Newbie - Trying to Help a Friend

[Neil Cerutti]

On Thu, Nov 21, 2013 at 10:48 AM, Chris Angelico <rosuav at gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, a good British comedy does go around a long way. I have to say,
> though, the shortness of the line makes it harder to recognize. Only
> in the tightest of circles could one say "Bother that telephone!" and
> have people understand that it's a reference to the Fat Controller
> from The Railway Series (aka the Thomas the Tank Engine books). The
> more quote you make, the more likely that pieces of it will be
> recognized.

The best sort of reference is one you can miss completely and
still not be confused by. For example, The Borribles by De
Larrabeiti is one of my favorite books despite my knowing virtually
nothing of the back-streets of London or the (now dated) pop-culture
satire it contained.

Many of the main villains in
the book are hilarious and mean-spirited parodies of
a series of British children's literature, The Wombles,
and a British TV show, Steptoe and Son, but the characters work
fine on their own.

But even so, I agree that a footnote is a good idea. And I haven't always
lived up to that ideal, myself.

-- 
Neil Cerutti <mr.cerutti+python at gmail.com>