On 27/5/05, Bob W, discombobulated, unleashed: >Samuel Johnson taught us how to spell, in 1755. 250 yeeres ago this yeere, >in fact.
(It is true - excerpt from the Palace, with Prince George, his butler Edmund Blackadder, a servant Baldrick, and Mr Samuel Johnston himself..... Prince George: Enter! Edmund: Dr. Johnson, Your Highness. Prince George: Ah, Dr. Johnson! Damn cold day! Dr. Johnson: Indeed it is, sir, but a very fine one, for I celebrated last night the encyclopedic implementation of my pre-meditated orchestration of demotic Anglo-Saxon. Prince George: (nods, grinning, then speaks) Nope -- didn't catch any of that. Dr. Johnson: Well, I simply observed, sir, that I'm felicitous, since, during the course of the penultimate solar sojourn, I terminated my uninterrupted categorization of the vocabulary of our post-Norman tongue. Prince George: Well, I don't know what you're talking about, but it sounds damn *saucy*, you lucky thing! I know some fairly liberal-minded girls, but I've never penultimated any of them in a solar sojourn, or, for that matter, been given any Norman tongue! Edmund: I believe, sir, that the Doctor is trying to tell you that he is happy because he has finished his book. It has, apparently, taken him ten years. Prince George: Yes, well, I'm a slow reader myself... Dr. Johnson: (places two manuscripts on the table, but picks up the top one) Here it is, sir: the very cornerstone of English scholarship. This book, sir, contains every word in our beloved language. Prince George: Hmm. Edmund: Every single one, sir? Dr. Johnson: (confidently) Every single word, sir! Edmund: (to Prince) Oh, well, in that case, sir, I hope you will not object if I also offer the Doctor my most enthusiastic contrafribularities. Dr. Johnson: What? Edmund: 'Contrafribularites', sir? It is a common word down our way... Dr. Johnson: Damn! (writes in the book) Edmund: Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I'm anispeptic, frasmotic, even compunctuous to have caused you such pericombobulation. Dr. Johnson: What? What? WHAT? Prince George: What are you on about, Blackadder? This is all beginning to sound a bit like dago talk to me. Edmund: I'm sorry, sir. I merely wished to congratulate the Doctor on not having left out a single word. (Johnson sneers) Shall I fetch the tea, Your Highness? Prince George: Yes, yes! Edmund: Certainly, sir. I shall return interfrastically. (exits) (J writes some more) Prince George: So, Dr. Johnson. Sit ye down. Now, this book of yours...tell me, what's it all about? Dr. Johnson: It is a book about the English language, sir. Prince George: I see! And the hero's name is what? (continues) Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=====| http://www.cottysnaps.com _____________________________
