|
Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook
"Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook" is a Monty Python sketch. It first aired in 1970 on ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' as part of Episode 25, and also appears in the film ''And Now for Something Completely Different''. ''Atlas Obscura'' has noted that it may have been inspired by ''English as She Is Spoke'', a 19th-century Portuguese–English phrase book regarded as a classic source of unintentional humour, as the given English translations are generally completely incoherent. Plot A Hungarian (John Cleese) enters a tobacconist's shop carrying a phrasebook and begins a dialogue with the tobacconist (Terry Jones); he wants to buy cigarettes, but his phrasebook's translations are wholly inaccurate and have no resemblance to what he wants to say. Many of them are plainly bizarre (for example: "My hovercraft is full of eels.") and become mildly sexual in nature as the skit progresses (for example: "Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy-bouncy?"). After the customer uses gesture ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monty Python
Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series. The Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and influence, including touring stage shows, films, albums, books and musicals. The Pythons' influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles' influence on music. Regarded as an enduring icon of 1970s pop culture, their sketch show has been referred to as being "an important moment in the evolution of television comedy". Broadcast by the BBC between 1969 and 1974, ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' was conceived, written and performed by its members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Loosely structured as a sketch show, but with an innovative stream-of-consciousness approach aided by Gil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Idle
Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical ''Spamalot'' (based on '' Monty Python and the Holy Grail''). Known for his elaborate wordplay and musical numbers, Idle performed many of the songs featured in Python projects, including "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" (from ''Life of Brian''), and the "Galaxy Song" (from '' The Meaning of Life''). After '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', he created the sketch show ''Rutland Weekend Television'' (1975-76), hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' in the US four times in the first five seasons and guest-starred on ''The Simpsons''. Idle's initially successful solo career faltered in the 1990s with the failures of his 1993 film ''Splitting Heirs'' (which he wrote, produced, and starred in) and 1998's '' An Alan Smithee Film: Burn H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
My Postillion Has Been Struck By Lightning
"My postillion has been struck by lightning", "our postillion has been struck by lightning", and other variations on the same pattern, are often given as examples of the ridiculous phrases supposed to have been found in phrase books or language instruction in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The word ''postillion'' may occur in its alternative spelling ''postilion''. Although various forms of the sentence are widely cited, the exact wording and the context in which it is said to have originally been used vary. For example, a teaching manual attributes it to a Portuguese-English phrasebook (possibly alluding to ''English as She Is Spoke''): The phrase-book for Portuguese learners of English which included the often-quoted and bizarre sentence 'Pardon me, but your postillion has been struck by lightning' demonstrates a total lack of sense of context: who can have said this, to whom and in what circumstances? By contrast a linguistics textbook mentions the supposedly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constructed Language
A constructed language (sometimes called a conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of fiction. A constructed language may also be referred to as an artificial, planned or invented language, or (in some cases) a fictional language. ''Planned languages'' (or engineered languages/engelangs) are languages that have been purposefully designed; they are the result of deliberate, controlling intervention and are thus of a form of ''language planning''. There are many possible reasons to create a constructed language, such as to ease human communication (see international auxiliary language and code); to give fiction or an associated constructed setting an added layer of realism; for experimentation in the fields of linguistics, cognitive science, and machine learning; for artistic creation; and for language games. Some people may also m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Language
In neuropsychology, linguistics, and philosophy of language, a natural language or ordinary language is any language that has evolved naturally in humans through use and repetition without conscious planning or premeditation. Natural languages can take different forms, such as speech or signing. They are distinguished from constructed and formal languages such as those used to program computers or to study logic. Defining natural language Natural language can be broadly defined as different from * artificial and constructed languages, e.g. computer programming languages * constructed international auxiliary languages * non-human communication systems in nature such as whale and other marine mammal vocalizations or honey bees' waggle dance. All varieties of world languages are natural languages, including those that are associated with linguistic prescriptivism or language regulation. ( Nonstandard dialects can be viewed as a wild type in comparison with standard l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including ''Time Bandits'' (1981), ''Brazil'' (1985), ''The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'' (1988), ''The Fisher King'' (1991), '' 12 Monkeys'' (1995), ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'' (1998), ''The Brothers Grimm'' (2005), '' Tideland'' (2005), and ''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'' (2009). Being the only Monty Python member not born in Britain, he became a naturalised British subject in 1968 and formally renounced his American citizenship in 2006. Gilliam was born in Minnesota, but spent his high school and college years in Los Angeles. He started his career as an animator and strip cartoonist. He joined Monty Python as the animator of their works, but eventually became a full member and was given acting roles. He became a feature film director in the 1970s. Most of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spam (Monty Python)
