# Hosting Jane Austen **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 26, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-jane-austen/579725 "2011-04-26T01:08:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Harrogate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Harrogate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Harrogate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-jane-austen/579725/1 "2011-04-26T01:08:44Z")
I have hosted Jane Austen a few times. Sometimes it was fun - let her play with my cell phone and taught her to drive stick. But other times it got kind of nervy, like when she got hold of her wikipedia page, and insisted that I take her to a doctor for a diagnosis of her “mystery disease” (I told her my insurance wouldn’t cover her, and anyway she had no ID and a foreign accent). So I am wondering if anyone else has experience keeping it light when Jane visits? Can you suggest fun things to do? She’s fun to have around and I like it when she talks, but she needs focus in order to be happy. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-jane-austen/579725/2 "2011-04-26T06:27:54Z")
Can you teach her the rudiments of word processing and ask her to please finish Sanditon? ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-jane-austen/579725/3 "2011-04-26T18:08:20Z")
Let her poke around on Match or OK Cupid for a while. It’d be fun to get her thoughts on computer dating. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-jane-austen/579725/4 "2011-04-26T18:14:49Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Harrogate](#): > > I have hosted Jane Austen a few times. Sometimes it was fun - let her play with my cell phone and taught her to drive stick. But other times it got kind of nervy, like when she got hold of her wikipedia page, and insisted that I take her to a doctor for a diagnosis of her “mystery disease” (I told her my insurance wouldn’t cover her, and anyway she had no ID and a foreign accent). > > So I am wondering if anyone else has experience keeping it light when Jane visits? Can you suggest fun things to do? She’s fun to have around and I like it when she talks, but she needs focus in order to be happy. Thanks. What are you talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-jane-austen/579725/5 "2011-04-26T18:29:26Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What are you talking about? I’m going to assume that Paul is not delusional, and knows that Jane Austen has been dead a long time, and can only be an imaginary friend. I do something similar – imagine what it would like if someone like Shakespeare came back to life, and you had the job of explaining how things work four centuries after he was around. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-jane-austen/579725/6 "2011-04-26T18:59:23Z")
When Miss Austen visited me, we read _The French Lt.'s Woman_ together because I wondered what she would think of it–the modern novel structure, the sexual mores, the changes to Lyme since her own time. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-jane-austen/579725/7 "2011-04-26T19:00:16Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I’m going to assume that Paul is not delusional, and knows that Jane Austen has been dead a long time, and can only be an imaginary friend. I do something similar – imagine what it would like if someone like Shakespeare came back to life, and you had the job of explaining how things work four centuries after he was around. Or … “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a long-dead author in possession of the misfortune to be animated, must be in want of braaaiinnsss.” If she/it’s there for the weekend, I’d have her read Bridget Jone’s Diary and watch the A&E version of P&P. I’d also take her to a rave. Don’t know about X, but I’d probably explain the scene and let her make the choice. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-jane-austen/579725/8 "2011-04-26T19:01:29Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What are you talking about? I’m 80% sure “hosting Jane Austin” is code for your chick being on the rag. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-jane-austen/579725/9 "2011-04-26T19:23:10Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > I’m 80% sure “hosting Jane Austin” is code for your chick being on the rag. Either way, my last two suggestions are still valid. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-jane-austen/579725/10 "2011-04-26T19:34:57Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > > [@Palooka](#): > > > > I’m 80% sure “hosting Jane Austin” is code for your chick being on the rag. > > Either way, my last two suggestions are still valid. A LOL, a LOL, I do confess it. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-jane-austen/579725/11 "2011-04-26T20:17:26Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I’m going to assume that Paul is not delusional, and knows that Jane Austen has been dead a long time, and can only be an imaginary friend. I do something similar – imagine what it would like if someone like Shakespeare came back to life, and you had the job of explaining how things work four centuries after he was around. I – perhaps not often, exactly, but enough to see the pattern – find myself explaining modern music to Mozart. (You have to start by trying to explain amplification and recording technology, you see. Mostly so he’s not looking for the performer inside the stereo when you play examples, but also so he understands the incredible reach and power of individual performers… ) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hosting-jane-austen/579725/12 "2011-04-26T20:27:19Z")
I am going to close this until the OP sends me a note clarifying his post.