Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

In a time of the spring, old paths are obscured and new growth begins.

September 4, 2006

Oh HORROR!

by @ 4:03 am. Filed under general, history, personal, reviews

Lately I’ve taken to reading turn of the century literature (Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, etc.) and I’m quite proud of myself, to be frankly honest. The kids of stories such as those that I just listed above are often hard to read for most people, such as my father, because of how the dialect and sentence structure has changed in the last one hundred years or so. Myself, I can read them and enjoy them.

But one common thing I’ve noticed in almost all of the stories is that, if these stories can be taken as an indicator of how people were back then, I’m honestly surprised that the human race survived from all the damn fainting that’s in them. Currently, I’m reading Dracula and thus far I have counted a minimum of around seven people fainting or coming close to it. In one of the Sherlock Holmes stories I had read, a woman (Watson’s future wife) fainted after hearing that Holmes and Watson were shot at.

In these stories people faint over things which, in this day and age, would merit a pair of wide eyes. And the cure-all for a faint or near faint? BRANDY! I wonder, did it ever occur that people might have been fainting because they were loaded up on the brandy as a cure for nearly fainting? Like I said, I’m surprised the human race survived all the fainting. I’m pretty sure more than a few people must’ve cracked their heads open after hearing about that really bad hangnail Mary got that evening.

One of the problems I have with the novel Dracula isn’t so much the fainting, but more how Bram Stoker, when referring to a child, would use either the words “child” or “it” rather than “the boy,” “the girl,” “he,” or “she.” Is that how kids were viewed to Mr. Stoker? As an “It”?

Other than that, these are good books, which I shall have to return to. I just wanted to do a mini-rant.

~ Damen

1 Stars2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars

265 Votes | Average: 2.91 out of 5265 Votes | Average: 2.91 out of 5265 Votes | Average: 2.91 out of 5265 Votes | Average: 2.91 out of 5265 Votes | Average: 2.91 out of 5 (265 votes, average: 2.91 out of 5)

5 Responses to “Oh HORROR!”

  1. Jim Says:

    I feel a fainting spell coming on. Quick, someone fetch me a brandy! Sounds good to me. Or at least yummy.

    This reminds me of Bones’ curative for Capt. Jim Kirk, as late as the 1960s: it was brandy, wasn’t it?

  2. Ralph Says:

    At least part of it was due to the corsets. Women could barely breathe in those, so it didn’t take much to run short of oxygen and black out. Of course, nobody made the connection. They just attributed it to women’s frail constitutions.

  3. Alan Says:

    In the book Gone with the Wind, didn’t Scarlett O’Hara’s corset get her waist down to ‘only’ 20 inches? No wonder all the women had to disappear upstairs for a nap in the afternoon (without the corset)which was where everyone else had gone when Scarlett threw the vase at Rhett.

  4. Laurie O Says:

    Children being called “child” or “it” might be due to the fact that in that time children where seen and not heard?

    As far as the corset thing, I wore my mom’s wedding dress 3 mos after having my son, 32in down to 24in, try not to pass out or
    kill someone wearing that.

  5. Jim P Says:

    I recently read Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” from the mid-1800s. I thought it was remarkably readable for that time period and I’ve read quite a few books from back then. I highly recommend it. To contrast what I mean, I like the “idea” of James Fennimore Cooper’s work, but in actuality his books are not user-friendly at all.

Leave a Reply

Register or Log In

  • Register

  • Login

    newsletter:

    Enter your e-mail address here to receive our monthly e-mail newsletter:

    yellow star diary storiesTop Article Last Week


    Will They Call Him Joseph Robinette Biden?: 3.09

    Writers Last Week


    flippant
    Curious Sam
    jclifford
    Barley

    Highest Rated Articles


  • Where Are You, O Compliant and Fecund Conservative Christian Women? (4.3 Stars)

  • Mycology ID Help Me (3.44 Stars)

  • Christian Hindu friendship for universal spirituality (3.37 Stars)

  • Sinfest's $700 Billion (3.33 Stars)

  • A Personal Question (3.32 Stars)

  • 50 Kilometer Wide UFO Enters the Solar System (3.31 Stars)

  • IRAQ BODY COUNT – ONGOING – 7/17/07 (3.3 Stars)

  • Is Violence Inherently Dishonest? (3.28 Stars)

  • Avoid WordPress.com completely, bloggers (3.28 Stars)

  • Clintons Drip With Snake Oil After Visiting Joel Osteen's Church (3.27 Stars)

  • Kathleen Sebelius Saves America From Filth (3.27 Stars)

  • IRAQ BODY COUNT – ONGOING – 8/26/07 (3.26 Stars)


  • partners:

    stamping clockIrregular Times
    Irregular Books
    Irregular News
    Progressive Patriots
    That's My Congress
    Irregular Links
    Irregular Goods

    bumper stickers:

    New Sticker Designs
    Bulk Discount Stickers
    Anti-Bush
    Anti-War
    Peace
    Liberal
    Supreme Court
    State Politics
    Local Politics
    Environmental
    Pro-Science
    President 2008

    buttons and magnets:

    jungaloo grit goblin New Button Designs
    Anti-Bush
    State Politics
    Local Politics
    Environment
    Heretical
    Gay and Lesbian
    Anti-War
    Liberal
    President 2008
    Anti-McCain
    Pro-Choice

    ethical organic t-shirts:

    Anti-War
    Godless
    Liberal
    Miscellaneous
    Sexuality

    sweatshop-free shirts:

    Progressive Moral Values
    Presidential Campaign
    Anti-War Shirts
    Local Liberal Shirts
    State Politics Shirts
    Environmentalist Shirts
    Artistic Activists
    Babies for Obama
    Liberal Kids Clothes

    other goods:

    Tote Bags made in the USA
    Posters
    Postcards
    Greeting Cards
    Text Catalog

    archives:

    September 2006
    S M T W T F S
    « Aug   Oct »
     12
    3456789
    10111213141516
    17181920212223
    24252627282930

    other:

    RSS 2.0
    Comments RSS 2.0
  • Register

  • Login
  • About
  • Ask for Help
  • FAQ
  • Posting a Diary
  • Report Abusive Behavior
  • Rules of the Road
  • Irregular Times Main Page


    The Irregular Times Diaries are brought to you by Irregular Times, the place for news unfit to print.

    search the diaries:

    Latest Diary Comments


    Mocking God  (64 entries)
    passerby, Scott, Damen, Ralph [...]

    Bill Richardson Chastises Mukasey on Waterboarding  (3 entries)
    bereateptuady, StefanDorin, MariaThereseRoth

    Posting a Diary  (4 entries)
    Pochka, Anonymous II, Keith Ray Elam, Keith Ray Elam

    God Says Sarah Palin is Wrong About The Alaska Pipeline  (5 entries)
    Randy, BornInTheUSA, Bob, darebrit [...]

    Sarah Palin Couldn't Keep Her Business Running  (5 entries)
    srethng, Jackie, Gag me, Jay Camp [...]

    Alternative Apparel Not Very Alternative, Really  (7 entries)
    bad news, don't bother, jclifford, ... [...]

    Democratic Underground Bans Cindy Sheehan Video  (1 entries)
    Linda

    It's Hillary's Turn  (11 entries)
    speed, Olegreat Drunkone, Iroquois, Proud Partisan [...]

    categories:

    Politics


    The Real G.O.P.
    The Ribald Reign of King George II U.S. House Ratings
    U.S. Senate Ratings
    Irregular States

    Recent Articles:

    Interview with Kat Swift - Green Party candidate for President in 2008

    Is America Ready to Elect a President With a Brain?

    Burt's Bees Are Now Swimming In Clorox

    John Edwards Gives Good Information On Big Pharma Bad Behavior

    The National Pork Board Gets Weird About Muskrats

    Benjamin Franklin on Liberty and Small Safety

    Fathers Marry Daughters in Weird Right Wing Rituals

    The Virgin Mary Challenge

    Clinton Obama Campaign Gear

    Right Wing Values, Sexual Insecurity and Quick Impalement - strange insights from NewsMax advertisements

    Republican Senators kill an independent commission to investigate secret torture prisons set up by George W. Bush

    The latest Code Orange Alert from the Department of Homeland Insecurity: America may be targeted by kitchen table terrorists

    Are you an American liberal?

    The invisible activist

    A New President: Bumper Stickers for candidates in 2008

    Peace, Security and Fear


    Magniloquence Against War

    Recent Articles:

    Russell Feingold Speaks: The President Broke the Law

    War is not moderate

    Corpse pornography reflects the values of America's gruesome crusade

    Are Democrats too lazy to investigate the war in Iraq?

    A failure of Defense: The Bush Duds

    Faith and Skepticism


    False Witness
    Further Than Atheism
    Credulity Studies

    Recent Articles:

    Archive of Holocaust Comics from the Iranian Newspaper Hamshahri

    Archive of Mohammed Comics from the Danish Newspaper Jyllands Posten

    Jesus is Coming, but is he in the yellow pages?

    The Giant Scorpions of Science versus the Reruns of Religion

    Save Our Marriages! Mass chaos as Connecticuters flee westward

    Irregular Times resources on evolution, Creationism, and Intelligent Design

    Vote With Christ: an empirical guide

    Counter right wing fundamentalists' strident attacks with light hearted satire

    Pro-science Bumper Stickers, to defend science from faith-based zealotry.

    Covet Your Neighbor's Slave: The Ten Commandments and Slavery in politics today

    Online Resources: Secular Americans Against Bush

    The Environment


    Irregular Growth

    Recent Articles:

    Irregular Oceans - our articles following the crisis in Earth's marine ecosystems

    Celebrate World Ocean Day

    Considering Blown beds and gardens bereft of weeds

    Of Deer Fences and Deference

    In the glare of garden lights

    In Montana, Pesticide Burns

    Media


    Splintered Speech

    Recent Articles:

    Bush sets up secret torture prisons, so I try to say wake up and smell the coffee in a movie

    Ice Cream Promotes Male Virility, and other wisdom from medical advertising

    Explore the iconic insanity of Republican imagery

    Economy


    Funny Money

    Recent Articles:

    Irregular marketing - are you willing to buy it?

    Looking down on a Chicago bridge

    The brutal Republican concept of Social Security reform is revealed on a crusading t-shirt

    Finding the Fussy Elites - leaving a trail of gold foil, heirloom cigar boxes, and custom-etched pocket watches behind them

    An Overnight Blight: Why Progressives Pack Parcel Post

    Irregular Bin


    Our Remainders
    Wandering Aimlessly

    Recent Articles:

    Loonies for Mike Huckabee

    Senator Russ Feingold Stands for Freedom against Fear of the Patriot Act

    Handbook, My Ass: a review of James Carville's latest book

    Huygens probe finds evidence of intelligent life on Titan!

    An Irregular Reading (audio): The Hat in the Cat. What is Dr. Seuss backwards?

    A Dream of Dragons - Red fire battles blue water to own a bleak land

    67 queries. 0.970 seconds