbelief that it was felt worthy. The usage is to get one's .... meaning to become intimate with someone. This term was first introduced to the Society during one of the annual barbecues. A young, uninvited, Ned had been drinking profusely during the course of the evening and as a result had become ill in a Patio decoration way. Once he had recovered slightly he was quizzed by a couple of Society members as to why he drank, the reply was "So I can get my hole." Presumably projectile vomiting is part of the mating ritual of Young Neds.

A major part of any show. These are awards decided on by the Stage Crew. They include such favourites as 'best bum, male' and 'best bum, female' and of course the much coveted 'scene-stealing ba$@*rd' award. Some of the awards have people's names associated with them such as the 'Susan Daye award for services to stage crew' and the 'Rachael Swann Award for Nudity on Stage'. The names tend to change from year to year and so it is best to ask the meaning at the time. A now sadly defunct award is the 'Lady Godiva Award' which was also highly coveted. Unfortunately only three people knew what it meant and I am not one of them.

This was fairly short lived but nonetheless deserves a mention. It refers to a joke randomly inserted into Guys and Dolls. To set the scene, imagine a cleaner and the proprieter of a club on stage with a mink stole lying on the stage. The joke went as follows:

Proprieter:You can't leave that lyin' there.
Cleaner:That's not a lion, that's a mink!

Naturally being a society entering its 50th year we have acquired a large variety of costumes. The most random of these costumes is the bumblebee costume. We are not sure where the costume came from, or what show it could possibly have been a part of (though it had a cameo in Bugsy Malone) and in general we have since been unable to find a serious use for it. If its inability to fit into any conventional show were not enough it is in fact tiny. We have, during the 5 years of my membership only had two people who could actually fit into the costume. One went on to be the Secretary of STAG, the other had to spend a year in Spain to get over it.

It was Anything Goes which provided this one. For this show the part of Elisha J Whitney was played by Sam de Smith and to his credit it is the most amusing portrayal I have seen. It is also the drunkest I have seen Elisha played, with many of the words being slurred. In addition to this Sam often takes the reasonable attitude that it is the meaning that matters not the words themselves. During one of the later scenes Elisha J Whitney has a medium length speech in which he mentions to Evangeline Harcourt his great wealth, the fact that he would like to marry her and that should he desire he would be able to buy the SS American on which they are sailing and turn it into a private yacht. The exact form of this speech changed every performance but could be easily summarised. It was summarised as follows "rarara MONEY. rarara YACHT. rarara MARRIAGE" Though for full effect it needs to be said in a brash and drunken American accent. It is often used to indicate a speech where words are being garbled or which has deviated significantly from the script but the general point is still being got across.

• NOTE - Not to be confused with "Rarrarrarraraa", which has now been categorically proven to be the noise made by a cannibal sheep:

  Weekend Away - March 2003 Julie:Why are there lots of sheep in that field and none in the next one? Nicola:Because those ones ATE all the ones in the next field. Gregor:Yes. Can't you hear them go "Mmmm. Mint sauce, lovely." Nicola:Don't be stupid. Sheep can't talk. They just go Rarrarrarrarra

  Over the course of the weekend the cannibal sheep were found to have also eaten Gregor's bootlaces and Marisa's toothbrush. It later transpired that Gregor had eaten Marisa's toothbrush. The bootlaces remain a mystery, though....

The 'humour' behind this stems from Miss Laura Johnstone's apparent inability to pronounce this word correctly. Rather that pronouncing it as 'nun' like the civilised world she in fact says 'non'. Many enjoyable conversations can be had from asking Laura how much work she has done (None), how much sleep she got (None) and indeed how much humour can be derived from this pronounciation...

As the name might suggest this stems from the set for Sweet Charity, however it encompases the set for any show. For some unknown reason the Director of Sweet Charity chose to have large parallelograms making up a large part of the set for the show. These parallelograms were made in 3 parts, a central rectangle and two triangles which were hinged onto the centre. These parallelograms were assembled in the theatre in the period immediately before the Tech. Run. Once they were assembled it was realised that one of the triangles had been put on the wrong way round, it was then removed and reattatched the correct way. On attempting to move the parellelograms into the main body of the theatre it was discovered that when built they were too large to fit through the door. They were then dismantled before being reassembled the other side of the door. To this day the word 'parallelogram' strikes fear into the heart of Mr Andy Walker, the Tech. Director for that show.

The Sweet Charity set was also an investment for the Society. parts of it have appeared in most of the subsequent performances. Naturally, being a Society of limited finances we endeavour to use pieces of set that we already have, this reduces expenditure and effort for the tech. crew. Occasionally this gets a little excessive and old pieces of set appear in shows merely because we have them. Scenes which formerly had only one piece of scenery and indeed required only one piece of scenery slowly expand to include a small table, a 6' x 4' bar, a matching set of 6 2' x 2' boxes, a small trolley, the steering wheel from a bus, a gigantic ceremonial axe and a chest of drawers.

One of the scenes in Oklahoma involves an auction. The lines for this follow a rough pattern, '2 bits, 4 bits, Ooh too rich for me, I'll pay 6, 8 bits, 12 shillings and 6 pence' and so on. It has been said that a scene is only as good as the actors. In this case it is perhaps a little unfair. The auction scene was mind bogglingly dull. Unfortunately we had to keep doing the scene as it induced a form of brain death in some of the seven or so actors involved. This scene was still being rehearsed on the night of the first performance. As the brain death had resulted in it never having been completed successfully. 'Auction Scene' is now used to refer to a scene which has been heavily over rehearsed and was extremely dull to start off with and didn't get better with age.

