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

[CEE VILL]

Now all of this conversation of carrying ones belongings in a bag reminds me of the comic strip "Pete The Tramp".  I am sure we all remember old Pete.  I guess the American swag was typically a large bandanna on a stick.

Charlie V

> Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2009 17:03:24 -0500
> From: mikesloane at verizon.net
> To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
> 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
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