21 December 2012

Conversation overheard

In a book shop, two boys around eleven or twelve years old. The first suddenly grabs his friend's arm in excitement.
First boy: “Oh, WOW , look – Charles Dickens!”
The second boy says nothing, but looks bewildered.
First boy: “He writes brilliant TV history dramas … and now, look, they've made books out of them!”

3 comments:

Martin said...

I just revisited an amazing forum thread on a Swedish family-related forum. Someone's daughter needed to know if Tolkien invented elves, and some guy named "Odhos" (who, according to his presentation text, is "an intellectual and a Mensa member") replied that it's a common misconception that Tolkien invented elves, but The Lord of the Rings is from 2001, while Blizzard used elves in the game Warcraft II as early as 1995 - so elves were invented by Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

The above would be unremarkable if it weren't for that Odhos really seemed to be honest and not trolling. When called out on his error, he immediately apologized, thanked people for informing him, and explained that he didn't read much, but he didn't think his error was anything to be embarrassed about as books are kind of outdated anyway now that we have movies and games, and there were probably lots of people who hadn't heard of obscure old books like Lord of the Rings.

Felix said...

Martin – that's wonderful ... or depressing ... I can't quite decide which!

Ray Girvan said...

Talking Dickens, are you catching the repeats of BBC2's Bleak Old Shop of Stuff (first episode, the Christmas special is on iPlayer for six days). Wonderful pastiche.