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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
gentleman, on the other hand, is understood to have some intellect, although not necessarily an abundance of it.
I would have said the standard English sense is quite the opposite of this, actually - and that yes, Wooster is the archetypal brainless loon representative of the inbred chinless aristocracy (delightfully harmless for all that!) who is extricated from his own ineptitude by the machinations of the studious Jeeves. Hence the layers of irony implicit, including "you are not only a gentleman, but a scholar (even though you're wealthy enough to pay someone else to do it for you!)"
I'm with you, Father Steve - except I drag a volume from the shelves rather than the wonderful Fry & Laurie interpretations.
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230 |
>I'm with you, Father Steve - except I drag a volume from the shelves rather than the wonderful Fry & Laurie interpretations.
While I must take a trip to my local bibliotheque for either. It must be about time I paid another visit to the Empress of Blandings.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Like Mav and Max, I enjoy many of Wodehouse's books and stories in print. In addition, my sweet bride presented me with a new biography of Wodehouse by Robert McRum called Wodehouse: A Life (Norton, 2004). I intend to remain married to so fine a woman as this.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
tinkle-in-the-eye...a subtle Season's Greeting Oh, HA! It's been too long since this place made me laugh out loud. That was great--thanks!
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
> the layers of irony implicit, including "you are not only a gentleman, but a scholar (even though you're wealthy enough to pay someone else to do it for you!)" fwiw, I found another usage example that tends to support this idea:
JEREMY
Sir, I have the seeds of rhetoric and oratory in my head: I have been at Cambridge.
TATTLE
Ay; 'tis well enough for a servant to be bred at an university: but the education is a little too pedantic for a gentleman. I hope you are secret in your nature: private, close, ha?William Congreve, Love for Love (1695) http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/sid./bookid.1567/sec.68/Gutenburg: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1244
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