Not so crabbit now! [2]

{{talking the Royal Wedding my favourite comment on it came from Frankie Boyle- 'Prince Philip plans to die during the wedding, as a final act of racism.'  }}}

Harsh, petty - harsh

From Al Jazeera:

"Expressions of Prince Philip's racism are not "gaffes" as the BBC and other British outlets embarrassed by their vulgarity brand them - though one can see why the BBC is rushing to term them as such and brush them quickly under the proverbial carpet. For the world at large, however, at the receiving end of British and European racist colonialism, these "gaffes" are in fact priceless relics of an age now deeply camouflaged under lovely-looking and liberal euphemisms. We as a result need to treat them as archaeologists treat any other relic and fragment they find. Based on such remains, they reconstruct bygone ages and the forgotten truths they reveal and conceal at one and the same time."

The whole thing is worth reading. I bless Al Jazeera for always bringing an eloquent outsider's view to the West.

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/08/priceless-racism-duke-edinburgh-170810082226234.html

Racist gaffes? I guess I won't ask.

Just read it.

Nah thanks.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:


{{talking the Royal Wedding my favourite comment on it came from Frankie Boyle- 'Prince Philip plans to die during the wedding, as a final act of racism.'  }}}

Her stare is pretty unnerving. Id be wary if I were Meghan. What thoughts are whizzing about in HRH's mind ?
" Here we go again, another yank " ( Edward & Wallis )
" Is she after what she can get ?"
"Meghan, Mmmmm, Menial title I think !"
" IL be dammed if the crown goes to a yank! "
" Remember to contact MI5"
" I was young & pretty once.............(must remember to contact MI5 ) "

{{From Frankie Boyle's latest series of New World Order- his surreal, conspiracy fed description of the Royal Wedding Day itinerary-

'At 11.30 the Royal Carriage arrives at Windsor.
At 11.38 Princess Anne will play three notes on a flute made from the shin bone of an Aboriginal Tribeswoman, which temporarily release Diana's soul from the Phantom Zone.
At 12 noon Prince Philip will step through a screaming mirror and proudly don his medals which commemorate his murder of the Arch-Angel Michael, for his life-long service to racism and for being Jack the Ripper.
At 12.15 the Duke of Windsor will perform his ceremonial duty pulling Prince Andrew off the choir. Andrew will topple backwards onto the organ and his arse will play the first two verses of All Along the Watchtower. 
At 12.28 the Queen will accidental summon Ra into the body of the Archbishop of York and Prince Philip will return to his chambers, cry out in Latin and thrust his penis into an interdimensional glory-hole.
And then its onto drinks at Windsor.'  }}

What is happening. Thank goodness those of us here in the states got out when we did.

I am torn about all this, my logical brain does a Jonathan Pie, but my romantical side says fuck it the wedding was lovely and happy and castles. Apart from Jazz Hands going on and on and on about lurve, which was excruciatingly embarrassing. and Prince Philip is great, he doesn't give a flying monkeys about identity politics and all that pc crap, good on him, he is 190 he can say what he likes.

Thank goodness those of us here in the states got out when we did.- Forest

{{On the otherhand your Head of State is Donald Trump- which is an argument in itself for not tarnishing the symbolism and idea of your country with politicians! }}

I am torn about all this- Figg

{{ I'm similarly split on the matter of Monarchy- I like having the position of head of State separate entirely from the government of the country, that works pretty well. Instinctively though I am opposed to the whole idea of inherited power and privilege, not to mention how when the poor need tax player help they are work shy scroungers, and when the rich take money from the tax payer its a subsidy or expenses.
I also have issue with the idea of Monarchy- they are the UK and Commonwealth in symbolic fashion, we rally round the idea of them and as such they can, and often are used for political reasons to either rally or quell the masses at times.  They are a very powerful propaganda tool.
Its worth remembering that the very real public anger at the Queen following Diana's death was because the Queen choose to grieve in private and to acknowledged a period of retreat from the public in line with tradition, and the public were angry because their idea of their monarchy was not reflecting their feelings and emotions- that got very close to scuppering the monarchy, and the solution, pushed by the Blair government, was for the Queen to acquiesce to the people's idea of what the Monarch should do and to do that. And as soon as she did the public mood shifted to complete support for the Royals.
But the whole incident shows just how powerful the idea of the Monarch is in the UK- to the bizarre point where we would threaten to rise up and remove it if it fails to reflect the majorities ideals of what it means to be British clearly enough so brainwashed to the equation that Monarchy=UK.  }}}

I look at it like this, at the moment living under the Tories can be so 'joyless' that watching some good old fashioned fairytale pomp really lifts the spirits. its all stage-setting obviously, but when I turned off the crabbit-o-meter, I really enjoyed watching it, it was beautiful, fantastical, and I could almost smell the flowers and feel the excitement of the crowds.

I have a mixed up feeling about Monarchy & Government. I think Im seeing History thru rose coloured specs. To me a King or Queen ruled but today I feel they are led around by the nose as if in a cattle market ? It seems to me that Government has more say than the Queen does. Unlike the old Saxon Kings, they took no shit from anyone.

Sure Petty, but he's the head of state for a maximum of 8 years, and the entire American sphere of influence doesn't go through some sort of fetishistic ritual when his kids get married!

