http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=822 The NewsBiscuit Community en-US Thu, 23 May 2013 13:36:43 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/search.php http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=822#post-2134 Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:39:43 +0000 Stan Laurel 2134@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>It’s been a traditional sight at race meetings up and down the land for hundreds of years but a new UN study has suggested that ‘Tic-Tac’ the ancient language of on-course bookmakers may die out within the next five years.</p> <p>“The study confirms what we have feared”, said one leading dialect conservationist in his online blog yesterday. “Instead of communicating the latest odds by this uniquely special sign language, bookies simply use their mobiles phones. I just cannot understand why modern technology is allowed to wipe out years of cultural development. It’s almost criminal.”</p> <p>Leading bookmakers preparing for their annual pilgrimage to the Cheltenham Festival appeared to have little time for the dying art form. “Nah! I stopped using tic-tac years ago,” said ‘Honest’ Paddy Kennedy, “after an incident at Haydock Park when I put my hand on my hat to stop it blowing off in a gust of wind and inadvertently blew five grand on a nag that struggled to finish last. Cost me a mint!”</p> <p>“It I were a betting man”, continued Mr Kennedy “I’d lay odds of 4-1 that tic-tac will die out by 2015. ”</p> <p>Experts fear that the language may disappear with its last great exponent, TV’s turf pundit John McCririck, who reaches seventy next month, the age that most racing commentators can expect to be put out to pasture. </p> <p>McCririck dismissed stories of his imminent retirement. “Absolute crazy nonsense”, he said, pointing to his temple using tic-tac signing as he spoke. “In any case, I’m not going to retire. I intend to be put out to stud.” he leered, clutching his groin.” </p>