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"Spectacles, testicles, watch and wallet."

Ailz comes across this mantra in a novel she's reading where the narrator speaks of it having "religious connotations".

"Religious connotations?" She turns to me.

I know the phrase as the refrain of a poem by some author who's name I forget. I'd thought he'd originated it. Apparently not; it seems to be something they say in Yorkshire.

But religious connotations?

An idea begins to dawn- and I stand up to try it out- with sweeping hand movements, pointing to the items in turn.

Spectacles, testicles, watch and wallet.

It's a mnemonic for making the sign of the cross.

Go on, try it yourself....

Date: 2016-12-30 07:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com
Yep. I think they started to become used by the military in the late 19th, and then took off following WWI.

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