Friday 14 March 2014

Puritan Beep-beep Boyz Down Bournemouth Way


 Malamute Saloon
So, if you’re offended by 
references to drink, sex, women, 
treasure hunting,  this  column ain’t for you.
(A. Hypocrite, 2010)


The young John Howland hears
the word 'anus' for the first time...
it makes a big impression on him.
I learn from David Knell's excellent "Ancient Heritage" blog that there is yet another attempt to personalise the heritage debate on the transatlantic "Stout Standards" blog. You'd have thought the microcephalic rheumatic seniles would have got tired of this game now and got on with discussing their caveman plans to create a metal detecting girlie calendar, or attempts to organize a US PAS with Minelab and Florida archaeology guru Lisa McIntyre at its head, but no. It seems this time the blog's co-author is moved to write something by the fact that I discussed the Warren Cup lecture at King's College (apparently Mr Howland, despite his interest in history and precious metals did not know previously what the Warren Cup was). But it's the metal detectorist's coy Billy Bunter bowdlerisation of so-called "naughty words" that Knell finds worthy of comment ('I say, chaps! What century are we in?', Friday, 14 March 2014). He suggests that metal detectorist Howland and his guffawing brain-buddies are trapped in some puritanical 1920s time-warp:
Oh crikey! Oh crumbs! That young Barford chappy has been using naughty words! Oh dear, will Barford be put in detention, made to stand in the corner and wash his mouth out with soap, caned, expelled? Meanwhile, those of us in the modern grown-up world know that adult authors (such as art historians and other academics) have been using adult vocabulary to describe acts and anatomy for a very long time - presumably since they assume that their readers are also adults rather than a pack of giggling prepubescents. I'm surprised that Howland, as a saviour of historical artefacts - doubtless with a vast library of academic books to back his cause, is still in a state of innocent shock. [...] But dash it all, old chums! Perhaps an outdated attitude to language goes a long way to explain why some people also have a similarly outdated attitude to conserving heritage. Is it time to join the 21st century?
There is the same false modesty in the TonyRobinsonsPants metal detecting blog. The more you get to see of what UK detectorists do and write, the harder it is to take them seriously. But take a look for yourself. Have a good look on their forums and blogs. 

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Golly, talk about emotionally stunted!! I would suggest that before these folk set themselves up as arbiters of "standards", they might take a closer look at their own. What the Malamute guy writes is both childish and downright offensive...

 
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