The United States and Great Britain are two countries
separated by a common language.
This famous quote, commonly attributed to George Bernard Shaw, highlights the differences between two countries where the language is the same (or similar!) to your language. It could also apply to Australia or Canada.
I admit to being a devotee of British dramas, mysteries, and comedies, and occasionally I come across a term that I don’t understand, and have to look it up. Favorites tv shows are Downton Abbey, Foyle’s War, Midsomer Murders, and Agatha Christie Mysteries. Then there’s Miss Fisher Mysteries, an Australian production. Here are some of the terms/words/phrases I’ve run across. Any that you’ve heard and been perplexed by?
Jumped up (adjective) – denoting someone who considers themselves to be more important than they really are, or who has suddenly and undeservedly risen in status: “she’s not really a journalist, more a jumped-up PR woman.” Heard on more than one program, but especially on Downton Abbey, when Violet’s maid calls Dr. Clarkson a “Jumped up old sawbones.” I love this one, and will attempt to include it in my own vocabulary.
All Sir Garnet – Said by Thomas Barrow on Downton Abbey (suspected things were not “All Sir Garnet”). This is a one-time British army slang term meaning that all is in order or everything’s OK. It’s a memorial to one of the most famous soldiers of the latter nineteenth century, Sir Garnet Wolseley, later Viscount Wolseley.
Cheeky – Playfully impertinent. “Did you just whistle at that old lady? You cheeky monkey.” Mrs. Patmore calls a local merchant a “cheeky devil” for flirting with her.
erysipelas – Erysipelas is an infection of the upper layers of the skin (superficial). Erysipelas results in a fiery red rash with raised edges that can easily be distinguished from the skin around it. Mentioned on Downton Abbey, when Isobel Crawley mistakenly diagnoses Mr. Moseley’s rash as erysipelas, when it really is a rash caused by an allergy to rue.
King Canute (Cnut, Knud) – King of Denmark, England and Norway, together often referred to as the Anglo-Scandinavian or North Sea Empire. After his death, the deaths of his heirs within a decade, and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history. The medieval historian Norman Cantor has stated that he was “the most effective king in Anglo-Saxon history”, although Cnut himself was Danish, not British or Anglo-Saxon. Cnut’s name is popularly invoked in the context of the legendary story of King Canute and the waves, but usually misrepresenting Cnut as a deluded monarch believing he had supernatural powers, when the original story in fact relates the opposite and portrays a wise king. Mentioned by the dowager Countess Violet Crawley on Downton Abbey.
Agony Aunt – The writer of an advice column, like Dear Abby. In Downton Abbey, Violet’s butler (Septimus Spratt) writes the Agony Aunt column in Lady Edith Crawley’s ladies’ magazine.
Blue crested hoopoe – The rare bird that the bird watchers argue about in an episode of Midsomer Murders is a Blue Crested Hoopoe – which doesn’t exist. A Hoopoe does, which is a colorful bird found across Afro-Eurasia, notable for its distinctive “crown” of feathers. It is the only extant species in the family Upupidae.
Casu marzu – Also seen on Midsomer Murders. Literally translating into English as “rotten/putrid cheese”, is a traditional Sardinian sheep milk cheese, notable for containing live insect larvae (maggots). Although found in the island of Sardinia, a variety of this cheese is also found in the nearby Corsica, where it goes by the name of casgiu merzu.
Parvenu – a person from usually a low social position who has recently or suddenly become wealthy, powerful, or successful but who is not accepted by other wealthy, powerful, and successful people. The word is borrowed from the French; it is the past participle of the verb parvenir (to reach, to arrive, to manage to do something).
Don’t tell the world about it – Heard more than once, but Lady Flintshire says it when her husband mentions aloud that their days of personal servants are over because of their reduced circumstances.
Blighty – a wound suffered by a soldier in World War I that was sufficiently serious to merit being shipped home to Britain: “he had copped a Blighty and was on his way home”. Mentioned by Lady Cora Grantham’s maid, speaking about Thomas Barrow’s war injury.
Mumsy – drab or dowdy; unfashionable.
h’aporth -As in “you daft h’aporth”. Half penny worth. A silly or foolish person.
Other widely used words and terms:
Toff – Upper Class Person
Punter – customer or user of services (more specifically, of businesses which “rip off” the customer). Occasionally refers to a speculator, bettor, or gambler, or a customer of a prostitute.
