What ho!

[Opus106]

A recent post in one of the blogs I follow lists 20 Insults from P.G. Wodehouse. Well, instead of posting the link in some corner of the forum, I have created a whole thread dedicated to the man who was arguably one amongst the great writers of the last century.  

[karlhenning]

Every author really wants to have letters printed in the papers. Unable to make the grade, he drops down a rung of the ladder and writes novels.

[Dr. Dread]

I expected better...

[Opus106]

She didn't say 20 Best Insults.

[karlhenning]

I know all about Eulalie, Dave.

[Dr. Dread]

I know all about Eulalie, Dave.

You'll let me know then?

[karlhenning]

You'll let me know then?

There's no way to understand that phrase, and its dramatic weight, save through reading The Code of the Woosters.

Yet its yoke is easy, and its burthen is light.

[Dr. Dread]

There's no way to understand that phrase, and its dramatic weight, save through reading The Code of the Woosters.

Yet its yoke is easy, and its burthen is light.

Yeah, I'll have to add this to my reading list and see if it can fight its way through all the garbage I crave. 

[Elgarian]

Never quite got on with the really famous parts of Wodehouse, but oh, I always wanted to be like Psmith - ever since I was about sixteen. But I always wished I could bat like Mike, too. So I suppose I really wanted to be someone like Psmike.

Greetings, Comrades Opus, Dave and Karl. I know a bank whereon the wild thyme grows. Shall we stagger?

[bhodges]

Wodehouse had almost unequalled comic timing; the rhythm of his writing is almost like chamber music.    The characters he created, and the way in which he describes their foibles and pratfalls, inevitably finds me laughing, often for his sheer virtuosity in assembling a particular sentence.

--Bruce

[Elgarian]

Wodehouse had almost unequalled comic timing; the rhythm of his writing is almost like chamber music.    The characters he created, and the way in which he describes their foibles and pratfalls, inevitably finds me laughing, often for his sheer virtuosity in assembling a particular sentence.

Welcome, Comrade Bruce. Let us chat among the teacups. You might make a long arm and pass the plum jam? Preserves as a rule give me the pip, but plum preserves are just the thing for delicately-constituted coves like ourselves.

[bhodges]

Welcome, Comrade Bruce. Let us chat among the teacups. You might make a long arm and pass the plum jam? Preserves as a rule give me the pip, but plum preserves are just the thing for delicately-constituted coves like ourselves.

Excellent!  I can tell that you have completely assimilated the subject in question, so I have changed my signature to incorporate one of my favorite Wodehouse tidbits.  Another:

"A melancholy-looking man, he had the appearance of someone who had searched for the leak in life's gas pipe with a lighted candle."

--Bruce

[Elgarian]

"A melancholy-looking man, he had the appearance of someone who had searched for the leak in life's gas pipe with a lighted candle."

That's me, alright.

[karlhenning]

Greetings, Comrades Opus, Dave and Karl. I know a bank whereon the wild thyme grows. Shall we stagger?

Nice monocle!

[Daedalus]

I love Wodehouse. The Jeeves books have been my 'bedtime reading' for a long time.

I'm coming to the end of the Jeeves books now.

I don't really know anything from his other stories. Where to go after Jeeves, then, in the Wodehouse oeuvre?

D.

[Opus106]

The Blandings Castle series and Psmith stories (the P is silent as in pshrimp). I have till now come across only one from the former. While it doesn't offer you the vantage point as in Jeeves and Wooster, namely Bertie's mind, it is all top-class Wodehouse. As for Psmith, I have a 3-in-1 sitting on my shelf for a long time, as I have been busy with other books in general.

[Daedalus]

The Blandlings Castle series and Psmith stories (the P is silent as in pshrimp). I have till now come across only one from the former. While it doesn't offer you the vantage point as in Jeeves and Wooster, namely Bertie's mind, it is all top-class Wodehouse. As for Psmith, I have a 3-in-1 sitting on my shelf for a long time, as I have been busy with other books in general.

Thanks opus106.

D.

[knight66]

Not so much an insult, more a subjective description; I had assumed the following would nevertheless be in the top 20.

'She has a voice like a cavalry troop charging over a tin bridge.'

Also, he delightfully describes one tough minded female as being, 'a 14 minute boiled egg.'

The language has an immense amount of life in it, constructed with great brio. It always ensure I am in a good mood, just 10 minutes with him and I am smiling.

You might enjoy these short stories, 'The Oldest Member' Although I have minus interest in golf, the tales are diverting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_Member

[Opus106]

The language has an immense amount of life in it, constructed with great brio. It always ensure I am in a good mood, just 10 minutes with him and I am smiling.

So true.

You might enjoy these short stories, 'The Oldest Member' Although I have minus interest in golf, the tales are diverting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_Member

I recently read three or four of the golfing short stories. Had it been something like cricket though, I would have read them all.

[Elgarian]

The Blandlings Castle series and Psmith stories (the P is silent as in pshrimp). I have till now come across only one from the former. While it doesn't offer you the vantage point as in Jeeves and Wooster, namely Bertie's mind, it is all top-class Wodehouse. As for Psmith, I have a 3-in-1 sitting on my shelf for a long time, as I have been busy with other books in general.

I say, Comrade Opus, it's awfully decent of you to take an interest in the activities of Psmith - but a quiet word in your shell-like, if I may: the finest tale is the first one, about Psmith and Comrade Jackson at Sedleigh school. It is a tale to gladden the hearts of men from Barsetshire to Loamshire (are you acquainted with Loamshire, Sir?) It expands before one like a beautiful flower. I earnestly commend it to you, Comrade Opus.