Nine While Nine

THE place for your Sisters-related comments, questions and snippets of Sisters information. For those who do not know, The Sisters of Mercy are a rock'n'roll band. And a pop band. And an industrial groove machine. Or so they say. They make records. Lots of records, apparently. But not in your galaxy. They play concerts. Lots of concerts, actually. But you still cannot see them. So what's it all about, Alfie? This is one of the few tightly-moderated forums on Heartland, so please keep on-topic. All off-topic posts will either be moved or deleted. Chairman Bux is the editor and the editor's decision is final. Danke.
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XidiouX
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Can anyone find any reference to this phrase not involving the song?


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Last edited by XidiouX on 07 Aug 2017, 04:00, edited 1 time in total.
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sultan2075
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I once read that it was regional slang somewhere in the U.K., meaning "all day and all night."
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XidiouX
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Yes, so we've been told. Is anyone able to find a use of this phrase that has nothing to do with the song?


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ribbons69
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It's a fairly common Yorkshire phrase. "While" is a substitute for "Until"
I've worked at a warehouse where they all worked eight while five. If you are asking for another song referencing it then I don't have one I'm afraid.
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abridged
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Had Dolly been from Yorkshire it would have been working nine while five maybe... :wink: I imagine it's similar to the way Americans say 'through' rather than 'to' as in April through July. Something that has always sounded strange a bit to me.
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Charlie
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Yeah, i'm from Yorkshire and i've heard people say 'while' to indicate times, it's not as common now, but it does get used :D
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Drsisters
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Don't remember where I read it "Nine While Nine is about trains, Trains from south to north, north to south... Nine while nine... that's how the trains go"...
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ribbons69
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abridged wrote:Had Dolly been from Yorkshire it would have been working nine while five maybe... :wink: I imagine it's similar to the way Americans say 'through' rather than 'to' as in April through July. Something that has always sounded strange a bit to me.
Not as cringe worthy as the American "on Christmas" rather than "at"
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ruffers
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ribbons69 wrote:It's a fairly common Yorkshire phrase. "While" is a substitute for "Until"
I've worked at a warehouse where they all worked eight while five. If you are asking for another song referencing it then I don't have one I'm afraid.
Also used in parts of Lancashire, a normal use of language for my grandparents for instance.

Unlikely to find a specific alternate us of "nine while nine" I'd have thought as it's not a specific phrase, more just a normal sentence
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mh
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http://www.dictionary.com/browse/while

Definition 7 seems appropriate:
preposition
7. Archaic. until.
Also: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/defin ... reposition
Northern English

Until.
'father will be happy while dinner time'[/quote]
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Charlie
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Using 'while' instead of 'until' seems perfectly normal to me and yet i find it really bizarre when people say 'in back of' instead of 'behind' :lol:
- just depends where you're from and what you're used to!
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GLOSSA
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Yeah, while means until.

I don't know of anyone who's good at interpreting AE lyrics, but I always thought the song was about a guy working in a crap, dead-end job nine while nine and getting nowhere, delusionally believing that one day such a way of life to would lead to success. I routinely worked nine while ten in a London warehouse (for subsistence wages), but I alway knew the situation was s**t.
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Pista
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GLOSSA wrote:Yeah, while means until.

I don't know of anyone who's good at interpreting AE lyrics,
Some of us have a crack at it.....with varying degrees of success.
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