Continong

English

Proper noun

the Continong

1. (colloquial, humorous) "The Continent," mispronounced in the manner of a foreigner.
   • 1896, William Edward Norris, The Dancer in Yellow, D. Appleton and Company, page 17:

     She broke into a snatch of a burlesque ditty which used to be popular a good many years ago—"'The Continong, the Continong, oh, I am for the Continong!' And a good job, too! If I were to stay in England, you would be running off to meet me somewhere or other every ten days or so, and the cat would very likely be let out of the bag."

   • 1924, Agatha Christie, Poirot Investigates, John Lane Company, The Bodley Head Limited, page 270:

     "...Our fine gentleman was off to catch the boat train to the Continong. Well, gentlemen, that’s about all we can do here. It’s a bad business, but straightforward enough. One of these Italian vendetta things, as likely as not."

   • 2018, Neil Washbourne, “Sexual and National Difference in the High-Speed, Popular Surrealism of Tommy Handley and Ronald Frankau's Double Acts, 1929–1936”, in Helen Davies, Sarah Ilott, editors, Comedy and the Politics of Representation: Mocking the Weak, Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 130:

     Likewise, in "The Continong" ("the Continent" as they imagine it to be pronounced by a Frenchman) Wigan is contrasted, this time more defensively, with the delights, foods, and smells of abroad.

Further reading

• The Continent on Wikipedia.Wikipedia