slip of the tongue = gang warfare
Well not quite gang warfare as the 2 families were already seething with hatred for each other.

This was back in the 90s (around summer 1996 I think). There are 2 families who didn't get on at all in my little town. I won't give names as that probably wouldn't be to clever and any readers from my area would have no trouble guessing who they are. I'll call one family X and the other Y.

Each family had 2 or 3 brothers - i can't remember how many for sure but whenever they met in the same pub it was always a good idea to hide in a corner or leave as trouble was guaranteed.

One of the brothers from Y gave one of the brothers from X a sound beating and put him in hospital for about 3weeks. The elder of clan X knew that it was one of the Y brothers but hadn't had it confirmed. I was told about the beating by a mate in the pub. This particular pub had a front and a back bar. I was in the front the bar when I was told the story.

Roughly half an hour later I went in to the back bar for a game of pool and told the story to a mate. Elder X was sat at the bar. I didn't know as I was pissed and didn't see him. He heard everything and wasn't to chuffed. He asked me in a very aggresive manner how I knew and if I had anything to do with it. This is a guy you really don't mess with. I cleared the air a little and went off for a little wee. My mate (I was told after) had to stop the raging pyscho from following me in order to extract more info.

fast forward to the next night - a warm summer Sunday night.

Elder X come into the pub next door from the one from the prior evening and slams a LOADED ammo clip on the bar and tells everyone in earshot of what he will do to clan Y. The landlord asked him politely to put it away. He did. There was a slight air of menace but people generally carried on with drinking and no more was thought of it. Elder X invited a few people to see what he had in his car boot. They all declined.

Monday morning.

There is a car park across the road from my parent house. I woke to see loads of police and men in white suits putting a car on the back of truck. Yup, forensic officers. It turns out that Elder X wasn't joking the night before and drove to the house of Elder Y and blasted his house a couple of times with a shotgun in order to extract revenge for the beating his brother recieved.

They 2 families still don't see eye to eye and are still considered a wee bit dangerous now 10 years later. Elder X is actually quite a nice bloke if you don't piss him off. I say hello to him occasionly if I see him about. He doesn't remember me being the bloke that set of this series of unfortunate events and I'm really not going to remind him!
( SpikeyPickle wishes he was mabazaritchie, Fri 15 Feb 2008, 14:06, Reply)