Bob’s Your Uncle – There you go!
Bits ‘n Bobs – Various things
Her Majesty’s Pleasure – To be in prison
Knackered – phrase meaning “extremely tired,” often uttered after a long, exhausting day; also see: “zonked.”
Slap And Tickle – making out, heavy petting or [!]
Starkers – completely naked.
Tickety-Boo – phrase for when everything’s going great.
Gutted – a British slang term that is one of the saddest on the lists in terms of pure contextual emotion. To be ‘gutted’ about a situation means to be devastated and saddened. For example, ‘His girlfriend broke up with him. He’s absolutely gutted.’
Gobsmacked – a truly British expression meaning to be shocked and surprised beyond belief. The expression is believed by some to come literally from ‘gob’ (a British expression for mouth), and the look of shock that comes from someone hitting it.
Taking The Piss – Given the British tendency to mock and satirize anything and everything possible, ‘taking the piss’ is in fact one of the most popular and widely-used British slang terms. To ‘take the piss’ means to mock something, parody something, or generally be sarcastic and derisive towards something.
Dodgy – In British slang terms, ‘dodgy’ refers to something wrong, illegal, or just plain ‘off’, in one way or another.
Scrummy– One of the more delightful British slang terms in this list, ‘scrummy’ is used as a wonderfully effusive term for when something is truly delicious and mouth-wateringly good (Heard on The Great British Baking Show.)
Kerfuffle – A rather delightful and slightly archaic word is ‘kerfuffle’. ‘Kerfuffle’ describes a skirmish or a fight or an argument caused by differing views.
Tosh – A nifty little British term that means ‘rubbish’ or ‘crap’.
Wanker – Possibly the best British insult on the list, it fits a certain niche for a single-worded insult to lobbied out in a moment of frustration, anger, provocation, or, of course, as a jest amongst friends. ‘Wanker’ fits the closest fit by ‘jerk’ or ‘asshole’, but to a slightly higher value.
Brilliant – not a word exclusively in the British lexicon, but has a very British usage. Specifically, when something is exciting or wonderful, particularly when something is good news, ‘brilliant’ can mean as such.
Barmy – Crazy, insane.
Chin-wag – A chat or brief conversation.
Collywobbles – Nervousness; butterflies in the stomach.
Peckish – Slightly hungry.
Tosser – A contemptible idiot.
Twee – Overly dainty, delicate, cute, or quaint. “Her bunny-themed tea set is so utterly twee.”
Blimey – (informal) an exclamation of surprise. (Originally gor blimey, a euphemism for God blind me, but has generally lost this connotation.)
Bubble and Squeak – dish of cooked cabbage fried with cooked potatoes and other vegetables. Often made from the remains of the Sunday roast trimmings.
By-election – special election.
Being a big fan of Brit and Aussie dramas, I love their terms and phrases. Find them almost poetic and very colorful.
Reading your posts today is very reminicent of younger days enjoying classes with substitute teachers! Thank you for keeping the flame.
Did you catch “Mr. Inbetween” on FX? Pretty good for a drama about a hitman.
No, but I will check it out. Thanks CR
Be warned, it’s a violent mess.
TY
Try Foyle’s War…murder mystery with the backdrop of WWII.
We missed it when it first came on. It is a multiple series programme. And I can tell you this…
We were never so sorry to see a series end as we were this one. So.much so we have revisited it 8 times now, and will do so again and again.
Just SUPERB!!
Thank you Betsy. I’ve already watched it and completely agree with you. Not only is it a great series, the time period is one of my favorites. It is excellent and it is definitely on my rerun list.
Quite welcome.😊
Leavemygunsalone just posted another of my favorites, A Place to Call Home. I think you will enjoy that one.
Thank you, oldschool. We’ve noticed it but for some reason have not looked at it. Will definitely give it a viewing.
I absolutely loved Foyles War
It was fabulous…when it ended we felt we.were saying goodbye to old friends. Even knowing we could rewatch it, we just hated to see it end. So understated.
A 1990s series worth watching is The Darling Buds of May. Set in a farm in Kent in the 1950s. Features Catherine Zeta-Jones, very young, before she became a star.
Another fave is The Last of the Summer Wine. Follows the ramblings and musings of a group of elderly men roaming their Yorkshire environs.
Seen it, love it.
