Silly question

[Mike Schilling]

From "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish":

"We can do it together if you like," said Fenchurch. "Was I found ..."
"... in a handbag ..." joined in Arthur.
"... in the Left Luggage Office ..." they said together.
"... at Fenchurch street station," they finished.

I'd always assumed this was a reference to "The Importance of Being
Earnest". In fact, Jack Worthing *was* found in a handbag at a railway
station [1], but it was the cloak-room at Victoria station. Googling for
"left luggage" and "Fenchurch" finds either British Rail pages or Douglas
Adams quotes.

So what are Arthur and Fenchurch quoting from?

1. Which, as Lady Bracknell points out, can hardly be regarded as an assured
basis for a recognised position in good society.

[Kurt Busiek]

On 2005-05-15 18:19:34 -0700, "Mike Schilling"
<mscotts...@hotmail.com> said:

> From "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish":
>
> "We can do it together if you like," said Fenchurch. "Was I found ..."
> "... in a handbag ..." joined in Arthur.
> "... in the Left Luggage Office ..." they said together.
> "... at Fenchurch street station," they finished.
>
> I'd always assumed this was a reference to "The Importance of Being
> Earnest". In fact, Jack Worthing *was* found in a handbag at a railway
> station [1], but it was the cloak-room at Victoria station. Googling
> for "left luggage" and "Fenchurch" finds either British Rail pages or
> Douglas Adams quotes.
>
> So what are Arthur and Fenchurch quoting from?

Michael Bond's Paddington Bear, I think, got his name because he was
found in the left-luggage office at Paddington Station. Or near it, at
least.

kdb

[Mike Schilling]

"Kurt Busiek" <kurtb...@comcast.netherworld> wrote in message
news:2005051518384229952%kurtbusiek@comcastnetherworld...

Fortunately Amazon has these pages available for preview. They say that
Paddington was found sitting on a suitcase near the Lost Property Office.
No handbag, no Left Luggage Office, and no words like what A&F chanted.

[rja.ca...@excite.com]

Either or both. I don't think it's a word-for-word quote of anything,
despite their saying it together, but "The Importance of Being Earnest"
is very popular in Britain - it makes for a good amateur show where
everyone gets some terrific lines, and the social comedy touches on
issues that we Brits haven't quite got out of our system yet. The
handbag clinches it, I think; I never heard of any other baby turning
up in a handbag. Not that there were no earlier foundlings in fiction;
Tom Jones, for instance, and i dare say Charles Dickens has a few - but
I think the handbag may be original, or Lady Bracknell - the line being
evidently Dame Edith Evans's party piece - wouldn't have been quite so
surprised by it.

Given the following explanation that I recall of Fenchurch's name
(Arthur's friend, not the station), in which apparently no handbag was
involved, whimsy of parents and of the author seems the most reasonable
explanation. Actually it doesn't seem entirely impossible - the
British are still odd.

I actually haven't listened to the new radio show, but I'll take a
guess that references to Apple Macintosh computers have been neatly
removed by a state-funded broadcaster that carefully avoids commercial
messages.

[Del Cotter]

On Mon, 16 May 2005, in rec.arts.sf.written,
Mike Schilling <mscotts...@hotmail.com> said:

>"We can do it together if you like," said Fenchurch. "Was I found ..."
>"... in a handbag ..." joined in Arthur.
>"... in the Left Luggage Office ..." they said together.
>"... at Fenchurch street station," they finished.

Refresh my memory. Have they just met, and is Arthur guessing how she
got the name Fenchurch?

>I'd always assumed this was a reference to "The Importance of Being
>Earnest". In fact, Jack Worthing *was* found in a handbag at a railway
>station [1], but it was the cloak-room at Victoria station. Googling for
>"left luggage" and "Fenchurch" finds either British Rail pages or Douglas
>Adams quotes.
>
>So what are Arthur and Fenchurch quoting from?

