[Ads-l] go for a "Burton"--a 1944 etymology guess

[Stephen Goranson]

The text below [add a sentence after "Burton"-- "The Station-Master took a dim view and tore them off a strip."] is from vol. LIX no. 1630 August 22, 1942 p. 29 col. 2 Great Britain and the East, "A Letter from London."

Perhaps more importantly, I suggest, the "translation" of "the other two went for a Burton" appears to be unreliable.

Stephen Goranson
http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/


Garson wrote:

I think there may be a sentence I was unable to extract after the
phrase "the other two went for a Burton." Google seems to have changed
the way the wild card asterisk works within queries performed on the
Google Books database.

When I use the asterisk the Google search engine now refuses to find
matching patterns within Google Books. If a mailing list member wants
to discuss this new Google search engine behavior please let me know
on  or off list.

Garson


> Circa 1942 a journal called "Great Britain and the East" presented a
> passage of slang together with a translation. However, the Burton
> phrase was given a different meaning:
>
> Slang: One bought it; the other two went for a Burton.
>
> Translation: One was killed: the other two were severely reprimanded.
[....]
> Periodical: Great Britain and the East
> Volume 59
> Quote Page GB 29
> (Google Books snippet view; metadata may be inaccurate; OCR errors may
> be present; should be verified on paper/microfilm)
>
> [Begin extracted text]
> An item to conclude with even more
> Shavian in style than Shaw. Here it is:
> "Three ropey types, all sprogs, pranged
> a cheeseye kite on bumps and circuits.
> One bought it; the other two went for
> a Burton. They'd taken a shagbat Wofficer,
> who was browned off, along, and the Queen
> Bee was hopping mad." This may sound
> like double Dutch or a section from a
> New York cab-driver's vocabulary, but
> it's nothing of the sort. It's the King's
> English,  1942 version, as spoken--some-
> times--by the Royal Air Force.
>
> * * *
>
> A translation for those who don't
> understand such modern English would
> read: "Three unpopular individuals, all
> brand new pilot officers, crashed a worn-
> out aircraft while making practice cir-
> cuits and landings. One was killed: the
> other two were severely reprimanded.
> The station commander disapproved and
> roundly rated them. They had taken
> along a somewhat plain W.A.A.F. officer,
> who was bored, and the W.A.A.F. com-
> mandant was very angry.
>                      LONDONER.
> [End extracted text]
>
> Garson
[....]
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