An exclamation used to indicate annoyance or displeasure with a specific person or persons. In situations where there is a proliferation of usage, there can be said to be 'much Booage'. Often used in conjunction with the term 'Rubbish'. On occasions of failing to attend a pub or club outing it is not unusual to find voicemail messages consisting entirely of two or three people booing.

Used to signify someone or thing being substandard or just plain bad. Also used to describe people who leave the pub early or, even worse, don't turn up at all. The term is most commonly employed in circumstances where there is much Booage, for example 'I'm going home because I'm tired' 'Boo! You're Rubbish!'. The extensive use of this word originated during a period of revision for an upcoming exam. Upon being asked her opinion of various statistical papers, Miss Johnstone would reply "Rubbish!". This was repeated a number of times and, owing to the temporary insanity caused by exams, was found to be highly amusing. It has since entered wider usage.

A mystical fairy glade where glamourous pixies live. Or alternatively a flat in Hyndland which contains roughly half the society and is the venue for much drunkeness... The name came from an email sent out by a slightly tetchy webmaster after he had had more difficulty getting a set of keys than might otherwise be thought possible.

During a quiet moment of relaxation the President, the Secretary and the Webmaster were sitting outside Brel. The President embarked on humming a little tune to herself, including a vocal version of the guitar solo. "What the f*&k was that?" asked the Webmaster. "That was an instrumental fill" replied the President idignantly. to which the webmaster replied that he knew a bloke called Instrumental Phil. Much hilarity ensued. In the days and weeks that followed the Webmaster imparted more and more information about Phil, including his boyfriend, Gay Abandon, who he later split up with. Soon more and more people became involved in the life of Instrumental Phil, including Quiche Lorraine, Mike Plot, Mike Stand, Telephone Bill and German Mark.

Item 1 has already been mentioned and a few of the other are covered in the Minutes Highlights 2000. Some of the more regular ones are:

• Almost invariably Tony's reason for any problem on the committee or elsewhere is "A lack of communication"
• The Society was founded in October 1952 the anniversary year is 2002-2003, going by the Academic Year. Unfortunately the immediate thought is that the anniversary is in 2002 and so it is the show in 2002 that is the anniversary show. Naturally this is not the case as the Spring Show of 2003 falls in the Anniversary Academic Year. However this does not stop committee members questioning it time and time again
• At one point the SRC had in its Clubs and Societies bumf something like "Clubs may affiliate to both the QMU and GUU" or some similarly dubious wording. This casued lengthy discussions as to whether or not we could affiliate to both simultaneously. It did not, it merely meant that it was in theory possible to affiliate to either. Nevertheless, every year, without fail the discussion is had, much to the secretary's annoyance.

Mr David J Glover is a some time adherent of our society. He has often proved to be a valuable ally, particularly when given the role of Technical Director. Many are used to the traditional Blue Peter doctrine of constructing space stations out of toilet rolls, old washing up liquid containers and sticky back plastic. Few however are used to the David Glover approach of making, for example, geostationary spy sattelites out of actual geostationary spy satellites. But how can the Cecilian budget stretch to such luxuries? Because they are obtained at Glover Price. If 'normal price' is $7 million, 'Glover Price' is $100 including a second-hand space station and two shuttles. Glover's ability to obtain things cheaper than should anyone else has earned him a legendary status. Since producing an impressive set for Return to the Forbidden Planet on a budget of 5 pounds, two bottle tops and a large piece of lint he forever became a fiend of the Society.

During the 2001 performance of Anything Goes the cast's favourite scene was undoubtably "Act 1 Scene 7... the English gentleman scene" In which Ed Allen as Moon and Duncan Russell as Billy were given free rein to ham up American's trying to do English accents. The resulting scene was tear-jerkingly funny. The piece de resistance was Ed's line "I was taking him down savilee row to get him a new strit jaaacket when he gave me the slip" This was accompanied with a hand gesture which led to much hilarity and got more and more obscene as show week progressed. This phrase can now be used to gain intimate details of a 'conquest' "Did you give her the slip?" accompanied with gesture of course.

This was a term which came from 'Fanning Fingers'. Most like to have come from Adele while choreographing WSS or Guys & Dolls.

This refers to the poncho that Rob wore for OOTI. Apparently also worn to the aftershow...and to subsequent parties... and to the pub..and on a daily basis....

Marvelling probably originated in the Grease rehearsals.During the hand jive etc, the chorus were to watch the specialist dancers. As they looked bored and uninterested, Adele said they should be 'marvelling'. This basically consisted of them going 'ooh', 'ahh' etc, and basically looking impressed all round.

Not really originated through rehearsals, but by the Cecilian Newbies of 05-06, so worthy of a mention.The phrases orginated at 'Ben and Andy's pub quiz' in the QM. GUST apparently messed up the clip round (which was a subtitled Pingue) and to kill some time, Ben told a story about his trip to the Zoo some time ago. The story involved a penguin which was scared to jump off the driving board so another penguin pushed him off. At the end of this tale, Ben uttered the imortal line "Fuck yeah, penguins diving" complete with a little hand gesture. This was only picked up by the Cecilian team and has now been adopted into the team's language. Usually used as an exclimation of joy at something happening.