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Graeme Thomas
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:44 pm
Post subject: Wimseycal skellingtons |
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Someone recently[1] mentioned a couplet rhyming "Wellington" with
"skellington", and attributed it vaguely to Sayers. _Gaudy Night_ was
mentioned.
In _Busman's Honeymoon_ (p72 in my copy) there is a conversation between
Bunter and Wimsey:
# "[...] Will you wear the Lovats or the grey suit?"
#
# "Neither -- find me an open shirt and a pair of flannel bags and --
# did you put in my old blazer?"
#
# "Certainly, my lord."
#
# "Then buzz off and get breakfast before I get like the Duke of
# Wellington, nearly reduced to a skellington. . . . I say, Bunter."
#
# "My lord."
Since it's Sayers writing, and Wimsey speaking, we can be fairly sure
that it's a quotation from somewhere else, but my researches haven't
shown me where.
[1] I've forgotten who it was, and the article has expired from my
server.
--
Graeme Thomas
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Jerry Friedman
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 11:19 pm
Post subject: Re: Wimseycal skellingtons |
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Graeme Thomas wrote:
| Quote: | Someone recently[1]
|
"That was me," he said ungrammatically. (I'm imitating Sayers, not
trolling.)
| Quote: | mentioned a couplet rhyming "Wellington" with
"skellington", and attributed it vaguely to Sayers. _Gaudy Night_ was
mentioned.
In _Busman's Honeymoon_ (p72 in my copy) there is a conversation between
Bunter and Wimsey:
# "[...] Will you wear the Lovats or the grey suit?"
#
# "Neither -- find me an open shirt and a pair of flannel bags and --
# did you put in my old blazer?"
#
# "Certainly, my lord."
#
# "Then buzz off and get breakfast before I get like the Duke of
# Wellington, nearly reduced to a skellington. . . . I say, Bunter."
#
# "My lord."
|
Thanks. I'm glad I didn't dig through _Gaudy Night_, but I'm sorry if
you did.
| Quote: | Since it's Sayers writing, and Wimsey speaking, we can be fairly sure
that it's a quotation from somewhere else, but my researches haven't
shown me where.
|
I'll still bet it was a limerick.
| Quote: | [1] I've forgotten who it was, and the article has expired from my
server.
|
--
Jerry Friedman will now make a noise like a rumba and push off. |
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Graeme Thomas
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 12:04 am
Post subject: Re: Wimseycal skellingtons |
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In article <1126631992.906443.223150@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
Jerry Friedman <jerry@totally-official.com> writes
| Quote: | Graeme Thomas wrote:
Thanks. I'm glad I didn't dig through _Gaudy Night_, but I'm sorry if
you did.
|
Rereading Sayers is hardly the worst punishment imaginable.
| Quote: | Since it's Sayers writing, and Wimsey speaking, we can be fairly sure
that it's a quotation from somewhere else, but my researches haven't
shown me where.
I'll still bet it was a limerick.
|
I shouldn't be at all surprised.
I believe that Sayers was not above improving on some of her quotations.
Again in _Busman's Honeymoon_, she has Wimsey saying:
# 'As another Great Mind so happily put it, "However entrancing it is to
# wander though a garden of bright images, are we not enticing your mind
# from another subject of almost equal importance?" '
This is attributed to _The Golden Hours of Kai-Lung", by Ernest
Bramah[1]. It is some decades since I read that book, but it doesn't
rig quite true. I want to put "unchecked" between "wander" and
"through". Someone has stolen my copy of the book, though[2].
[1] Real name Ernest Bramah Smith.
[2] It should be filed under "Smith", but it isn't. Owing to a trifling
domestic catastrophe[3], all my books that should be under A-C are
elsewhere.
[3] That's another quotation from _Busman's Honeymoon_.
--
Graeme Thomas
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Jess Askin
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 1:48 am
Post subject: Re: Wimseycal skellingtons |
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Jerry Friedman wrote:
| Quote: | Graeme Thomas wrote:
Someone recently[1]
"That was me," he said ungrammatically. (I'm imitating Sayers, not
trolling.)
|
Gosh, I thought it was me -- maybe we're experiencing thought transference
or something.
| Quote: |
mentioned a couplet rhyming "Wellington" with
"skellington", and attributed it vaguely to Sayers. _Gaudy Night_
was mentioned.
In _Busman's Honeymoon_ (p72 in my copy) there is a conversation
between Bunter and Wimsey:
# "[...] Will you wear the Lovats or the grey suit?"
#
# "Neither -- find me an open shirt and a pair of flannel bags and --
# did you put in my old blazer?"
#
# "Certainly, my lord."
#
# "Then buzz off and get breakfast before I get like the Duke of
# Wellington, nearly reduced to a skellington. . . . I say,
Bunter." #
# "My lord."
Thanks. I'm glad I didn't dig through _Gaudy Night_, but I'm sorry if
you did.
Since it's Sayers writing, and Wimsey speaking, we can be fairly sure
that it's a quotation from somewhere else, but my researches haven't
shown me where.
I'll still bet it was a limerick.
[1] I've forgotten who it was, and the article has expired from my
server. |
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Jess Askin
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 1:49 am
Post subject: Re: Wimseycal skellingtons |
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Graeme Thomas wrote:
| Quote: | Someone recently[1] mentioned a couplet rhyming "Wellington" with
"skellington", and attributed it vaguely to Sayers. _Gaudy Night_ was
mentioned.