"The Importance of Being Earnest". Arthur, recognising her name as that
of a railway terminus in London, is trying a joke. Fenchurch, who has
heard that joke a million times, offers to say it along with him. IIRC,
she then corrects him; she was actually *conceived* in Fenchurch Street
Station.

--
Del Cotter
Thanks to the recent increase in UBE, I will soon be ignoring email
sent to d...@branta.demon.co.uk. Please send your email to del2 instead.

[Mike Schilling]

"Del Cotter" <d...@branta.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:b3lxQLZx...@branta.demon.co.uk...

> On Mon, 16 May 2005, in rec.arts.sf.written,
> Mike Schilling <mscotts...@hotmail.com> said:
>
>>"We can do it together if you like," said Fenchurch. "Was I found ..."
>>"... in a handbag ..." joined in Arthur.
>>"... in the Left Luggage Office ..." they said together.
>>"... at Fenchurch street station," they finished.
>
> Refresh my memory. Have they just met, and is Arthur guessing how she got
> the name Fenchurch?

Yes.

>
>>I'd always assumed this was a reference to "The Importance of Being
>>Earnest". In fact, Jack Worthing *was* found in a handbag at a railway
>>station [1], but it was the cloak-room at Victoria station. Googling for
>>"left luggage" and "Fenchurch" finds either British Rail pages or Douglas
>>Adams quotes.
>>
>>So what are Arthur and Fenchurch quoting from?
>
> "The Importance of Being Earnest". Arthur, recognising her name as that
> of a railway terminus in London, is trying a joke. Fenchurch, who has
> heard that joke a million times, offers to say it along with him. IIRC,
> she then corrects him; she was actually *conceived* in Fenchurch Street
> Station.

True.

My point is that they say the words together, as if reciting something
well-known, but these words do not appear in "Earnest", "Left Luggage
Office" in particular.

[Del Cotter]

On Mon, 16 May 2005, in rec.arts.sf.written,
Mike Schilling <mscotts...@hotmail.com> said:

>"Del Cotter" <d...@branta.demon.co.uk> wrote in message

>> Mike Schilling <mscotts...@hotmail.com> said:
>>>"We can do it together if you like," said Fenchurch. "Was I found ..."

>>>"... in the Left Luggage Office ..." they said together.
>>>"... at Fenchurch street station," they finished.

>>>I'd always assumed this was a reference to "The Importance of Being

>>>Earnest". In fact, Jack Worthing *was* found in a handbag at a railway
>>>station [1], but it was the cloak-room at Victoria station.

>> "The Importance of Being Earnest". Arthur, recognising her name as that

>> of a railway terminus in London, is trying a joke. Fenchurch, who has
>> heard that joke a million times, offers to say it along with him. IIRC,
>> she then corrects him; she was actually *conceived* in Fenchurch Street
>> Station.
>
>True.
>
>My point is that they say the words together, as if reciting something
>well-known, but these words do not appear in "Earnest", "Left Luggage
>Office" in particular.

Maybe Adams misremembered "left luggage office" for "cloak-room". Since
he is the god of his universe, his creations Arthur and Fenchurch share
their misconception with each other as well as their creator.

[peterp...@gmail.com]

It seems more likely that the reference is to Paddington (Lost Property perhaps being misremembered)than Wilde as we are talking about someone being named after a Railway Station (where they were found). There wasn't Google around when Mr Adams wrote this, and he probably didn't have a copy of Paddington to hand to check it (?). There is a more interesting reference which I have not heard anyone mention, for someone who read English at Cambridge. I did hear Adams remark that Arthur Dent was just a name that sounded typically English. One Arthur Dent wrote "The Plain man's Pathway to Heaven" in the 17th century (I think). Cheers, Pete

[Mike M]

It IS a somewhat colloquially altered shared reference to The Importance of
Being Earnest. The handbag containing Earnest in that play was handed over
to a gentleman at the cloakroom (left luggage, as per the quote, not lost
property) at Victoria station, and Earnest was given the surname Worthing
because of the train ticket his finder was holding at the time.

--
"In 900 years of time and space, I've never met anyone who wasn't
important."