17 replies to this topic

[Theatresquirrel]

Oh Jan, you old colonialist.

'Get over yourself' is legit English. It's not even slang.

Language is something that is always evolving, and always has, absorbing new elements, parlances, inflections, terms and jargon from diverse sources and cultures all the time. There never ever was a pure English that folks just started dumbing down. It's been a huge bastardisation since it began.

I bite my thumb at you, you boltinghutch of beastliness*.




(*Which, let's face it, is just as ludicrous and banal an expression as 'get a life', regardless of the fact that Shakespeare used it.)

[Jan Brock]

Not slang ? Ha ha. You are just SO wrong. Of course it is. Thanks for the lecture on the history of English anyway.

I take it that the phrase means "stop being so pompous and self-important", fortunately not something one could ever accuse you of being. Well done.

[Theatresquirrel]

Yes it was quite a lecture, wasn't it. All two lines of it.

Maybe I am being self-important, which I don't intend, but given that I've only made a tenth of the posts that you have on this site, Jan, I guess it's relative...

Best wishes,

TS

[Monkeyman]

Exactly HOW wrong is the squirrel Jan? I always thought right and wrong, in this sort of context, is a binary state - you're either wrong or you're not. You can't be SO wrong. That would be, like, SO something that you'd find in the sitcom "Friends". Which you decried earlier on in the thread. Just saying... ;-)

[Job]

Hey, this thread is going really well. Now. Where were we?

Job

[Monkeyman]

Erm, venturing off topic and verging on playground name-calling?

[Jan Brock]

Exactly HOW wrong is the squirrel Jan? I always thought right and wrong, in this sort of context, is a binary state - you're either wrong or you're not. You can't be SO wrong. That would be, like, SO something that you'd find in the sitcom "Friends". Which you decried earlier on in the thread. Just saying... ;-)

I know.

[Jan Brock]

Yes it was quite a lecture, wasn't it. All two lines of it.

Maybe I am being self-important, which I don't intend, but given that I've only made a tenth of the posts that you have on this site, Jan, I guess it's relative...

Best wishes,

TS

Is that by number of posts or by word count ?

I think this thread is ended. I'm perfectly happy to accept that the reason directors constantly commission new versions is a combination of vanity, wanting to keep their playwright mates in work, financial considerations, and for artistic reasons. As always, no single answer, but I learned something from the discussion.