you can't have curly hair and everything

[winterbadger]

...as my father used to say.

I like my office mates; they are a good group of folks, by and large.

But we were talking about a co-worker just now, who goes by his middle name instead of his given name (as my father used to do). One person, who didn't know this, said, "So even though his name is Ernest, he goes by Jack?"

What a perfect opportunity! I said,


"Perhaps he goes by Ernest in town and Jack in the country?"

.... crickets....

Ah, well. They are nice people all the same...

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I confess I don't get it either.

[winterbadger]

In Oscar Wilde's play, The Importance of Being Earnest, one of the characters confesses to leading a double life, living his regular, carefree life in London as Ernest Worthing, but going by the name John or Jack Worthing at his home in the country (where he is very serious and conventional) and pretending that he has a brother in London named Ernest who behaves badly.

It is a somewhat popular play, and has been filmed twice: in 1952, with a truly excellent cast and script adaptation, and once in 2002, with an equally accomplished cast but more of a farcical, rather than satirical, delivery.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

OK, it's one of those things I've heard about enough to have a fair understanding of it, but I've never actually read (or seen) it.

[azbound.livejournal.com]

Hah!!! I got it!! All the theater has paid off!

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

I would have LOL'd.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

I knew what you were going to say, so I guess I got it ;0)

[pisica.livejournal.com]

*applause, Sir*

[redactrice.livejournal.com]

No, are those really his names? His parents must surely have been Wilde fans. It seems too much of a coincidence, though I suppose it could be.

You think you were obscure? I probably would have said something about Bunbury and made a complete fool of myself.

[winterbadger]

[in arch, Oscar voice] Ah, not a fool of *yourself*, my dear...[/Oscar]

[tysolna]

I knew you were going to say that before I clicked the cut. Well played, Sir, and never mind the crickets!

[winterbadger]

Thank you, m'dear!