"Spam" is a Monty Python sketch, first televised in 1970 and written by Terry Jones and Michael Palin. In the sketch, two customers are lowered by wires into a greasy spoon café and try to order a breakfast from a menu that includes Spam in almost every dish, much to the consternation of one of the customers. As the waitress recites the Spam-filled menu, a group of Viking patrons drown out all conversations with a song, repeating "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam… Lovely Spam! Wonderful Spam!". The excessive amount of Spam was probably a reference to the ubiquity of it and other imported canned meat products in the United Kingdom after World War II (a period of rationing in the UK) as the country struggled to rebuild its agricultural base. Thanks to its wartime ubiquity, the British public had grown tired of it. The televised sketch and several subsequent performances feature Terry Jones as the waitress, Eric Idle as Mr. Bun and Graham Chapman as Mrs. Bun, who does not like Spam. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ministry Of Silly Walks
"The Ministry of Silly Walks" is a sketch from the Monty Python comedy troupe's television show ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', series 2, episode 1, which is entitled "Face the Press". The episode first aired on 15 September 1970. A shortened version of the sketch was performed for ''Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl''. A satire on bureaucratic inefficiency, the sketch involves John Cleese as a bowler-hatted civil servant in a fictitious British government ministry responsible for developing silly walks through grants. Cleese, throughout the sketch, walks in a variety of silly ways. It is these various silly walks, more than the dialogue, that have earned the sketch its popularity. Cleese has cited the physical comedy of Max Wall, probably in character as Professor Wallofski, as important to its conception. Ben Beaumont-Thomas in ''The Guardian'' writes, "Cleese is utterly deadpan as he takes the stereotypical bowler-hatted political drone and ruthlessly skewers him. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judicial and executive powers. In other parts of the world, such as China, a magistrate was responsible for administration over a particular geographic area. Today, in some jurisdictions, a magistrate is a judicial officer who hears cases in a lower court, and typically deals with more minor or preliminary matters. In other jurisdictions (e.g., England and Wales), magistrates are typically trained volunteers appointed to deal with criminal and civil matters in their local areas. Original meaning In ancient Rome, the word '' magistratus'' referred to one of the highest offices of state. Analogous offices in the local authorities, such as ''municipium'', were subordinate only to the legislature of which they generally were members, '' ex officio'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corpsing
In theatre (especially in the illusionistic Western tradition), breaking character occurs when an actor ceases to maintain the illusion that they are identical with the character they are portraying. This is a more acceptable occurrence while in the process of rehearsal but is considered unprofessional while actively performing in front of an audience or camera (except when the act is a deliberate breaking of the fourth wall). One of the most common ways of breaking character is corpsing, in which an actor loses their composure and laughs or giggles in a comedy scene or scene requiring ludicrous actions. If the breaking of character is particularly serious, it would normally result in an abandonment of a take in recorded or filmed drama. Famous breaks in film The advent of DVD players, with the use of their precise pause and slow-motion functions, has made it far easier to spot breaks in character in motion pictures, and many internet sites collect such examples. Examples of br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milord
''Milord'' () is a term for an Englishman, especially a noble, traveling in Continental Europe. The term was used in both French and English from the 16th century. It apparently derives ultimately from the English phrase "my lord", which was borrowed into Middle French as ''millourt'' or ''milor'', meaning a noble or rich man. History The Middle French term ''millourt'', meaning a nobleman or a rich man, was in use by around 1430. It appears to be a borrowing of the English phrase "my lord", a term of address for a lord or other noble. Later French variants include ''milourt'' and ''milor''; the form ''milord'' was in use by at least 1610. It was reborrowed into English by 1598, in the sense of an English noble generally, or one travelling in Continental Europe more specifically. Today, the term is rarely used except humorously. "Milord" has also been used for an automotive bodystyle also known as a three-position convertible or Victoria Cabriolet. The equivalent in Italian is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flatulence
Flatulence, in humans, is the expulsion of gas from the intestines via the anus, commonly referred to as farting. "Flatus" is the medical word for gas generated in the stomach or bowels. A proportion of intestinal gas may be swallowed environmental air, and hence flatus is not entirely generated in the stomach or bowels. The scientific study of this area of medicine is termed flatology. Flatus is brought to the rectum and pressurized by muscles in the intestines. It is normal to pass flatus ("to fart"), though volume and frequency vary greatly among individuals. It is also normal for intestinal gas to have a feculent or unpleasant odor, which may be intense. The noise commonly associated with flatulence ("blowing a raspberry") is produced by the anus and buttocks, which act together in a manner similar to that of an embouchure. Both the sound and odor are sources of embarrassment, annoyance or amusement (flatulence humor). There are several general symptoms related to intest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Monty Python")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Eric Idle")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Terry Gilliam")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Spam (Monty Python)")
