I noticed Beefymeg’s sig line for the first time today, and all of a sudden recieved confirmation that I was not insane. Or at least not as insane as I thought. You see, my ex-girlfriend used to use that expression all the time, but never could explain where it was from or what it meant. I have asked several other people, but they all looked at me blankly, then went beack to whatever it was they were doing. And, so I came to the conclusion that the whole thing was a horrendous delusion on my part. Until now. So, where is it from? What does it mean? Am I going to feel really dumb when you tell me?
Modest? You bet I’m modest! I am the queen of modesty!
It’s from Lord of the Flies. It’s the way everyone disses one character, whom they also call Piggy. Poor guy, he’s chubby and he has asthma. For some reason, the kids pronounce it “ass-mar”. It’s a British thang, I wouldn’t understand. Anyway, all the healthy skinny boys are running around on the island killing pigs in nasty ways, and poor Piggy can’t keep up, and he’s, “But but my asthma.”
And the boys respond “[insert title of thread here]”.
IIRC, and if not this is a WAG, it’s a line used in Lord of the Flies directed at the kid with asthma. It’s been 30 years since I last read it, though, so somebody with more recent knowledge please verify or correct me.
Sorry, meant to say, Piggy says “But but my asthma!”
On a more philosophical note, it is the disdain the healthy and powerful can show for the weak in an anarchic system. The whole book is an allegory to what happens in the breakdown of civilization. Piggy is pretty smart, but everyone can kick him around since strength and agility matter more than brains on this island.
Lord of the Flies. Yet another book I’ve always meant to read, but never got around to. I saw the first half of the movie, but that was a loooooong time ago. Well, another one of life’s great mysteries revealed. Thanks.
Modest? You bet I’m modest! I am the queen of modesty!
Just as I was writing that message, I got to thinking, I bet there’ll be a simul-post here, since Lord of the Flies is the kind of think I bet lots of Straight Dopers have read and remember pretty well.
She will? Depressed the holy hell out of me, as I remember. Shook me to the very roots of my anarcho-syndicalist political beliefs, turning me into an FDR-style crypto-socialist democrat.
Oh,goodness, I didn’t like that book at all, either. There they were, trapped on a deserted island with no evening gowns or makeup, like Ginger Grant at least had the wits to bring along.
One of my favorite books of ALL time. love it, love it, love it. I’ve even stalked BeefyMeg on a few threads telling her how much I like her sig.
If you’ve ever worked in a job with no management at all, you have lived The Lord of the Flies. I used to work in a hospital just like that. Every week someone else was Piggy and was outcasted and tormented and we all fought over who got to hold the conch shell. Re-read it and see if it doesn’t sound like your job. The couple of times I’ve pointed it out to people, they’ve agreed with me.
Yes, it is a good book, but it disturbed the hell out of me. We read it in high school, and I remember that we discussed the social structure (such as it was) that arose from the anarchy.
Maybe I found it so disturbing because it was the first book I ever read where the bad guys win and there’s nothing tragic or romantic about it. Does that make sense? Also, I got to be the outcast in grade school (yay! lucky me!) so I guess I identified with that character more than the others.
Anyway, it disturbed me so much that I refused to see the movie. I decided that I didn’t need actual visual images to go with the ones I imagined.
Another Doper who loved it, here…it’s not a happy ending book, but it’s got such good symbolism! Actually, that was the first book we read in AP Lit, and we analyzed the symbolism in it…it was so cool to see how something represented something else.