Source of Indian Anecdote

[Dave Wilton]

On further reflection, the Indian connection may come in the movie "The Man
Who Would Be King" (1975), when a middle-class Indian on a train introduces
himself to the main characters. The joke may be repeated here, but I don't
recall the movie too clearly and may be misremembering the scene.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Dave Wilton
> Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 3:31 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Source of Indian Anecdote
>
>
> If memory serves, it's from the title page of "1066 And All
> That" by W.C.
> Sellar and R.J. Yeatman, 1930, Methuen & Co., Ltd.
>
> One of the authors was listed as "Failed M.A., Oxon."
> Unfortunately, I can't
> find my old copy. I have a 1993 edition, but that doesn't include the
> original title page so I can't verify any of this.
>
> The book is hilarious, by the way. I highly recommend it.
> Great stuff like,
> "Henry IV, A Split King [...] Finding, however, that he was
> not memorable,
> he very pathetically abdicated in favor of Henry IV, Part II"
> and "Whenever
> [Richard I] returned to England he always set out again
> immediately for the
> Mediterranean and was therefore known as Richard Gare de Lyon."
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society
> > [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> > Of Fred Shapiro
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 2:31 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Source of Indian Anecdote
> >
> >
> > Someone I know recalls reading a novel or seeing a film in which a
> > businessman carries a card saying something like "B.A. Oxon.
> > (Failed)."
> > The person thought the novel or movie was E. M. Forster, A
> Passage to
> > India, but has been told it is not in there.  Any suggestions
> > as to which
> > novel or film contains this?
> >
> > Fred
> >
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > ------------
> > Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
> > Associate Librarian for Public Services     YALE DICTIONARY
> > OF QUOTATIONS
> >   and Lecturer in Legal Research            Yale University Press,
> > Yale Law School                             forthcoming
> > e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu
> > http://quotationdictionary.com
> > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > ------------
> >
>