The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry » Topic: his books brief reviews

The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry » Topic: his books brief reviews http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews Just another bbPress community en-US Sat, 18 May 2013 21:17:52 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/search.php Anonymous on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-30600 Sun, 12 Aug 2007 12:39:01 +0000 Anonymous 30600@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ X-D I love the way you made it sound like you were repeating an oath after Stephen. I picture you holding a bible with your hand in the air as he tells you what to say. lady_galahad on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-30597 Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:51:06 +0000 lady_galahad 30597@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Australia is becoming depressingly Americanised. The three main commercial TV channels pretty much are American, and only the public broadcaster, the ABC, gets most of the good stuff from the BBC. Ask most high school students if they watch the ABC and they'll laugh in your face. Odds are that, upon questioning, they won't even know where Scotland is. And we all know it's cool to be ignorant. But, for what it's worth: I hereby do solemnly swear to use the word 'British' only in its correct context, and give permission for anyone catching me doing otherwise to smack me over the head. Repeatedly, if necessary. Anonymous on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-30594 Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:09:54 +0000 Anonymous 30594@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ I'm certainly surprised to hear of an Australian doing it. lady_galahad on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-30589 Sun, 12 Aug 2007 02:59:23 +0000 lady_galahad 30589@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Ooh! <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_mad.gif" title=":x" class="bb_smilies" /> That's something that really gets on my nerves! "Stephen Fry is so British!", "I just love your British accent!", "Say something in British for me!". Just for the record, Britain is a group of islands, of which the main one consists of two nations and a principality. Each of these has a a variety of different accents and cultures. Add to that the differences between people of different ages and social circumstances and you have a place as diverse as anywhere else. So what exactly is this "Britishness" or "British accent"? If the Scots and Welsh come from Britain why does nobody talk about Sean Connery's "Britishness" or Anthony Hopkins "Britishness". Why is "Britishness" only attributed to people with the RP accent, one which is not an indicator of one's region but something acquired by education - a sincere accent if one has been brought up with it like Stephen has, but a fake accent in the sense that it does not define a locality. I know nothing about you, Lady Galahad, so I am kindly assuming you're saying British out of habit, but please understand that to confuse "British" with "educated English" is as absurd as calling "southern drawl" the "American accent" or calling French people "Europeans" and the rest of the continent by their nationality only. n.b. We English are guilty of something similar to my last comment - usually when we use the word "Europeans" we mentally don't include ourselves among them.</blockquote> Now I'm embarrassed, because I'm always telling my friends that British means the whole lot too, and saying that there's no such thing as one single British accent. I just sort of lazily assumed that july26 meant English. It's pretty accepted where I live that British means English. Sometimes I forget to fight it. Anonymous on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-30540 Sat, 11 Aug 2007 11:05:04 +0000 Anonymous 30540@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Yes, I used to wonder what Americans made of the British Bulldog, the Mancunian WWF wrestler. amyl_nitrate on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-30539 Sat, 11 Aug 2007 11:03:58 +0000 amyl_nitrate 30539@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ That's something that drives me mad too. What is British? There's so many different accents in this country like anywhere else. People from foreign countries seem to think we all talk like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins or bloody Hugh Grant. <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_mad.gif" title=":x" class="bb_smilies" /> *gag me with a spoon* Anonymous on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-30536 Sat, 11 Aug 2007 09:55:23 +0000 Anonymous 30536@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Having said all that, if more English people were like Stephen Fry it would give us a proud identity. Anonymous on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-30535 Sat, 11 Aug 2007 08:56:42 +0000 Anonymous 30535@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Ooh! <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_mad.gif" title=":x" class="bb_smilies" /> That's something that really gets on my nerves! "Stephen Fry is so British!", "I just love your British accent!", "Say something in British for me!". Just for the record, Britain is a group of islands, of which the main one consists of two nations and a principality. Each of these has a a variety of different accents and cultures. Add to that the differences between people of different ages and social circumstances and you have a place as diverse as anywhere else. So what exactly is this "Britishness" or "British accent"? If the Scots and Welsh come from Britain why does nobody talk about Sean Connery's "Britishness" or Anthony Hopkins "Britishness". Why is "Britishness" only attributed to people with the RP accent, one which is not an indicator of one's region but something acquired by education - a sincere accent if one has been brought up with it like Stephen has, but a fake accent in the sense that it does not define a locality. I know nothing about you, Lady Galahad, so I am kindly assuming you're saying British out of habit, but please understand that to confuse "British" with "educated English" is as absurd as calling "southern drawl" the "American accent" or calling French people "Europeans" and the rest of the continent by their nationality only. n.b. We English are guilty of something similar to my last comment - usually when we use the word "Europeans" we mentally don't include ourselves among them. lady_galahad on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-30532 Sat, 11 Aug 2007 03:47:32 +0000 lady_galahad 30532@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ If there's one man who's allowed to be TOO British (if there's even such a thing), it is Stephen Fry. And I've only read Moab, but I'm desperate to find the rest. I've never read anything like it. july26 on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-30529 Sat, 11 Aug 2007 03:18:21 +0000 july26 30529@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ “The Hippopotamus” -- Oh well… “The Liar” -- A liar has written this novel. “The Stars' Tennis Balls” -- Reading this book I realized I hate violence and cruelty in literature. “My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music”. (Nabokov)</blockquote> I love his talent of a writer, I love him as a man, but his books (which I know) seem to be too British, in my view. Gertrude Susanne on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-15029 Sat, 14 Apr 2007 19:43:49 +0000 Gertrude Susanne 15029@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_biggrin.gif" title=":-D" class="bb_smilies" /> AxmxZ on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-15013 Sat, 14 Apr 2007 18:55:19 +0000 AxmxZ 15013@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ “The Liar” -- A liar has written this novel. </blockquote> What exactly is that supposed to mean <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_eek.gif" title="8-O" class="bb_smilies" /> </blockquote> Perhaps he's referring to the Epimenides Paradox?.. <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_confused.gif" title=":?" class="bb_smilies" /> Gertrude Susanne on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-14991 Sat, 14 Apr 2007 08:30:37 +0000 Gertrude Susanne 14991@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ VERY good question, AxmxZ... “The Liar” -- A liar has written this novel. </blockquote> What exactly is that supposed to mean <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_eek.gif" title="8-O" class="bb_smilies" /> AxmxZ on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-14907 Fri, 13 Apr 2007 03:11:36 +0000 AxmxZ 14907@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ “The Hippopotamus” -- Oh well… “The Liar” -- A liar has written this novel. “The Stars' Tennis Balls” -- Reading this book I realized I hate violence and cruelty in literature. “My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music”. (Nabokov)</blockquote> And did "Making History" wake any latent hatreds within you as well? july26 on "his books brief reviews" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/his-books-brief-reviews#post-14882 Fri, 13 Apr 2007 01:26:26 +0000 july26 14882@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ “The Hippopotamus” -- Oh well… “The Liar” -- A liar has written this novel. “The Stars' Tennis Balls” -- Reading this book I realized I hate violence and cruelty in literature. “My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music”. (Nabokov)