UWOTD

It's been a while since I last posted an Ulster Word Of The Day but watching a few contestants on Britain's Got Talent via YouTube last night, got me thinking about that word....talent.

Once again it's probably not just confined to N. Ireland, but when we used the word talent, we didn't usually mean that someone had some sort of skill or ability. Far from it, we used the word talent to mean something that the person had little to do with - apart from being born with it.

Talent - attractive people.

As in........

"Lets go to the dance and check out the talent"

Going to boarding school during most of my teenage years meant that I rarely got to go to dances of ANY kind as I don't regard dancing with Sister Perpetua that Saturday afternoon when I was 12 years old as a real dance, no matter what they said about us afterwards.

Of course 'checking out the talent' wasn't confined to dances and could be overheard before a trip to the pub or anywhere where groups of the opposite sex might gather. Even in church !

Yes some of us were so starved of female company that we'd use going to Mass as an opportunity to meet girls. As altar boys, we had them literally lined up before us at communion time and afterwards, when changing upstairs after the service, we'd discuss 'the talent' and try and rush outside to meet up with any that we'd spotted earlier.

Many an unsuspecting young girl was asked out on a date by a spotty altar boy just because she had tried to dislodge a speck from her eye when receiving communion.

And before you ask, yes a few times I was that spotty altar boy.

After all, getting a wink from a girl at ANY time and for ANY reason was something I couldn't afford to pass up.

Even when it was from Sister Perpetua.