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Saturday
Oct232010

Dress your language.

I remember watching Stephen Fry on Blackadder Goes Forth when I was in England in the late 1980s. He was General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett in the WWI-era installment of the series. A very young Hugh Laurie, well before House fame, also had a role. Rowan Atkinson played the title character. It was hilarious. This was the same time that I was giggling over Alexei Sayles, although I think Blackadder would still be funny today.

It made for some pleasant recollections when a colleague forwarded the following to me this week. I should absolutely be included in Fry's criticism. I am guilty of criticizing the supermarket for failing to print "Ten Items or Fewer" instead of "Ten Items or Less" on the express check-out signs. I should probably let that one go. (I'm not saying that I can or will; but recognizing one has a problem is the first step in solving it.)

In the end, though, Fry does give me a bit of a pass, where it truly matters: Words are my trade, and so I must dress them accordingly. Just as I dress myself to go to work each day. I feel so much better.

Plus, "sound-sex" is just about the coolest term I've heard in years. And he gets extra points for "yoking" it together. My goodness.

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Reader Comments (1)

"Too farting busy" ... I'm going to have to work that into my regular rotation. And maybe "pedant", too (as soon as I look it up).

October 23, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterSusan

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