[AT] OT: Waltzing Matilda 9was Re: My Turn/Matilda

Paul Waugh pwaugh at embarqmail.com
Fri Feb 6 14:19:05 PST 2009


Not tractors, but kind of interesting.

Paul _ IN
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Sloane" <mikesloane at verizon.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 5:03 PM
Subject: [AT] OT: Waltzing Matilda 9was Re: My Turn/Matilda


> From Wikipedia:
>
> waltzing
>     derived from the German term auf der Walz, which means to travel
> while working as a craftsman and learn new techniques from other masters
> before returning home after three years and one day, a custom which is
> still in use today among carpenters.[9]
> Matilda
>     a romantic term for a swagman's bundle. See below, "Waltzing Matilda."
> Waltzing Matilda
>     from the above terms, "to waltz Matilda" is to travel with a swag,
> that is, with all one's belongings on one's back wrapped in a blanket or
> cloth. The exact origins of the term "Matilda" are disputed; one
> fanciful derivation states that when swagmen met each other at their
> gatherings, there were rarely women to dance with. Nonetheless, they
> enjoyed a dance, and so they danced with their swags, which was given a
> woman's name. However, this appears to be influenced by the word
> "waltz", hence the introduction of dancing. It seems more likely that,
> as a swagman's only companion, the swag came to be personified as a woman.
>     Another explanation is that the term also derives from German
> immigrants. German soldiers commonly referred to their greatcoats as
> "Matilda", supposedly because the coat kept them as warm as a woman
> would. Early German immigrants who "went on the waltz" would wrap their
> belongings in their coat, and took to calling it by the same name their
> soldiers had used.
>
> CEE VILL wrote:
>> I cannot verify that, Roy.  My thoughts were with the Movie "On The
>> Beach".  Waltzing Matilda (the song) played repeatedly during the
>> movie.  When the sole survivors or the human race finally reached
>> California from Australia, it was a Coke bottle hooked in the loop on
>> a window shade draw string that was tapping the telegraph key, thus
>> sending out the signal.  There were no other survivors on earth after
>> all.  Any old tractors in the entire world were theirs for the
>> taking.  No survivors to claim them.
>>
>>
>> Charlie V.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> From: k1lky at earthlink.net
>>> To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2009 11:45:18
>>> -0500 Subject: Re: [AT] My Turn
>>>
>>>
>>> On Feb 6, 2009, at 7:33 AM, CEE VILL wrote:
>>>
>>>> Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda.  --We are the only two people
>>>>  left on Earth, Paul.  (grin)
>>> Cee and others,
>>>
>>> Do I understand correctly that  the expression "Waltzing Matilda"
>>> is from Australia and means being hung to death?
>>>
>>> (The Aussies have some grim elements in their past.)
>>>
>>> Roy
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
> 





More information about the AT mailing list