I don't know, my brain has been too tired for the last three days straight to make heads nor tails of all this wedding brouhaha. Who the heck is Prince Phillip? And why is he still a prince at the age of 190? And how on earth did he get to 190 in the first place? Is Mrs. Figgs sharing her youth potion? It blows my mind that we have not one, but two living Brits from the Victorian era amongst us. I wonder if he's a fan of Tolkien as well...

Why is there a political party in the UK that sounds like they should be fighting bulls? And what on earth is lurve? Some kind of imported French pudding? Who's jazz hands?! I'm so confused!!!

...Don't even try and explain. My desire to remain ignorant is stronger than my other, clamourous, emotions.

Well, this may help in evincing some love for the Royals. Very different from the spendthrift blowhards we have running our government right now.

https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/shockingly-stingy-money-habits-queen-elizabeth-ii-royal-family-members.html/?ref=YF&yptr=yahoo

I've been reading Drink: a cultural history of alcohol by Iain Gately, a splendid writer if there ever was one.  For a history of something that typically causes people to act silly he doesn't disappoint.  The section on Carrie Nation is especially hysterical  - for those who don't know, she was a mascot of sorts of the temperance movement around 1900 - moving around the country smashing up bars and taverns with a hatchet.  I'm going to try to condense part of the description.

...after Kiowa she moved on to Wichita, the state capital, whose illegal drinking joints operated within walking distance of the legislature that had banned them, and which were renowned for their ostentatious architecture and interiors....she was arrested while in the process of battering the cherrywood bar counter with a brass spittoon.

Once they had her in custody, Wichita officials were confronted by a legal conundrum: Strictly speaking, drinking joints were banned in Kansas, and to prosecute someone for damaging one would be to admit their not-to-clandestine existence. The police chief offered to pay her fare home, but she refused to go, and so she was sent to Sedgewick County Jail  while they worked out what to do with her.  She caused similar headaches .... throughout and beyond the state after she was bailed, not least of all because the press detected greatness in Carrie Nation and encouraged her into newsworthy behavior.

...the Liquor Barons were effusive in their praise of the woman who described herself as "a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what He doesn't like."  She was offered considerable sums to represent various brands of beer, and several whiskey manufacturers sent her kegs of their product in the hope she would destroy them in front of the drinking public.  Whenever she smashed a bar the debris was collected and sold as relics; many saloons were named after her..."

Every description I read of this country during the gilded age makes me want to construct a time machine and pop back there.  I would say the modern age is staid and boring by comparison to the whackadoodle past, but now that we've got Trump I may as well stay.

Sure Petty, but he's the head of state for a maximum of 8 years, and the entire American sphere of influence doesn't go through some sort of fetishistic ritual when his kids get married!- Forest


{{yes but yours is always a politician tarnished by the dirt of politics. Take the Iraq war- Blair's government went to war against the wises of the people which were pretty clearly made to him. As such he remains vilified for a large section of the UK public.
But he wasn't head of state, so it remains untarnished by those events- we have no idea hat, if any opinion, the Queen expressed on the matter or what advice she gave- from the public pov she was above the dirt of the politic of it. The symbology, the idea of Britain therefore remained out of the fray. That's a big advantage.

As to the wedding, whilst its certainly ritualistic and full of pageantry ect its also about more than that- the age of the ceremonies, the fact the building they marry in is where Kings and Queens hundreds of years dead were married and yet they wore the same crowns creates the false, but very powerful idea of stability, of continuity, that no matter what political shenanigans the world gets up to, if Britain is an Empire or just a voice in a chorus at war or at peace, we remain and always have been British doing these British things- solidly, capably, with dignity and tradition, the idea of Britain surviving down through the ages in ceremony and building structures. Its a myth the tale it tells, but like I say a very powerful one. }}}

Shouldn't you have used "while" instead of "whilst" at the top of the second paragraph?

'Both while and whilst are ancient, though while is older. There's no difference in meaning between them. For reasons that aren't clear, whilst has survived in British English but has died out in the US. However, in Britain it is considered to be a more formal and literary word than its counterpart.' - worldwidewords

I suppose both uses are there. We in America don't use it except to sound affected. I think part of the popularity of Tolkien over here is that he never used the word.

But a word I really wish would come back: whence. It takes at least 3 other words cobbled together to convey the same meaning.

{{What's more interesting here is that I used the word almost subconsciously in this context because the subject matter was Royalty, so I used the formal version because I was talking of my Betters- I said the Royal myth was powerful. }}

theres quite a few words I wish would come back in fashion, thou, thee, nesh, chunder, big-girls-blouse.

But I agree with Petty about the ancient pomp, its the only thing the British can say we do very well. That and inventing things in sheds. We used to be good at exploring and mountaineering in tweeds, but they are too nesh these days.

Thusly is teh bestest word

I wonder if swears like "God's teeth!" or "God's blood!"will ever come back. The closest I've seen in a modern setting is "Zounds!" [God's wounds!], exclaimed by Spaceman Spiff: Calvin's pulp-science-fiction alter-ego in the Bill Waterson cartoons.

"Cuckold" and the shortened "cuck" is coming back into modern vocabulary, at least on the seedier portions of the internet, like meme culture and porn websites. So stranger things have happened.