Ghost of a flea: Imprecision in such matters brings out the pedant in me

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November 09, 2010

Imprecision in such matters brings out the pedant in me

Taken from Second Opinion: A Doctor's Notes from the Inner City, in which Theodore Dalrymple explains an Englishman's poo is his castle. A "body packer" was on the ward and "the police, of course, were interested in his faeces."

The law states, however, that an Englishman’s poo is his property, and to search it without the owner’s consent requires a search warrant. I had mistakenly supposed that, once shed, it was in the public domain. One learns these arcane things through experience.

Fried food and alcoholic Friday nights made flesh: The full scale of Dalrymple's reactionary evil and a link to Common People, in which he claims vulgarity is now the ruling characteristic of England. One is forced to agree.

That vulgarity is now the ruling characteristic of England, of the prosperous as of the poor, is evident in small things and in large. At the airport you can always tell a flight bound for England by the number of grossly fat and hideously apparelled passengers waiting to board. No man can be blamed for being ill-favoured by nature; but every man can be blamed for making the worst of himself, as the English now seem to do as a matter of principle. They are the ugliest people in the world, but this has nothing to do with biology.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at November 9, 2010 07:28 AM

Comments

It's nice not to be the "Ugly American" anymore. I had thought for a while that the "ugliest tourist" title was held by Germans - either in the rich version clad in Speedo swimwear below infrastructure badly in need of reinforcing struts, or the more prosaic smelly youth hostel version.

By the way, amI the only person to recall that the book "The Ugly American" was actually about an American volunteer in the Third World, helping to repair irrigation pumps? I still readit every few years. On busses. Which carry goats. And I carry a toolbag. And fix things at every opportunity. On my own fucking dime.

Oh, yeah, and God bless you Flea. You helped turn my kids on to punk.

Posted by: ktel60 at November 9, 2010 11:44 PM