Living Italian style until Friday 13th has pasta T

A WELL educated friend of mine of a certain age found himself dropping into the vernacular when he described a drink that came with ice and lemon as fully loaded.

“Where did that come from?” he said, meaning how had it become lodged in a sufficiently prominent place in his subconscious that he used it; but also, where did the expression come from?

I tried an online search with no success. Its dictionary definition means “with all features and options” such as you might expect in a top of the range car.

I also found it was used to describe a female model who was fully made-up.

The first Wikipedia reference was as the title of a 1997 Velvet Underground album, The latest is when someone buys an Amazon Firestick that is “fully loaded”. This means it has Kodi, a media player, complete with illegal access to subscription channels, Premiership football and films.

This wifi piracy remains a grey area of law, but traders who sell them are being prosecuted and Internet Service Providers are monitoring their customers’ use of the illegal apps.

So while I have been unable to find the derivation and origin of the phrase, I have perhaps sparked a warning for anyone using Kodi illegally.

Be careful. You could be being watched.

And if anyone does know where fully loaded comes from, please let me know. ODAY I shall be mainly Italian and eat pasta, minestrone and garlic bread.

I can claim this honorary nationality on the grounds of my wife Maria’s Italian heritage and, with luck, it will enable me to avoid the pitfalls of Friday the 13th.

For while this day is considered unlucky by many in the western world, Italians believe the day to be wary of is Friday the 17th.

My other options are limited, as I have no Spanish antecedents, other than a holiday in Tossa de Mar in 1968, or affiliation with Greece. Both these countries believe Tuesday the 13th to be unlucky, the latter in particular because Constantinople fell to the Crusaders on that date in 1204. Long memories, the Greeks.

The 1980 slasher film Friday the 13th established the superstition for modern times in the way that Hollywood likes best, with a knife wielding maniac and a high body count. But theorists suggest its roots may be biblical and that it was the day on which Eve bit the apple and Noah’s Flood began. As if anybody was around to make a note in their Letts diary. Dr Caroline Watt, of Edinburgh University, says: “If people believe in the superstition of Friday the 13th then they believe they are in greater danger on that day. As a result they may be more anxious and distracted and this could lead to accidents. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.” It’s said up to 21 million people are affected by the superstition in the US. Some take no chances with the fates and stay in bed all day. This did not help Daz Baxter. He did exactly that in New York on the dreaded date in 1976 and was killed when the floor of his apartment block collapsed. I think my decision to be Italian for a day is a lot less risky. Theorists suggest its roots may be biblical and that it was the day on which Eve bit the apple and Noah’s Flood began.