Have you seen A Place to Call Home? An Australian night time soap-opera drama that moves fast as the dickens w/some fabulous couture. They cover about every topic there is cover.
5 Seasons.
Yes! I liked that one too and wanted to recommend it to Betsy, but could not remember the name. Thank you so much!
👍
Truthers
I hear some people in Louisiana say when they talk about turning the light switch off or on:
“cut the light off” or “cut the light on”
These terms are often used by true southerners. I grew up in NC and these were common phrases.
We say it in Tennessee also.
Ga. Also
Turn on the lights, turn off the lights, or the cut on one, grew up in South Carolina Sandhills.
I like the Boz Scaggs lyric when he says, “calm the lights”.
That rang a bell – I learned “We’re All Alone” years ago. Lovely piano ballad. I may need to bring it back…thanks…
My grandparents would “open an close” the light.
That’s a standard expression here in North Carolina
It’s because one is cutting the electric circuit. I have heard cut the light off but never cut the light on.
To have a bit of fun. If it doesn’t please you, then pass on by.
A bit of fluff was a name given to a dalliance with a silly pretty girl
It also helps to know who “Uncle Bob” was. Robert Gascoyne-Cecil was the Prime Minister of England. He appointed his nephew to the job of Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1887. It was this nepotism that marked it as a done deal, if “Bob’s your uncle”.
I didn’t know that. Thanks!
I didn’t know that either.
And the London Metropolitan Police were initiated by Prime Minister Robert Peale, hence the term “Bobbies”.
And another excellent one, thank you! Two in a row, I must be livin’ right….
Excellent history lesson, thank you! The origin of words and phrases is one of my chief interests, and being a confirmed Anglophile it is in exactly these little factoids that I delight.
Scrummy known as yummy here.
Or scrumptious. Yummy + scrumptious = scrummy?
Scrumdiddlyumptious
The Guy Ritchie films “Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch” were brilliant.
“Snatch” was hysterical!
If you haven’t seen the other one I highly recommend it!
To smile, for once.
Amen, CR….and brother do we ever need it!
You ain’t kiddin’ Bet.
I’ve listed some movies below I know you’d enjoy, my friend. I’ve never been as sure of anything in my life. Hope you’ll check them out.🤗
Yes ma’am.
😁
Fries are chips
Chips are crisps
Crisps are crumbles
Now that I’ve got that sussed, I believe I’ll order a take away!
And cookies are biscuits,
Dessert is pudding (no matter what it looks like)
sometimes their “pudding” is a savory and not something I would eat either
I’m with you.
I have a cookbook of 16th to 19th century recipes from England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.
Whoa.
Australian – hot chips = fries chips = chips
And “mind the step” as you walk out.
Years after leaving England, I still call it take away.
Why not join in? Which of the following slang terms describes your comment? Choose from a list or provide your own:
grinch, killjoy, party pooper, spoilsport, wet blanket
Maybe I will get a banned. However W*nker would be good too.
😎
Lol. I was going to use it once on an earlier post but decided not to. It also means a jerk.
Both figuratively and one who does literally.
Was waiting for that one, Dekester….leave it to you😂😉
👍
Harry and Meghan=Wank and Skank
Don’t feed the wanker.
In Ireland, the term of choice is ‘knuckle shuffler’.
I love Hyacinth in Keeping Up Appearances. She is the Bucket I never want to be! 😹
Midsomer Murders is my Saturday mainstay.
Rewatching it right now!
Hahaha!
Giggle…
Chuckle…
Snort…
Heh!😂
Mumsy?
killjoy was my mama’s favorite.
Killroy was here
I used to use that doodle as my avatar.
Here’s a couple the lads would use:
1) flappers
2) slapper
3) leg over
I will let someone else explain…
PS Great post. Brought back some memories…
A bit of how’s your father!
<and the purpose of this fluff article?>
Is your question in loo of a crappy comment 🙂
Internet winner!
I hope this post doesn’t offend you. I’m posting in the spirit of sharing, not to criticize or offend.
in lieu
: INSTEAD
in lieu of
: in the place of : instead of
No offense taken… 🙂
I’m posting in the spirit of letting you in on the humor:
loo
n. Chiefly British
A toilet.
Ahem! … it is humour!
Try to communicate in English!
I think you missed the joke. ‘Loo’ is a slang word meaning toilet.
Yes I did miss it … now I’ve found it. 🙂
Bam! Word man drops another one!
