Smithers ... does come up again and again, as a "name" for incompitennt handy man. (tho, in Fawlty Towers, they used O'Reilly)Interesting one, Helen - so does that mean Smithers in The Simpsons is meant to represent an
incompetent aide, or does that meaning only apply to men doing "real" work?
As far as I know we don't have a Britlish equivalent, i.e. a name applied to all incompetent handymen (
though all contributions gratefully received, fellow Brits). The incompetent handyman in Fawlty Towers may have been an Irishman called O'Reilly, but neither fact is particularly significant, any more than the fact that the long-suffering, slightly incompetent but much-maligned waiter happens to come from Barcelona and is called Manuel.
- or, of course, the fact that the incompetent, dysfunctional and often deranged hotel owner is an Englishman called Basil.
Well, I tell a lie there. He could
only be English.
Fisk
