A Bit of Fry & Laurie Concerning Language
Fun English Lessons1 HN recommender · recommended in 1 month, 2023–2026
comedy · general · evergreen · 2023–2026 on HN
A Fry and Laurie sketch about language, full of absurd phrases and wordplay, which also plays on the distinction between langue and parole.
HN quotes it jokingly when talk turns to nonsense language, and one commenter points out its underlying linguistics.
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4 comments from Hacker News
Fry & Laurie had a sketch[0] that, behind the silliness and ridiculous characterization, sets out Ferdinand de Saussure’s distinction of langue versus parole that is the foundation of modern linguistics. [0] ▶ this video
> stephen fry "May I compartmentalise? I hate to, but may I? may I?" "Hold the newsreader's nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers" "...saying the same weary things time after weary time: I love you. Don't go in there. Get out. You have no right to say that. Stop that. Why should I. That hurt. Help. Marjorie is dead" ▶ this video (fantastic sketch!)
Reminds me of this sketch from A bit of Fry and Laurie: Hugh: And by demagoguery you mean ...? Stephen: I mean demagoguery, I mean highly-charged oratory, persuasive whipping up rhetoric… Transcript: link Video: ▶ this video
Our language, Tiger, our language, hundreds of thousands of available words, frillions of possible legitimate new ideas, so that I can say this sentence and be confident it has never been uttered before in the history of human communication: "Hold the newsreader's nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers." A Bit of Fry & Laurie Concerning Language: ▶ this video