maylands - the drycleaners
there was a drycleaners around the corner from funky alley that would occasionally wash my big filthy duffel coat. this coat was always the subject of my mother's complaints. "what girl would ever snog a tramp in a coat that looks like the house that jack built".
the house that jack built. this obviously doesn't refer to the 2018 lars von trier movie. i think it refers to some kind of folk tale that is maybe in the collective unconscious.
i always assumed 'the house that jack built' referred to a shoddily built highrise structure erected without prior council approval or the obtainment of relevant permits.
mum has been using it to mean shabby (which in chinese means "dumb cunt") but the house that jack built actually refers to the children's folk song that builds up verse by verse until it goes:
This is the horse and the hound and the horn
That belonged to the farmer sowing his corn
That kept the cock that crowed in the morn
That woke the priest all shaven and shorn
That married the man all tattered and torn
That kissed the maiden all forlorn
That milked the cow with the crampled horn
That tossed the dog that worried the cat
That killed the rat that ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
what is ironic is this song actually proves my mum totally incorrect. "what girl would ever snog a tramp in a tawny coat that looks like the house that jack built?". well mum, look again at your source material and carefully read lines 4-6. the tramp does plenty of snogging.