Prince Philip 1921-2021

[french frank]

Looking at the reports of the eating dog incident suggests the person to whom the remark was made was not put out by it, the outrage was not of her making.

I had to look that up. He said it to a blind lady: analogy of guide dogs "seeing" for a blind person, so "eating dogs" eating for an anorexic. And, no, the blind lady was not offended and apparently said: "I would rather he made a joke than be staid and offhand." We have to remember that she was 'receiving' the joke in a different era too. The Duke might not have made the joke now, and if he had the lady might have been offended now. Autres temps, autres mœurs.

If you go back to Victorian times some of the literary quarrels were savage. But precisely because that was usual, the offence taken was less. If that holds true generally, we can expect people to get more and more careful about what they say, and people to become more and more sensitive to what is said.

[kernelbogey]

Autres temps, autres mœurs.

Precisely.

And... 'the past is a foreign country...'

[vinteuil]

We have to remember that she was 'receiving' the joke in a different era too. The Duke might not have made the joke now, and if he had the lady might have been offended now. Autres temps, autres mœurs.

If you go back to Victorian times some of the literary quarrels were savage. But precisely because that was usual, the offence taken was less. If that holds true generally, we can expect people to get more and more careful about what they say, and people to become more and more sensitive to what is said.

... yes indeed.

Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837.

I am currently 68. I can sometimes imagine what it might have been like to have been born in an easy-going loose-buttoned Georgian or Regency world, and suddenly finding oneself as an elderly gent thrown in to a world where a new condemnatory evangelical puritanism prevails, and the easy assumptions of one's youth (say in my case the 1960s and 70s) are suddenly not just ridiculed but outright condemned without appeal.

I am not complaining - I'm just intrigued how the world changes in a life-time. I have a very forceful and bright daughter-in-law, and we have had many 'interesting' discussions. What is touching now is that she finds - at the age of 32 - that there is already a younger generation snapping at her heels...


.

[french frank]

What is touching now is that she finds - at the age of 32 - that there is already a younger generation snapping at her heels...

Or again: Judge not that ye be not judged. Your time as an arbiter of what is presently "acceptable" and what is not will pass pretty quickly.