Mike Todd Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 I am sure that, if anyone understood what they were supposed to mean, they would be happy to share the joke. Sorry I should have made it clear that I had actually read BruceInSanity's reference not just quoted it. If you cannot find the link I will expand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athy Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 Sorry I should have made it clear that I had actually read BruceInSanity's reference not just quoted it. If you cannot find the link I will expand. No, don't worry thanks, I'm not that bothered, and besides, you might burst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 Not a fan of Nigel Molesworth? Its not that. I thought you'd spelt illiterate wrong. You hadn't. I cocked up 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athy Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 Its not that. I thought you'd spelt illiterate wrong. You hadn't. I cocked up Er, I don't think I used the word "illiterate". I used "literature", which I misspelt on purpose after the fashion of Nigel Molesworth in his books 'Down With Skool' etc. This reminds me of an official teaching document I once saw, headed 'The problem of illiterracy'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 Itjust gets worserer and worserer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac of Cygnet Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 Er, I don't think I used the word "illiterate". I used "literature", which I misspelt on purpose after the fashion of Nigel Molesworth in his books 'Down With Skool' etc. This reminds me of an official teaching document I once saw, headed 'The problem of illiterracy'. And here's me thinking it was a porcine pun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athy Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 And here's me thinking it was a porcine pun! Well, Molesworth's skool school, St. Custard's, did have a school pig. When I first read these books I was only about ten, so the comic absurdity of a school keeping a pet pig went over my head. Whether this pig ever had a litter is not, alas, recorded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greylady2 Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 I am compleetely irritirit. Rr Rrr r Rrr bugger al get me cowt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerra Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 Well, Molesworth's skool school, St. Custard's, did have a school pig. When I first read these books I was only about ten, so the comic absurdity of a school keeping a pet pig went over my head. Whether this pig ever had a litter is not, alas, recorded. What is comic about a school having a pig? We had pigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceinSanity Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 This reminds me of an official teaching document I once saw, headed 'The problem of illiterracy'. This is an example of Muphry's Law: anything you write correcting someone's spelling or grammar will itself contain a similar error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athy Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 (edited) What is comic about a school having a pig? We had pigs. Likewise, but generally reduced to portion size and (almost) cooked. Come to think of it, at my last prep school the science bod, a fine British eccentric called Mr. Wakeham-Dawson, kept a flock of sheep in the grounds. The science section of the school's annual magazine generally contained little about what the pupils had been doing in the classroom or the lab, but a list of prizes which the sheep had won at various country shows. Edited November 19, 2016 by Athy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerra Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 Likewise, but generally reduced to portion size and (almost) cooked. No No. That was what we did with the litters after they reached "cutter" size. There was a roaring trade in half pigs for the freezer to staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athy Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 There was a roaring trade in half pigs for the freezer to staff. Surely "snorting"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtB Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 We had a skool pig too. He used to finish up all the food the rest of us left at skool dinner* time. *It was a working class skool, otherwise it would of bin called lunch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athy Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 We had a skool pig too. He used to finish up all the food the rest of us left at skool dinner* time. *It was a working class skool, otherwise it would of bin called lunch. I have met that kind of school pig, but invariably the biped breed. Actually, when I lived in London there was a restaurant in the next street called 'School Dinners' which in fact catered for a very fratefully-fratefully crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil2 Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 Well, Molesworth's skool school, St. Custard's, did have a school pig. When I first read these books I was only about ten, so the comic absurdity of a school keeping a pet pig went over my head. Whether this pig ever had a litter is not, alas, recorded. The great thing about the Molesworth books is there's enough to make you laugh at age ten but as you get older you find new sources of amusement in the content. I have a first edition of Down With Skool, 1953, and it still makes me laugh out loud today even though I've read it hundreds of times. The only thing that compares is some of the old Marx brothers films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted November 19, 2016 Report Share Posted November 19, 2016 Surely "snorting"? That never happened in my school - smoking behind the bike shed was about as far as we went. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Posted November 20, 2016 Report Share Posted November 20, 2016 The great thing about the Molesworth books is there's enough to make you laugh at age ten but as you get older you find new sources of amusement in the content. I have a first edition of Down With Skool, 1953, and it still makes me laugh out loud today even though I've read it hundreds of times. The only thing that compares is some of the old Marx brothers films. Having never read one perhaps I should try a new reading experience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athy Posted November 20, 2016 Report Share Posted November 20, 2016 Having never read one perhaps I should try a new reading experience Itll do wonders for yore speling. From memory, the books (written by Geoffrey Willans and deliciously illustrated by Ronald Searle) are Down With Skool, Wizz For Atomms, Back In The Jug Agane and How To Be Topp. I used to have an omnibus edition of all four, but it drove off without me at some stage. I agree with Neil: I found them funny at age ten when I had no experience of independent boarding schools and indeed was scarcely aware of their existence. Little did I suspect that I would later spend some 25 years teaching in that type of school - and I was often reminded of scenes from Molesworth at the various prep schools where I worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil2 Posted November 20, 2016 Report Share Posted November 20, 2016 (edited) Having never read one perhaps I should try a new reading experience Not just that, as other fans will testify part of the genius of these books is the illustrations by Ronald Searle (my favourite is "the skool dog thinking") also you might understand some of the odd references/spleting mistekes that crop up on the forum from time to time, eg "as any fule kno" is a Molesworth-ism. I suspect there's a percentage of the population that don't "get" the humour and it does resonate more if you have had, ahem, a "traditional" education. Those of us who were schooled in the days when corporal punishment was routine will readily identify with the "Table of grips and tortures for masters" for example. The books are all on Kindle these days but IMHO they don't work in that format for some reason. Edited November 20, 2016 by Athy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bewildered Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 Generally called a list in Lancashire. Surely you mean t'list Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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