What I find sooooo funny is how the editor of The Sun, suddenly and without prompting, appends the title of “Esq.” to Cleese’s name .... AND THAT CLEESE DOES IT BACK TO HIM!!! Neither of them are lawyers, and instead of correcting the editor, Cleese just slyly, silently ups the ante. Brilliant. If only he’d started adding MORE titles: Dr. Reverend Kenneth Conlan, jr. Esq., Ret.
In the UK and throughout the Commonwealth, the title "Esq," is not confined to lawyers, as in the US. It is used as a courtesy form of address extended in correspondence to any male person with whom you are minimally acquainted.
Well crap. I did some admittedly minimal research, wondering if what you explain was in fact the case. Mea culpa, mea *maxima* culpa, because I have a PhD in English and teach writing and research and should definitely know better than to trust the first four google results I come across, even for a Substack comment.
So thank you (sincerely) for setting straight both the record and myself.
But, dang--it sure does take a bit of the fun out of the exchange ; )
Wow! Makes you wonder if there was ever any integrity in the reporting field and how much truth were in past stories that shaped our belief of the world.
Try this test. Find an in-depth article in the popular press about any topic about which you are intimately familiar. Count the number of errors. That's your BS quotient. Apply that to any article on any topic that you read in future. (I'm an old newspaperman, back in the day when that actually meant integrity ...)
Lol. I believe that. I can honestly say the people I knew, worked with, met daily, or lived with, there were few with no integrity. Not just for their craft but for behavior around how they treated others. I can count them on one hand. Now it’s hard to get most people to look you in the eye when talking.
It’s not just the reporters, but I think with all the false stories confusing us along the way, it was seeded.
What I find sooooo funny is how the editor of The Sun, suddenly and without prompting, appends the title of “Esq.” to Cleese’s name .... AND THAT CLEESE DOES IT BACK TO HIM!!! Neither of them are lawyers, and instead of correcting the editor, Cleese just slyly, silently ups the ante. Brilliant. If only he’d started adding MORE titles: Dr. Reverend Kenneth Conlan, jr. Esq., Ret.
In the UK and throughout the Commonwealth, the title "Esq," is not confined to lawyers, as in the US. It is used as a courtesy form of address extended in correspondence to any male person with whom you are minimally acquainted.
Well crap. I did some admittedly minimal research, wondering if what you explain was in fact the case. Mea culpa, mea *maxima* culpa, because I have a PhD in English and teach writing and research and should definitely know better than to trust the first four google results I come across, even for a Substack comment.
So thank you (sincerely) for setting straight both the record and myself.
But, dang--it sure does take a bit of the fun out of the exchange ; )
Wow! Makes you wonder if there was ever any integrity in the reporting field and how much truth were in past stories that shaped our belief of the world.
Try this test. Find an in-depth article in the popular press about any topic about which you are intimately familiar. Count the number of errors. That's your BS quotient. Apply that to any article on any topic that you read in future. (I'm an old newspaperman, back in the day when that actually meant integrity ...)
Lol. I believe that. I can honestly say the people I knew, worked with, met daily, or lived with, there were few with no integrity. Not just for their craft but for behavior around how they treated others. I can count them on one hand. Now it’s hard to get most people to look you in the eye when talking.
It’s not just the reporters, but I think with all the false stories confusing us along the way, it was seeded.
Wonderful stuff
Very amusing reaction from John Cleese.sometimes things are not so funny…and yes it does make you wonder what’s true and what isn’t ..
Rain dance or not, the brilliant John Cleese made me smile.