Misc

[prillalar]

I loved what pandarus had to say about Frodo and Sam in RotK (spoilers, natch), especially this line:

Trying to put a heterosexual reading onto that material is just too much effort.

I made this icon in response to something widget285 posted, but now I'm too self-conscious to use it when I post. Clearly, I need to work on my diva-ness. Any suggestions as to how?

Where have you gone, wickedcherub?

Also, what does "laughed like a drain" mean? Well, I know what it means, I just don't know *why*.

Comments

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Think about what a drain sounds like as water glugs down it. That kind of laugh is what it refers to. Low and hearty and raw.

[prillalar]

This makes much sense. Thank you, Royal Smart Person!

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Do I get a crown and sceptre?

[prillalar]

You're thinking of King Ernie. Sherlock Hemlock played the Royal Smart Person. I can't remember how his caveman outfit was different from his regular outfit, though.

I think it's from The Last Unicorn.

[kormantic.livejournal.com]

Rukh laughs like a drain.

Re: I think it's from The Last Unicorn.

[prillalar]

I haven't read that yet. It's on the To Be Read List, which is even longer than the To Be Written List. Possibly longer than the To Be Watched List as well.

Re: I think it's from The Last Unicorn.

[kormantic.livejournal.com]

It's a very cool book. It's about a Unicorn, but not at all sentimental, and yet it's very warm and funny and humane.

Re: I think it's from The Last Unicorn.

[predatrix.livejournal.com]

What, 'laugh like a drain'?

Hmm. Not really. My boyfriend, to whom I just explained this, is muttering "bloody Yanks think everything belongs to them!"

It's understandable that if a reader's only encountered a particular simile in one book s/he may think the author made it up, but 'laugh like a drain' is so common an idiom that British people would Look At You Funny if you said 1) what's that mean or 2) did you make it up? Really.

It *might conceivably* be a quote from a cult fantasy novel published in 1968 by an American, but I don't think it's *that* likely.

I can't find a reference to it in the Shorter Oxford, unfortunately, but I'd say this is an idiom rather than an attributed quote, and I'd also say that it's British (in that it's confusing a lot of you non-Brits).

Pred'x, (...who would remark 'Up to a point, Lord Copper', but would then have to look *that* up and explain it, so let it pass, let it pass...)