In my research of your fair land I have come across much more than just language items that interest me, of course. Here's one. This dude really knew how to dress. In those days (as now) General officers (and top naval officers) designed their own uniforms. And I think this dude was one hell of a designer. Is he magnificent-looking, even for that period? I think so. Of course, this is a portrait of one of the most famous British citizens who ever lived, so each and every Brit who comes across this post will reognize this famous face in an instant. But let me challenge my American readers: Who is this incredibly important and famous man? When it is past 2 PM in England, the Brits can comment and set the Americans straight. No googling. If you don't know him, leave it for someone who does, please.Would you not just DIE for a hat like that? I would wear it. I would wear that sucker right down main street. And I would give a smart salute to all the people who dared to stare at me openly. But that's just me.
Hooray!
[Click here to see the American version of the picture.]
![[Click here to see the American version of the picture.]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXldlIof2QC7xnyGgZhmpN_Cd7FvNYUGgyAA8MGRMaHKjXV_R0RyeK6sGT5NcZSqKQ1Lweyz_9M-vaMSApQIv2qsj28ZfwR9_RHewN9D8f0cQGOMsmqUlHhHpF6QM2sBuDGJbVY1PqSUw/s1600-h/NelsonWashington.jpg){kind=link}
I'll be honest, I did not know who this was. I did cheat and googled from a hint I spied somewhere on BritishSpeak, but I'll clam up to see if anyone else gets it. Quite the snappy dresser, if I say so myself.
ReplyDeleteBoy George obviously got his look from this bloke.
ReplyDeleteMy apologies to Canucklehead. In my haste to answer him, I think I deleted his comment. I can't make it reappear (I am not that good at this) but this is what he said:
ReplyDelete---------
"Right click, save picture as ... hmmm, what is the file called?"
---------
Only now I can't remember the witty (smartass) comment I was going to make to him in reply. I am pretty sure it was mighty clever though, knowing me.
Redbeard-Your two guesses were both wrong (Winston Churchill and Boy George.) Sorry. :)
And how silly of me to think any of the Brits would bother to answer.
I followed Canuck's instructions, and apparently his guess is Nelson Rockefeller. Wrong, dude.
Ok, here is the correct answer for "who is this well-dressed dude?": Christopher Cradock.
I think.
As usual, I am a day late and a dollar short. I really just wanted an excuse to say HI MAX!
ReplyDelete'Ello
ReplyDeleteNelson Mandela? ;)
ReplyDeleteNow there is a great man, with a fine hat worthy of his status.
ReplyDeleteAnd you should see the size of his column!...
Horatio Hornblower
ReplyDeleteor possibly Captain George Cockburn
ReplyDeleteCan I say who it is yet? Can I?
ReplyDelete*hint* - I may be walking past a statue of him (well, looking up at it) sometime this weekend when I'm in London.
Catherine, of course you may tell. And I am glad it will be you because I know you are the only one who is too honorable to cheat. That is to say, you REALLY know who it is.
ReplyDeleteGo ahead. :)
Errrrm, I drove past his flagship today, does that count?
ReplyDelete@ ettarose - Hi right back at you. Get some rest now. :)
ReplyDelete@ Caroline - 'ello. A little belated. Sorry. How are you today?
@ Redbeard - I can play this game. Nelson Eddy, you musical genius, you. (At least I THINK he was something to do with music at some time or other. You would surely no. Or was he a politician? No matter. :)
@ Lord Likely - I need to talk to your peerish ass, milord. Do try to find time. It involves handling slippery naked women. If you are interested. :) But yes, a fine and upstanding column, indeed. I guess. Love your new layout, btw.
@ a. - Stop it a. The party is not until August 9th. And it's not even on this blog. Are you just practicing up with your double entendres? Spare me. Oh! but you are an exasperating woman. Pirates of Penzance, indeed. i will never trust you again. :)
@ a. - You can answer if you want. I know you actually knew the answer even though you probably still cheated just to be sure. But his flagship is not in Hong Kong. And I know that is where you were this morning. :)
ReplyDeletePerhaps not...
Since you want to get musical Max, I see your Nelson Eddy and raise you a Ricky Nelson. And his sons Matthew and Gunnar. They're quite femmey.
ReplyDeleteIn spite of what you may think, It's all in the eye of the beholder. Honi soit qui mal y pense. Hornblower and Cockburn are real, well, possibly Hornblower less so. And how do you pronounce Cockburn? Co-burn.
ReplyDeleteSomething that has fascinated me for some time is the way Americans use coworkers. I presume you mean co-workers and not cow-orkers. And why not colleagues like the rest of us? See, this really is proper Britishspeak stuff.
@ A. - Great. So are you going to give the answer or what? :)
ReplyDeleteVice Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson. Redbeard seems to be getting close. Perhaps.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Viscount! His wiki actually contains a much longer title as inscribed on his coffin, but it's much too long and dull to post here.
ReplyDeleteWell if we're going to be picky, don't forget the Baron :)
ReplyDeleteOh, right Sheila. I always miss on some mundane detail. ;)
ReplyDeleteArtist obviously caught him on a good day. I know the column well, plus I have visited his tomb, though not actually on purpose...
ReplyDeleteWell, I must tell you I don't know that much about it as I should, Alison. The column is in Trafalgar Square, rigt? But surely the tomb is elsewhere? I'm not sure how one stumbles on a tomb by mistake... :)
ReplyDeleteWell, I must say that I did, in fact, know who this fine upstanding Officer was however I was busy taking my youngest to the airport to catch a flight back to Florida earlier and hence I am very late in getting here.
ReplyDeleteNext time you're going to post something for history buffs (which I flatter myself to be) please let me know ahead of time so I can play along. I feel like I got to the swings after everyone else went home ... :-(
I knew! I love the hat too. Would look great upside down, as a handbag.
ReplyDeleteHi Linda. Are you really a history buff? I should have know that (or remembered that?) about you. I will put of more of these, and more seriously and harder, if you promise to try and visit more often. I have a 911 question for you anyway. So come back. :) I think I also missed the deal with your daughter in Florida, so I will have to visit YOU more often as well.
ReplyDeleteStine? You expect me to believe that is really you? I will take a chance that it IS really you and tell you how good it is to see you again. I know you had not idea who that was, but I won't call you on it. (Just kidding - I have come to believe you know everything British. And practically nothing about the USA. Perhaps that's as it should be. You were very young during your brief visit, and the trauma has probably been blocked out. :) So....how is Stine today? What has been going on in your world?
And, if I can't start taking more time to proofread my comments, I will simply stop making them. That will make some of you happy anyway. Shit.
ReplyDeleteRedbeard - Nelson Chamisa. Although you probably do not know of him.
ReplyDeleteYes, this blog even has followers in Africa. And Australia. And - as you've just discovered - far way Norway. Well not so far away if you don't live in New Mexico. But pretty far. Pretty lady, too.
I'll bet you are impressed now. And will not talk nasty to me anymore. Fat chance, huh?
Meh...that's easy. The images is of my mother, right after a night of Pernod and Vodka. She always gets into embarrassing states like that. The old tart has no fucking shame at all. The hat's nice though, I'll give her that.
ReplyDeleteQelqoth, odd that you should mention your mother. I have met your mother, as you are undoubtedly aware. In fact, I probably would have been your father had that rapper in line in front of me not had that extra dime.
ReplyDeleteBut that's history, isn't it. I haven't heard from you in weeks, so I am surprise to find that you are still alive and out of jail again. I suppose you call it GAOL in Wales, though. Beats living on the streets though, eh?
Especially in the back alleys of Newport. Dumpster diving and all. Btw, I was sorry to hear about your Meth lap explosion. Has your eyesight begun to return yet?
ReplyDelete"Kiss me, Hardy"
ReplyDeleteOr "Kismet, Hardy"
or "Did they miss me, Hardy?"
Oh the ignominy of having one's dying words misheard.......
(Unlike King George V, upon being told by his doctor that he might soon recuperate enough to enjoy convalescence at the seaside town of Bognor Regis... The King closed his eyes, and uttered his final words, "Bugger Bognor!".... then died.)
Oh... and I agree with A.
ReplyDeleteYou americans are utterly beastly in your orking of cows.
Souberkwits words from a blogpost that failed to stir up much in the way of ire:
"Do not ork cows. It is a filthy activity and probably illegal.
Where did the word coworker come from?
At what point did it cease to matter that you do not know where to find the hyphen key on your computer?
Co-worker. A colleague. A fellow worker. Not an orker of cows.
