There was a Furphy water tank at the Timber Creek Police Museum & while volunteer caretaking there  last week we found out the term 'telling a furphy' supposedly came from WW1 when these tanks would be wheeled into the camp & soldiers would gather around it as a meeting place & stories & gossip would be swapped back & forth & of course some of these stories tended to be a bit far from the truth.

Cheers

Jon

-- Edited by Hylda&Jon on Wednesday 22nd of June 2011 11:03:51 AM

You probably know this already but in case you don't, on the end of the Furphy tank where all the writing is there is a message written in short hand, the following is a quote:

John's son, William added a Pitman's shorthand inscription in 1920, which translated tells the reader that "Water is the gift of God, but beer is a concoction of the devil, don't drink beer." In 1942 this was changed to read "Water is the gift of God, but beer and whisky are concoctions of the devil, come and have a drink of water" which has since become the more popular, recited version.

_wombat_ wrote:

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thanks gubby, I was not aware of that, but I only drink water anyway.

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 Careful, your nose might grow...

 

When I chat with you Wombat I get a feeling I'm talking to myself....  

That story about the origin of the term "furphy" has always been accepted as true.

PS: I do hope that Gubby and Wombat never suffer from an episode of sanity!

I represent that remark gubby, I am not insane I'm just an idiot (1st class)