Joe Biden is a complete tosser of the first water. btw, I am English
I wonder who knocks him up every morning.
A woman who is knocked up is accidentally pregnant in Oz.
And never mind him wot eats roots, shoots and leaves!
Wi nowt taken out…
My mother, an Icelandic immigrant to the USA, learned British English in grade school. After emigrating to the USA, she once asked the milkman if he could knock her up tomorrow morning, as she had something to do early that day.
The milkman didn’t really answer, but gave her a really strange look and slowly backed away.
She found out later that day what it meant in American English.
I have heard that term many times. The Nurse in the unit where I worked was from England and she used this term.
Speaking of nurses, Call the Midwife is another great show.
I am not sure if it is used in America or great Britain, the word Bogan is used a lot here in Australia it describes a special type of person.
You left off…..”Needs must, the Devil drives. ”
Bobs yer Uncle
For my sins
“Wotcher” Originally a contraction of “Wot cheer” , a slang expression that’s roughly “How are you”…
That’s a cockney term that made it’s way to Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire lexicon. It took me a while to figure that one out.
“On yer bike” means get lost
There is a small town in Iowa with the name of What Cheer. Sounds like there’s a connection there.
Interesting – I am a big fan of the Mr. Magoo cartoon version of A Christmas Carol – terrific musical score – I own and watch it every Christmas (which to me is all of December).
In the scene where the newly awakened Scrooge asks the boy in the street to go buy the huge turkey, the cartoon character responds “wotcher” and starts to walk away. I always thought he meant “you’re crazy!”
fair dinkum
slang, Australia
: unquestionably good or genuine : EXCELLENT —often used as a general expression of approval
Happy as Larry…….but no ones ever been able to advise who Larry is.
In your case to provide an example of the phrase ‘oxygen thief’.
I’m not familiar with any of the TV shows, as I have no TV — but! — I am a great reader.
Following are the British ‘terms’ I come across most often:
apartment = flat
stroller = pram
bar = pub
bathroom = toilet
beer = lager
braid = plait
bum = tramp
butt = arse
cab = taxi
call (telephone) = ring
can = tin
closet = wardrobe
crib (baby) = cot
diaper = nappy
flashlight = torch
fries = chips
garbage can = dust bin
gas station = petrol station
gasoline = petrol
ground beef = minced beef
highway = motorway
hood (of car) = bonnet
laundromat = launderette
line = queue
mass transit = public transport
oatmeal = porridge
pacifier = dummy
package = parcel
panty hose = tights
parking lot = car park
pharmacist = chemist
pitcher = jug
railroad = railway
rubber boots = wellies
raincoat = macintosh
realtor = estate agent
RV park = caravan park
scotch tape = cellotape
sidewalk = pavement
sneakers = trainers
station wagon = estate car
stove = cooker
stroller = pram
subway = underground
sweater = jumper
takeout = takeaway
truck = lorry
trunk (of a car) = boot
vacation = holiday
windshield = windscreen
zip code = post code
After a time running into these ‘alternative’ words, they no longer seem odd.
(Stella — thank you for the distraction!)
An elevator is a lift
So are shoe inserts
😂
Dang!!! You just brought back my entire childhood in one post!!!!!
“I’m not familiar with any of the TV shows, as I have no TV…”
I haven’t got a teevee either … haven’t had one for years.
As far as I can tell, all the shows are on the Internet.
Kitty — kudos to you!
I realized 20+ years ago that the television was, 1) annoying; 2) sucking out brain cells; 3) additive; 4) changing the people around me.
The exact same experience happened with the ‘cell phone’. I don’t have one of those either.
Correction. I have a cell phone. I do not have a Smart Phone.
I am actually proud of my flip-phone.
People laugh. I do not care.
Liberty Forge,
Thank you for the kudos! My reasons for banishing my teevee were much the same as yours.
Good show!
biscuits = scones
This phrase comes up in a lot of Agatha Christie books – “a mare’s nest.” I’m not sure what this means.
Either a big mess, or something one thought was a great discovery that turned out to be nothing of the sort
A dog’s breakfast. Used at work in the UK many years ago, meant things were a mess.
Some of the British call sunglasses…”sunnies”
Cubby Hole is what I remember
Bollocks.
Do appreciate all the words and phrases. I have enjoyed watching some of the shows mentioned. I would have to grab the phone to look up certain words.
