Monday, November 06, 2017
Beastliness
Hello Mike,
I very much enjoyed the vigorous advice on bringing up young men dispensed by the bishop of London ('Punishment in school' 22 Oct.). The reference to 'beastliness' as warranting an immediate thrashing perhaps needs a scholion, given that the euphemism has entirely disappeared from the language. It is, I assume, an allusion to "the secret vice which gets hold of so many fellows. It is called in our schools 'beastliness', and that is about the best name for it". (R. Baden-Powell, Scouting for boys (7th ed. London 1915) p.196, under the heading of 'Continence'. The 7th ed. is available at archive.org (http://bit.ly/2zA3ELh); first ed. was 1908.)
All the best,
Neil [O'Sullivan]
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I very much enjoyed the vigorous advice on bringing up young men dispensed by the bishop of London ('Punishment in school' 22 Oct.). The reference to 'beastliness' as warranting an immediate thrashing perhaps needs a scholion, given that the euphemism has entirely disappeared from the language. It is, I assume, an allusion to "the secret vice which gets hold of so many fellows. It is called in our schools 'beastliness', and that is about the best name for it". (R. Baden-Powell, Scouting for boys (7th ed. London 1915) p.196, under the heading of 'Continence'. The 7th ed. is available at archive.org (http://bit.ly/2zA3ELh); first ed. was 1908.)
All the best,
Neil [O'Sullivan]
Related posts:
