# The Past Speaking to Us: Cool Quote from "Three Men in a Boat"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-past-speaking-to-us-cool-quote-from-three-men-in-a-boat/712953>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 17, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-past-speaking-to-us-cool-quote-from-three-men-in-a-boat/712953 "2015-02-17T21:26:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-past-speaking-to-us-cool-quote-from-three-men-in-a-boat/712953/21 "2015-02-20T13:29:48Z")

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> [@Wallaby](#):
>
> Three men on the Bummel is not as good as good as Boat (IMO) - my favourite parts of Boat are the fantasy/historical dreamlike digressions, which are missing from Bummel.
> 
> Interestingly, the most enjoyable parts of Bummel are the pre-trip planning and organisation - **once they actually get to Germany, it is far less joyous.**

(Bolding added.)

Truth, in art as in life.

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**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-past-speaking-to-us-cool-quote-from-three-men-in-a-boat/712953/22 "2015-02-20T16:05:30Z")

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> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#):
>
> In 3 Men on the Bummel, one of the wives is named Ethelbertha which strikes me as the ultimate old lady name but I found myself wondering if maybe it was the early twentieth century equivalent of a stripper name.

Not a stripper name, but I suspect it would have definite connotations. Unless I miss my guess, Ethelbertha’s a (possibly invented) feminine form of Æthelbert, the name of an Anglo-Saxon king.

The Victorians had developed an enthusiasm for their Anglo-Saxon forebears that, from what I can tell, was part pop history, part ethnic/racial pride, and part national myth-building, the whole thing being lovingly enrobed in a rich, velvety coating of Harlequin-level historical romance.

So we’ve got a new-coined name inspired by a fad for pseudo-historical ancestral fantasy that had been trendy a generation earlier, but which had since come to look a bit silly. I don’t know what the modern American equivalent would be, but I’d guess it was maybe nearer soccer mom than stripper.

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**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-past-speaking-to-us-cool-quote-from-three-men-in-a-boat/712953/23 "2015-02-20T19:19:45Z")

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My late father recalled his parents finding him laughing immoderately over _Boat_, and taking it away from him. (1930s)

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**Author:** ![QuarkChild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c5a1d2/32.png) [@QuarkChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuarkChild)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-past-speaking-to-us-cool-quote-from-three-men-in-a-boat/712953/24 "2015-02-20T19:39:12Z")

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My favorite part of 3 Men in a Boat is when you have a bunch of guys in a bar arguing over the catching of an enormous fish mounted on a wall, and then it comes crashing down and turns out to be made of glass.

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