Friday humor (Sep. 22): one beauty of a put-down!

During the Napoleonic wars, the Duke of Wellington inflicted several major defeats on the French, including on several French marshals up and down the Iberian peninsula.

Then, following Napoleon's exile in 1814, he served as the British ambassador to France.

Many officers who had served in the Peninsular War on the French side attended the same balls and receptions that the Duke did, and as one can imagine, they weren’t too pleased to see or talk to him.

So they just turned their backs on him, literally, and refused to acknowledge his existence.

Seeing this, several others there recognized a snub when they saw one, and went up to the Duke to apologize for the behavior of their countrymen. One French lady in particular saw fit to do this.

Upon acknowledging her apology, the Duke replied simply “Tis of no matter, madam, for I have seen their backs before.”

clocknut said...

Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is to see you

Lol! I wish I had thought up that one. Thanks for providing my laugh today, Clocknut.

Have a good weekend everyone.
Go Hawkeyes!

clocknut said...
For some reason, that story reminded me of these great lyrics from Dylan's "Positively 4th Street." I've always considered this a remarkable put down:
I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is to see you

I have loved that one since the 1960s or so.

If you get a new vehicle, expect to find lots of new bells and whistles, compared to vehicles you drove in the past.

So many buttons to try! So many buttons to push!

There's only one button I haven't pushed yet ...

It's labeled "REAR WIPER."

Not sure what that entails, if one pushes THAT button!?!

CYCLONE - # ISU

As I remember Lady Astor said to Winston Churchill “if you were my husband, I would poison your tea”. To which Churchill replied “ and if were your husband, I would drink it”.

Another Churchill, “I may be drunk, miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly”.

JNF:
I recall reading the exact exchange went like this:

"Winston, you're drunk!"
"Madam, and you are ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober"

Left out, with much greater impact, is "and you shall still be ugly". For Churchill, his put downs were all the more brutal because of their subtlety.

He also once said about Neville Chamberlain, when someone described him (Chamberlain) as a modest man. "He has much to be modest about"