Are you being served was one of my favorite comedies . Remember Slocombe talking about her cat, which the British term is Pussy. At first I was like because they kind of twisted it a bit so one wonder if she was being a bit naughty.
I loved that show. Watched it all the time on the PBS stations.
Used to be common to refer to an old spinster.
There were definitely a lot of innuendos, wink wink, nudge nudge…
Working late in the office on a UK business trip, my UK co-worker stepped out to visit the loo (bathroom), & a cleaning lady poked her head into the office & asked what sounded like:
Dya mine me yooverin?
At my, “Excuse me, what?”, she repeated it, & I told her I don’t know, but my co-worker would be back in a moment.
After he’d returned, she poked her head in & asked again, & he said, “Right, go head.”
Then he explained that she’d said, “Do you mind me hoovering?”, and that hoovering is slang for vacuuming the floor, because of the preponderance of Hoover vacuum cleaners.
A vintage British comedy about office cleaning ladies.
I’ve also seen “hoovering” used in the context of gobbling food quickly. Very witty…
Spent several years in “The Kingdom” as an ex-pat, and knew many other Brit and Commonwealth ex-pats living and working there. It quickly became apparent that we were “one people separated by a common language”. The differences were at some times hilarious, and occasionally embarrassing.
We quickly learned that referring to that common belt-pouch as a “fanny-pack” was something not done in polite company.
There were so very many colorful (colourful??) terms we heard, but usually the meaning was rather apparent in context. Your list brought back many good memories.
Shortly after moving to the UK, my son was hit by a car getting off his school bus. He’d forgotten the traffic was reversed, and cars weren’t required to stop, just slow down.
Thankfully he wasn’t seriously injured but they wanted to keep him in hospital overnight for observation.
I was allowed to stay with him, and lying there at night listening to the nurses talk, I couldn’t understand them.
Forgetting for a moment where I was, I thought to myself, gosh it’s like I’m in a foreign country 🤦🏼♀️😂
Couldn’t let this go by without offering two of my favorites:
codswallop
and the response to Bob’s your uncle: Fanny’s your aunt
Fleetwood Mac fans are called punters. Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie have described this term in old interviews as the person who’s always down at the track betting (diehard fans). Old backstage passes had “punters pass” printed on them, you can see some Tusk era passes like this on Ebay or music memorabilia sites.
My grandma used to watch a show called Are You Being Served with a Mrs Slocum?? Super funny show. But, the show I loved most was The Young Ones. When MTV had music videos–it came on late at night. I never missed it and still have the DVD set.
Wait! I forgot Shaun of Dead movie. Battling zombies with milk crates full of old records.
Great film.
“Shaun of Dead”
I just found it on YT and am gonna watch it.
And the last one simply means “Biden” as in we’re f_____!
Missing. Greatest word in English English: Bollocks
It’s Friday, fluff is good, especially after another miserable week. So fluff it! 🙂
You could examine use of “root” as a team exercise of a different kind
The Brits go around saying things like “Top o’ the morning, Guv’nor!” and “Indubitably!”. Everybody knows that.
Or have I been horribly misinformed?
Well in the movies I’ve heard it, but not so much in everyday talk.
Poofters.
Lots in congress, such as Miss Lindsey, Barack and Michael Obama.
So that would lead you to the English slang for cigarette….
My post about my encounter with someone asking me for a “bunch of sticks” while in the middle of Picadilly Circus got censored.
Or a word for a bundle of twigs commonly used to start a fire-begins with that F word and Got is added
The photo on the cover of one of the greatest rock albums ever made, Led Zeppelin IV, shows a man carrying one of those on his back, and one of the songs on the album is titled “Four Sticks.”
We found watching the British detective shows (Endeavor, etc.) that the term “sort” was funny. It is usually meant to handle or work something out.
We love Endeavor. The prequel to that, Inspector Morse is excellent also.
That angle on the Harry Potter Sorting Hat never occurred to me, but it fits.
Sorted!
I found it puzzling when I heard a former employer who was a Brit say “6th” it sounded like he said “sickfff”.. I have also posted before about how bizarre it is that Brits and those from Oz can easily imitate an American accent, but we Yanks really have to work at sounding like them and the end result is usually terrible.
My British accent is brilliant lol
Why is “whining” spelled as “whighning”?
Is it supposed to be “whingeing”?
( whining taken to 11)
Yes.
