Eric
13-Jul-2009, 02:22
The input of comedy films should not be underrated, when it comes to national vocabulary input.
I saw the humorous film "The Adventures of Barry McKenzie" for the first time again in about 35 (!) years. It is still, as with the British "Carry On ..." films, a milestone in puns, innuendo, metaphors, associations, etc.
The film is about a Pom-hating Aussie in Britain. It is funny, and the expressions are gems:
* The bearded clam
* Point Percy at the porcelain
* Syphon the python
* Come the raw prawn
* A tube of Foster's
* A knuckle sandwich
* Copped a steaming eyeful
* Chunder
* Technicolour yawn
* Sheila
* Shaking hands with the wife's best friend
* Skid marks on your Y-fronts
Etc. Maybe no film ever brought Aussie slang over to Britain so swiftly. This all happened in 1972. The film was full of cross-dressing (Dame Edna Everage) and naughty innuendo. There was even a villa called Radclyffe Hall. (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more.) The dunny door was much in evidence.
Isn't it remarkable how [I]one film can introduce so many expressions to Britain? A seminal film, so to speak.
I saw the humorous film "The Adventures of Barry McKenzie" for the first time again in about 35 (!) years. It is still, as with the British "Carry On ..." films, a milestone in puns, innuendo, metaphors, associations, etc.
The film is about a Pom-hating Aussie in Britain. It is funny, and the expressions are gems:
* The bearded clam
* Point Percy at the porcelain
* Syphon the python
* Come the raw prawn
* A tube of Foster's
* A knuckle sandwich
* Copped a steaming eyeful
* Chunder
* Technicolour yawn
* Sheila
* Shaking hands with the wife's best friend
* Skid marks on your Y-fronts
Etc. Maybe no film ever brought Aussie slang over to Britain so swiftly. This all happened in 1972. The film was full of cross-dressing (Dame Edna Everage) and naughty innuendo. There was even a villa called Radclyffe Hall. (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more.) The dunny door was much in evidence.
Isn't it remarkable how [I]one film can introduce so many expressions to Britain? A seminal film, so to speak.