# Brits and Goon Show fans, please cast light on this line? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-and-goon-show-fans-please-cast-light-on-this-line/792192 "2017-07-26T20:50:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-and-goon-show-fans-please-cast-light-on-this-line/792192/21 "2017-07-27T10:39:14Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > When you say you’re a native English speaker, do you mean you’re British, or just that English is your first language (I speak English but of a somewhat different variety than Brits do)? I’m English (which makes me British. 😉 ) Some favourite Goon lines: “Don’t point that moot at me, Moriaty!” Spike Milligna (the well-known typing error.) ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-and-goon-show-fans-please-cast-light-on-this-line/792192/22 "2017-07-27T11:59:51Z")
> [@glee](#): > > I’m English (which makes me British. 😉 ) > > Some favourite Goon lines: > > “Don’t point that moot at me, Moriaty!” > Spike Milligna (the well-known typing error.) Seagoon:Eccles…overpower the guards. Eccles:Right. Ill take my boots off. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-and-goon-show-fans-please-cast-light-on-this-line/792192/23 "2017-07-27T12:34:44Z")
From The Bridge on the River Wye (with Milligan and Sellers, script by Spike Milligan) : General Itchikuchi: I have asked you here for a good reason. Major Barbara: Well I hope I can give you one. Doc: There is just one question, Sir. How long is this river? General Itchikuchi: It are 6000 miles. Barbara: And how wide? General Itchikuchi: It 300 feet. Barbara: Then I suggest we build the bridge _across_ it! Eccles: Ohh!! Barbara: Is he mad? Lt. English: He has a certificate, sir. Barbara: It will mean certain death! Lt. English: It _is_ a death certificate, sir. U Bai Dung: We have observed the sentries on the bridge. They cross every ten minutes and uncross ten minutes later. Hawkins: The double-crossing swines! ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-and-goon-show-fans-please-cast-light-on-this-line/792192/24 "2017-07-27T16:20:21Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I do believe I have heard “bound” used as a synonym for constipated, BTW, probably in a British sitcom, but I don’t remember which. ☹ I’ve heard it too, though it’s been many years, from the mouths of old people when I was a kid. Right in the middle of the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-and-goon-show-fans-please-cast-light-on-this-line/792192/25 "2017-07-27T16:25:20Z")
I’ve been listening to the Goon Shows fairly regularly for the last year or so (via the iPlayer), and here’s my view: The audience laughed because it’s a poo joke, but one not so overt as to raise the BBC censor’s dander. And “bound” means “constipated” in this context. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-and-goon-show-fans-please-cast-light-on-this-line/792192/26 "2017-07-27T16:49:23Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I’ve been listening to the Goon Shows fairly regularly for the last year or so (via the iPlayer), and here’s my view: > > The audience laughed because it’s a poo joke, but one not so overt as to raise the BBC censor’s dander. And “bound” means “constipated” in this context. I’ve been listening to Goon Shows for more than 50 years, and I agree. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-and-goon-show-fans-please-cast-light-on-this-line/792192/27 "2017-07-27T17:21:33Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > This thread reminds me of the old music hall song _ **Down Below** _." Not quite so old - written by [Sydney Carter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Carter). ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-and-goon-show-fans-please-cast-light-on-this-line/792192/28 "2017-07-27T17:58:01Z")
Concur with the poo joke inference, but as the scene unfolds it turns out to be nothing to do with poop, which is a way of demonstrating the dirty minds of the audience. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-and-goon-show-fans-please-cast-light-on-this-line/792192/29 "2017-07-27T19:45:01Z")
With the Goon show, there is also the fairly high chance that there really wasn’t anything all that funny about the line, but something was happening on stage. They were fairly well known for messing around, hence some of the less explicable audience reactions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-and-goon-show-fans-please-cast-light-on-this-line/792192.md?page=1)