Result! I have signed away yet more of my privacy with a 'fair'-ly secure password, and here I am, ready to confess to never having read 3 Men in a Boat. It seems there's one last copy in Butler that's not in the Rare Books room (!) so I'm going to head downstairs and pick it up. Stay tuned for the twists and turns involved in my finding it (or not!!) on the shelf, taking it to the circulation desk, and trying to avoid checking it out with the scary dude with the latex gloves who is very, very angry at the world.
Anyway, that's it: I'm in. I thought I'd also share this tidbit from Wikipedia with you:
'Among US troops in Iraq, "Three Men in a Boat" is slang for "stop", because of the shape of the Arabic word قف for "stop!"'
Doesn't quite have the punch of 'the suck', does it? What's happening to Army slang? Are they quietly conscripting English grad students? Why do you even need really lengthy slang for 'stop'?
So many questions.
Attempts to Be Less Ill-Read
Be More Ill-Read!
2 comments:
You know what I reckon? We'll all just keep talking about Three Men In A Boat (to say nothing of the dog) and NOT A SINGLE ONE OF US WILL EVER ACTUALLY READ IT.
There. I said it.
I have to say, I have an urge to agree with the WUB here. After all, I am still fighting my way through The Black Book (which, admittedly, has got a lot better in the last fifty pages or so). Then I have a (relatively short) McEwan to read for Book Club - AND THEN Jerome K. Jerome, your arse is mine.
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