To separate the wheat from the chaff. Sooner or later jerks get winnowed out.
This “fluff” was a great way to end the week. It provided a lot of chuckles when reading the comments. Thank you SD for providing us with this light fluffy enjoyment. Have a great weekend everyone and keep on smiling! (Makes people wonder what you are up to, ha,ha!)
As much as I love SD, this post is mine, not his!
Good onya Stella!
Brava!! It has been a real tonic, Stella. Thank you.
Yes it is your post, stella. Thank you for stepping up in keeping the Treehouse up and running. Along with AD rem and all the other AdMins.
Thank you, also, for the history of how the Conservative Treehouse came to be.
It’s the absolute bees knees!
Dear Flyover,
Thank you for epitomising the word, ‘w*nker,’ for us.
Dear Flyobver-Go fly a kite
Brings this old 4chan meme to mind:
Flyover, a little cheesed off?
I will stop here so as not to start a royal tiff with The Royal House of Trees….
We love ya!
Good job, Aggiegirl. I always enjoy your posts.
And then there is Rhyming Slang:
“Apples and pears” (stairs)
“Army and navy” (gravy)
“Basin of gravy” (baby)
“Bees and honey” (money)
“Borrow and beg” (egg)
“Bottle and stopper” (copper)
“Box of toys” (noise)
“Can’t keep still” (treadmill)
Porky pies = lies
Great topic.
As an American teenager living in Hong Kong in the early 80s, amongst expat, English and Australians teenagers, plus kids from mixed parents, some with say an Indian/UK lineage etc, plus all the native speakers of English, but not as their first language. Let me tell you it wasn’t easy, even though we all spoke ‘English’.
Still, it was one of the best times of my life. To be transported from Oregon to Hong Kong. Funny story, I remember using my hands to collect water under a facet so I could drink it, and peers standing around me amazed at how I was able to do that. Must be an Oregon thing.
There is a whole series on this topic, but the one below is good. The food-based ones are also very good. In fact, that was one of the biggest differences I have also experienced in different regions of the world. What I have found amazing though is Mcdonald’s food products tastes the same in all countries, no small feat. Except for Scottland, when I asked for an ice tea, they were very confused.
I was in HK several times on 2 WestPacs……ate mostly at the Ned Kelley’s Pub and Wen Chou McDonald’s when there……Orient you have to be careful where and what you eat
Theres a wonderfuly sweet movie about a beautiful Indian woman who wants to learn English called English Vinglish
“Biffin’s Bridge” is a part of the human body. 😁
If you looked that up, I am so sorry. 😥
The dailyMail always refers to ladies legs as “pins” . Poldark had a lot of sayings –and it had Aidan Turner lol.
Yes! 😍
Dark and brooding man that Poldark chap.
“The vice of the modern notion of mental progress is that it is always something concerned with the breaking of bonds, the effacing of boundaries, the casting away of dogmas. But if there be such a thing as mental growth, it must mean the growth into more and more definite convictions, into more and more dogmas. The human brain is a machine for coming to conclusions; if it cannot come to conclusions it is rusty. When we hear of a man too clever to believe, we are hearing of something having almost the character of a contradiction in terms. It is like hearing of a nail that was too good to hold down a carpet; or a bolt that was too strong to keep a door shut. Man can hardly be defined, after the fashion of Carlyle, as an animal who makes tools; ants and beavers and many other animals make tools, in the sense that they make an apparatus. Man can be defined as an animal that makes dogmas. As he piles doctrine on doctrine and conclusion on conclusion in the formation of some tremendous scheme of philosophy and religion, he is, in the only legitimate sense of which the expression is capable, becoming more and more human. When he drops one doctrine after another in a refined scepticism, when he declines to tie himself to a system, when he says that he has outgrown definitions, when he says that he disbelieves in finality, when, in his own imagination, he sits as God, holding no form of creed but contemplating all, then he is by that very process sinking slowly backwards into the vagueness of the vagrant animals and the unconsciousness of the grass. Trees have no dogmas. Turnips are singularly broad-minded.”–G.K. Chesterton, Heretics
Wrong thread?
oops.
Well, he is a Brit…
Excellent. Chesterton would know, being a convert to faith in God himself.
Chesterton told many truths
At some time during the original movie, I believe Mary Poppins called out her parrot, for being “cheeky”.
Articles like this keep me from going off my trolley!
Cheers and regards…