Comments on: Samizdata quote of the day

By: 'Nuke' Gray

'Nuke' Gray — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:54:32 +0000

My favourite line is from the stories about the Drones- “He looked like he had drunk from the cup of life, only to discover a dead mouse in the bottom.” I forget where- have fun searching!

By: Laird

Laird — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:31:18 +0000

Here's another piece of trivia: Wodehouse wrote the lyrics to "Bill" from the musical "Showboat" (Hammerstein edited them slightly, but gave Wodehouse full credit). Here's a nice version. (Jane Monheit has an even better one, but it's not on YouTube.)

By: Sam Duncan

Sam Duncan — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:25:31 +0000

Tim N: that’s always intrigued me, even since I first found out. I’m sure it would be possible to concoct a quiz out of sentences picked from Wodehouse and Chandler, the idea being for victims to determine which is which. There must be something in the water at Dulwich, because they never met.

My favourite (although llamas’ runs it close), Bertie on Madeleine Bassett:

“She holds the view that the stars are God’s daisy chain, that rabbits are gnomes in attendance on the Fairy Queen, and that every time a fairy blows its wee nose a baby is born, which, as we know, is not the case”.

Really, he who is tired of Plum is tired of life.

By: llamas

llamas — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:46:25 +0000

YHS failed the interview for Dulwich College. That says something – I’m not quite sure what. I think it was because I told them my Dear Old Dad (MHRIP) was an engineer by profession, at which they recoiled, as from a serpent.

My Favourite Plum :

” . . .whose demeanour was now rather like that of one who, picking daisies on the railway, has just caught the down express in the small of the back.”

Second Favourite :

’You know your Shelley, Bertie!’
‘Oh, am I?’

llater,

llamas

(pronounced ‘Fan-Shawe’)

By: Tim Newman

Tim Newman — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 02:08:40 +0000

Another piece of trivia: Wodehouse attended Dulwich College, where Raymond Chandler went. Some coincidence that two of the greatest writers of dry wit went to the same school.

By: Tim Newman

Tim Newman — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 02:05:43 +0000

That’s why there’s been (relatively) so very few successful film and TV adaptations of Wodehouse, which is absolutely barmy when you consider the sheer volume of his work. Most of it only really “works” on the printed page.

Then again, I believe Wodehouse wrote a lot of scripts for the stage, which would explain why his stories are so fast-moving (very few wasted passages) and his dialogue is so good.

By: PersonFromPorlock

PersonFromPorlock — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 01:35:09 +0000

What is it about “the dog, Bartholomew” that becomes hysterically funny upon repetition?

And another treasured phrase: “I left, moving well.”

By: Dom

Dom — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 22:56:28 +0000

I like the theme to the television show, but the show itself … pfah!

My favorite Wodehouse joke: Bertie is lying in bed, and Jeeves has just brought him his “Eggs and B.” Then he tells Jeeves some horror story about Aunt Agatha, and he says, “I’m not hungry Jeeves. Remove the E. and Bacon.”

Hitchens in “Arguably” has a list of the verbs that Wodehouse uses whenever Jeeves appears. My favorite is “shimmers”.

Did the rest of you know that Wodehouse was an American when he wrote most of his stories?

By: Laird

Laird — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 22:29:13 +0000

Agreed, llamas, but I still love the Laurie/Fry series. It’s what introduced me to Wodehouse in the first place, and it was marvellously done.

By: bloke in spain

bloke in spain — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 18:55:31 +0000

Curiously, I did at one time know a chap whose surname began with two small f’s. His father was the bloke who signs the banknotes – quite a tedious job in those days, I’d imagine, as we were still using the 10 bobs.

My one particular memory was of a most satisfying piss-up in the parental home, whilst it was sans it’s châtelain. The house backed onto one of the Russian embassy places up in the wilds of Hampstead & the noise levels resulted in a couple of extremely bulky gentlemen with strangely large round heads & poor choice of tailors knocking at the door to plead for mercy.

If I remember rightly, he pronounced his surname with somewhat of a slur. But on the other hand he was pronouncing most things with a slur at that point.

Footnote: Consulting Wiki suggests the f’s came in assorted sizes but then that’s Wiki for you.

By: David Roberts

David Roberts — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 18:45:34 +0000

My quote of the day.

It is enough to be benign, to be gentle, to be funny, to be kind.

By: Brian Micklethwait

Brian Micklethwait — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 17:55:38 +0000

Yes, but if you understood the joke, why didn’t you explain it properly to the guy who didn’t? He apparently didn’t get all that. And nor, apparently, did you.