Hello Little Comrade
"Hello, little Comrade! You don't mind if I call you Comrade, do you?" he gushed.
Well, actually, I thought, since I am only five years old and don't have a particularly thorough understanding of the economic theories outlined in Das Kapital, I really don't know. Meanwhile quit bugging me and let me get on with reading Little Old Mrs Pepperpot.
Not all who came to the Thursday evening Branch meetings were like that, though. One of the ones I liked was called Minnie Marks (and what's more, she still is.)
Because none of the grown-ups had ever written her surname down for me and pointed out the difference in the spellings - and I feel to this day that they should have - I naturally assumed that she was a relative of the chap called Karl whose name kept cropping up - his sister, perhaps, or a cousin, maybe.
Also, from time to time she went off and acted in films, apparently, though I never saw the evidence. Nobody took me to Disney films any more, because they had learned their lesson.
Here is the lesson that they had learned: there I was, watching the opening titles of the film, one hundred and one sweet little spotted dogs cavorting across the screen. Even in those days I had a basic grasp of the rules of drama so I knew damned well that something terrible was going to happen to them all. And there was no way I was prepared to be there to witness it.
The audience missed the end of the opening credits, hypnotised by the sound of my screams, and that was the finish of Walt Disney and me for at least twenty years.
But in one of the Disney films that other people went on about and that I was not ever going to see, there was someone called Mickey Marks, and he had a sister or a wife or something called Minnie.
So, to me, Minnie Marks always had a bit of an air of showbiz glamour matched only by her political importance because of her relationship to the more famous Karl, who never turned up at the Branch meetings.
Were the grown-ups rubbish at explaining things to you, too?
Well, actually, I thought, since I am only five years old and don't have a particularly thorough understanding of the economic theories outlined in Das Kapital, I really don't know. Meanwhile quit bugging me and let me get on with reading Little Old Mrs Pepperpot.
Not all who came to the Thursday evening Branch meetings were like that, though. One of the ones I liked was called Minnie Marks (and what's more, she still is.)
Because none of the grown-ups had ever written her surname down for me and pointed out the difference in the spellings - and I feel to this day that they should have - I naturally assumed that she was a relative of the chap called Karl whose name kept cropping up - his sister, perhaps, or a cousin, maybe.
Also, from time to time she went off and acted in films, apparently, though I never saw the evidence. Nobody took me to Disney films any more, because they had learned their lesson.
Here is the lesson that they had learned: there I was, watching the opening titles of the film, one hundred and one sweet little spotted dogs cavorting across the screen. Even in those days I had a basic grasp of the rules of drama so I knew damned well that something terrible was going to happen to them all. And there was no way I was prepared to be there to witness it.
The audience missed the end of the opening credits, hypnotised by the sound of my screams, and that was the finish of Walt Disney and me for at least twenty years.
But in one of the Disney films that other people went on about and that I was not ever going to see, there was someone called Mickey Marks, and he had a sister or a wife or something called Minnie.
So, to me, Minnie Marks always had a bit of an air of showbiz glamour matched only by her political importance because of her relationship to the more famous Karl, who never turned up at the Branch meetings.
Were the grown-ups rubbish at explaining things to you, too?
posted by Daphne at 4:58 pm
5 Comments:
>>>Were the grown-ups rubbish at explaining things to you, too?<<<
Yes! Absolutely and totally! I remember being baffled about the gears in the car. Why was 4th top? If I was top of the class, I was first!
I also remember being totally confused why mum said free range eggs were too expensive.
I wonder what we will have confused our young uns about.
Before I was 7 and he actually got into power, I assumed Tony Blair was an actor in Direct Personal Management. I'm sure some jokes could now be made.
Also, could adults be more specific to children; many of them are not imbeciles. Me, seven, keen student of history, "When were the Nazis?" Adult, patronisingly, "Oh, a long time ago." I had just been reading a book about the Romans and therefore understood for a while that Nazi Germany existed before the year 0. Sixty years, people! Children can count to sixty!
I have finished Das Kapital without falling asleep, apparently that makes me an intellectual.
either that or a communist
And when was 'the olden days' exactly? I remember asking this question and never really getting a satisfactory answer. But a lot of things apparently happened in them.
Yet now I find myself using the same phrase in discussions on horse drawn vehicles and long skirts. In fact, for accurate past-time explanation to young people, I find it useful to define of the following historical eras.
before 2000 BC: LLLTA (a long long long time ago)
2000BC-1923 AD: TOD (the olden days)
1923-1933: GGL (when Grandma and Grandma were little)
1933-1955: BDB (before Daphne was born)
1955-1965: WDL (when Daphne was little)
1965-1975: WIL (when I was little)
1975-1990: WIY (when I was young)
1990-1999: BYB (before you were born)
So the answer to Emily’s question on Nazism should correctly be the simple ‘before Daphne was born’. What more do you need to know?
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