In _Busman's Honeymoon_ (p72 in my copy) there is a conversation
between Bunter and Wimsey:
|
Ah, good. I thought it was BH but I couldn't find my copy. I also can't seem
to find the web page that lists the sources of (most of) Sayers's
quotations.
| Quote: |
# "[...] Will you wear the Lovats or the grey suit?"
#
# "Neither -- find me an open shirt and a pair of flannel bags and --
# did you put in my old blazer?"
#
# "Certainly, my lord."
#
# "Then buzz off and get breakfast before I get like the Duke of
# Wellington, nearly reduced to a skellington. . . . I say, Bunter."
#
# "My lord."
Since it's Sayers writing, and Wimsey speaking, we can be fairly sure
that it's a quotation from somewhere else, but my researches haven't
shown me where.
[1] I've forgotten who it was, and the article has expired from my
server. |
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Jerry Friedman
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 1:58 am
Post subject: Re: Wimseycal skellingtons |
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Jess Askin wrote:
| Quote: | Jerry Friedman wrote:
Graeme Thomas wrote:
Someone recently[1]
"That was me," he said ungrammatically. (I'm imitating Sayers, not
trolling.)
Gosh, I thought it was me -- maybe we're experiencing thought transference
or something.
.... |
It was you. I provided my $0.02 worth on limericks, though. Unless
"Jess Askin" is a pseudonym for "Jerry Friedman".
--
Jerry Friedman, really |
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Chris Waigl
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:14 am
Post subject: Re: Wimseycal skellingtons |
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Graeme Thomas wrote:
| Quote: | I believe that Sayers was not above improving on some of her quotations.
Again in _Busman's Honeymoon_, she has Wimsey saying:
# 'As another Great Mind so happily put it, "However entrancing it is to
# wander though a garden of bright images, are we not enticing your mind
# from another subject of almost equal importance?" '
This is attributed to _The Golden Hours of Kai-Lung", by Ernest
Bramah[1]. It is some decades since I read that book, but it doesn't
rig quite true. I want to put "unchecked" between "wander" and
"through". Someone has stolen my copy of the book, though[2].
|
No, no this one's good. I remember digging up this quote when still in
high school, when I first read _Busman's Honeymoon_. Here's the quote
from the Project Gutenberg e-text:
----
"Your insight is clear and unbiased," said the gracious Sovereign.
"But however entrancing it is to wander unchecked through a garden of
bright images, are we not enticing your mind from another subject of
almost equal importance?"
<http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext98/klsgh10.txt>
----
Chris Waigl
and it was hard to get my hands of an English version of _Kai Lung_ back
in pre-Internet days |
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Graeme Thomas
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:39 am
Post subject: Re: Wimseycal skellingtons |
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In article <dg7j0p$ojp$1@domitilla.aioe.org>, Chris Waigl
<cwaigl@free.fr> writes
| Quote: | Graeme Thomas wrote:
I believe that Sayers was not above improving on some of her quotations.
Again in _Busman's Honeymoon_, she has Wimsey saying:
# 'As another Great Mind so happily put it, "However entrancing it is to
# wander though a garden of bright images, are we not enticing your mind
# from another subject of almost equal importance?" '
This is attributed to _The Golden Hours of Kai-Lung", by Ernest
Bramah[1]. It is some decades since I read that book, but it doesn't
rig quite true. I want to put "unchecked" between "wander" and
"through". Someone has stolen my copy of the book, though[2].
No, no this one's good. I remember digging up this quote when still in
high school, when I first read _Busman's Honeymoon_. Here's the quote
from the Project Gutenberg e-text:
----
"Your insight is clear and unbiased," said the gracious Sovereign.
"But however entrancing it is to wander unchecked through a garden of
bright images, are we not enticing your mind from another subject of
almost equal importance?"
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext98/klsgh10.txt
----
Chris Waigl
and it was hard to get my hands of an English version of _Kai Lung_ back
in pre-Internet days
|
Aha! The old memory is starting to let things trickle through.
This was obviously a favourite saying of Sayers, as she uses it in
_Strong Poison_. In that version she gets it right, with "unchecked".
That must be why the _Busman's Honeymoon_ version didn't seem quite
right to me.
But I wonder why Sayers dropped that word from the _BH_ version.
Carelessness? Poor editing?
--
Graeme Thomas |
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Jess Askin
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 7:06 am
Post subject: Re: Wimseycal skellingtons |
|
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Jerry Friedman wrote:
| Quote: | Jess Askin wrote:
Jerry Friedman wrote:
Graeme Thomas wrote:
Someone recently[1]
"That was me," he said ungrammatically. (I'm imitating Sayers, not
trolling.)
Gosh, I thought it was me -- maybe we're experiencing thought
transference or something.
...
It was you. I provided my $0.02 worth on limericks, though. Unless
"Jess Askin" is a pseudonym for "Jerry Friedman".
|
I only wish -- then I'd be free from the hell that is the SDC. |
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Rainbow
Joined: 29 Mar 2008
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 8:47 am
Post subject: |
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THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON
The great Duke of Wellington
Reduced himself to a skellington.
He reached seven stone two,
And then Waterloo!
Edmund Clerihew Bentley in "Biography for Beginners: being a collection of miscellaneous examples for the use of upper forms", 1905
Available at archive.org:
http://www.archive.org/details/biography00chesuoft |
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