Main Entry:
co-
Function:
prefix
Etymology:
Middle English, from Latin, from com-; akin to Old English ge-, perfective and collective prefix.
I feel better now for that. Maybe that's what I'll do for a while. Have quick blogrants.
Umm. If you feel that coworker is indeed a valid word, unhyphenated, then don't try to tell me. lalala, I can't hear you... coworkers are people who ork cows:- not colleagues. Unless you are in a cow-orking syndicate. In which case I hope you are arrested soon. And taught the folly of your ways."
I call upon Britishspeak to address this issue.
"Kiss me, Hardy"? "Kismet, Hardy"?
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how all the English history books have gotten his last words wrong? Perhaps I shouldn't be so astounded at that.
The were perfectly clear. No misunderstanding them at all. He was looking across the years. In the clarity that such a moment often provides, his dying words were in reference to the Slap & Tickle, of course: "Good. Now I won't miss Tom's party."
So obvious. How could the dolts have missed it?
or "Did they miss me, Hardy?"
And how proud you seem to be of your little hyphen.
ReplyDeleteAnd exactly where to put it inside words. Shall I tell you somewhere else you might put it?
ReplyDeleteHi, Souby.
No. Hardy (nor Laurel, either, for that matter) missed him.
ReplyDeleteI will stop now.
My memory is almost full anyway.
Hats just aren't what they used to be.
ReplyDeleteLaurel and Hardy are my dad's favs. Just thought you might want to know that.
ReplyDeleteCaroline. Amazing. Nelson's favorites too, according to Soubriquet. :)
ReplyDeleteI will think up something easier for you to say.
Caroline, how about "oi"?
ReplyDeleteYou may say that over and over, rapidly, if you like. You do not have to wait until the party. If you do, there may be more motivation. It's up to you, of course.
ReplyDeleteSilly drinking games.
ReplyDeleteWait a minute. This isn't the pub blog. What are you doing, Caroline?
ReplyDeleteDescartes, I notice you don't wear a hat at all. Wouldn't you truly wear Nelson's hat? I would. I would only add a larger peacock feather is all. And perhaps some more bling. Maybe some Harry Truman political buttons and such. I may look for one and wear it to the party on the 9th. I think you and Soubriquet should come out of your shells and wear fancy hats to the party as well. The ladies love them. It will be worth your effort.
ReplyDeleteSoubriquet -BrithishSpeak is about to address the issue of dumbass Americans and their nonhyphenated fixation. Stand by. (The "nonhypenated" error was especially for you. Hell, that one is even hyphenated in the U.S. So I made a special effort on that one.) Keep standing by, please.
ReplyDeleteBut first, I must address the nonchalant attitude of the British towards apostrophes. If I may.
Ahej...testing..testing....one...two. Ahem.
You're just jealous because you don't have your own meth lab. How the hell do you think I keep my subscribers in line? ;)
ReplyDeleteAs for dumpster diving, we call it "skip raiding" here and I only do that to salvage working electrical components.
It's something I have to do to further the development of my global war machine (URL below) and also, to keep my meth lab running smoothly, lol.
I can read you loud and clear here now, Max, using Foxfire. If your readers don't convert, it's their loss. Go ahead and repost. (re-post?)
ReplyDeleteredbeard - Thanks. I sure appreciate you spending time checking it out. I have no real clue, but 3 maybes. I am working on a different post. The first one was to long anyway - I need to rework it into more bite-sized chunks. (It was probably really 3 posts. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks again, ok?
And just what sort of 911 question might you have? It's actually 9-1-1 as there is no 11 on the phone pad!
ReplyDeleteHi Linda. Thank you. No 91 either. You and Soubriquet and your hypens. But my mystery has been solved. I was about at my wit's end. (My wit isn't very long.)
ReplyDeleteThe police have been visiting me several times a day for the past 3 weeks. After the first few times, they at least stopped searching the house. 911 hang-ups, they said. From my phone. From my computer's phone, to be exact. I know, I know. But 911 was what they wrote in the report, not 9-1-1. Anyway. Even with unplugging my phone line completely they still continued to come to the house day and night. Even when my line was unplugged and my modem was unplugged and my computer was unplugged and I was in Boston. They said they still were visiting my house in my absence. So I was going to ask you if you had ever heard of it before. The phone company simply told me I was crazy and put me back on moozak.
I finally found out what it was, and I'm sure you know.
But thanks for making your expertise available. :)