In the New Yorker...

[Jeff Wrangler]

What is it about British gamekeepers?

They're 'earthy'?  

Maybe to some effete, intellectual, post-Oscar Wilde British writers, gamekeepers represented manly men--what those same writers were not. 

We have cowboys. The British have gamekeepers. 

[Front-Ranger]

Hermione Gingold

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsNm3rfZyCk[/youtube]
Gay Purr-ee  (1962)

At the very end! The scene was quite entertaining!

[southendmd]

We have cowboys. The British have gamekeepers. 

I'll stick with cowboys.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'll stick with cowboys.

You wouldn't make an exception for Rupert Graves?

[southendmd]

You wouldn't make an exception for Rupert Graves?

Well, if you put it that way...

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'll stick with cowboys.

You wouldn't make an exception for Rupert Graves?

Well, if you put it that way...

[serious crayons]

Like "Morris". See the film; it's important.

I put it on my "To watch" list on my iPhone. Whenever I add something to that list I do it using the microphone. So I pronounced the movie the British way, and apparently Siri speaks British English, because it added "Maurice" to the list.
 
Actually, I hate Siri, and long ago had replaced her with the male voice, who's no more useful than she was. I thought maybe the male voice was British and that explained it. So I called up the Siri function, which offered (in writing) to help me with anything from "what time is sunrise in Paris?" to "how long do greyhounds live?" I hit the mic icon.

ME: How do the British pronounce Maurice (Mo-REESE)?

SIRI GUY (in robotic voice): Interesting question. Katy.

That was it. No further information on that topic. No "you got me!" or "that's a tough one." I can report, however, that greyhounds live about 11 years.

When I hear Mo-REESE, I picture someone like Samantha's father. When I hear MORE-is, I picture someone more along the lines of another '60s sitcom star.

[serious crayons]

Do undergamekeepers really say things like "Come without fail" and "We shan't never be parted"?

(At least the second one has a double negative.)

I know! Who says "shall" but also uses double negatives? British people in those days, I guess. It's funny -- I can live with the double negative; it's the "shan't" that bothers me.

I would probably forgive it in this context, but I find it really off-putting when modern people say "shall."

For some reason, in a question, it's OK. "Shall I make coffee?" wouldn't bother me. But I have a friend who, on Facebook, writes things like "I shall watch 'Maurice' tonight" and it always makes me roll my eyes.

I really have always been a fan of Merchant-Ivory films. You always knew a Merchant-Ivory film would be a classy, high-quality production.

Same. When the Onion published its first post-9/11 edition -- the whole thing such a classic for brilliantly treading a line between appropriateness and hilariousness -- there was a great piee headlined "American Life Turns Into Bad Jerry Bruckheimer Movie." I always remember this quote from a putative civilian:

"If the world were going to suddenly turn into a movie without warning, I wish it would have been one of those boring, talky Merchant-Ivory ones instead. I hate those movies, but I sure wish we were living in one right now."

http://www.theonion.com/article/american-life-turns-into-bad-jerry-bruckheimer-mov-220

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

I know! Who says "shall" but also uses double negatives? British people in those days, I guess. It's funny -- I can live with the double negative; it's the "shan't" that bothers me.
I would probably forgive it in this context, but I find it really off-putting when modern people say "shall."

The Devil Wears Prada  (2006)


or to see/hear it, click:

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/aef42a57-e33d-4383-a6b4-dc600722d406

[southendmd]

When I hear Mo-REESE, I picture someone like Samantha's father. When I hear MORE-is, I picture someone more along the lines of another '60s sitcom star.

I picture this guy: