{"id":1457,"date":"2008-12-20T19:16:20","date_gmt":"2008-12-20T23:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anglicansamizdat.wordpress.com\/?p=1457"},"modified":"2008-12-20T19:16:20","modified_gmt":"2008-12-20T23:16:20","slug":"flen-flyys-for-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/flen-flyys-for-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Flen flyys for Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vulgar Britain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even Christmas cards are not immune from the F-word<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Christmas cards are sold in Scribbler, a prominent chain of stationers which specialises in “edgy” cards by young British graphic designers, as well as the fashion store Urban Outfitters and Selfridges on London’s Oxford Street.<\/p>\n

One of the cards on sale shows three men holding placards bearing the slogans “Merry Christmas ——“, “Merry ——- Christmas” and “Merry Christmas ——“. Another shows a pensioner standing next to a Christmas tree with the message: “Have a ——- miserable Christmas.”<\/p>\n

One range of cards, from a design company which boasts the name Offensive plus Delightful, uses trendy designs married to crude slogans such as “Happy —-ing New Year” and “Resolutions . . . —- ’em!”<\/p>\n

One of the cards, produced by graphic designer Dean Morris, shows a woman carrying an armful of Christmas presents and declaring: “—– off, these are mine”<\/p>\n

Antonia Major, 18, a student, said: “I don’t like them at all. They aren’t in the spirit of Christmas at all. Nobody I know would send them and I wouldn’t like to get one.”<\/p>\n

But Lisa Yates, 22, a sales account manager, said: “It’s really down to the individual whether they are suitable or not. Some of my friends would appreciate them, but I’d never send one to my Nan.”<\/p>\n

Even the managing director of Scribbler, John Procter, admits that Christmas should ideally be “off-limits” to such vulgarity. But he said many customers would complain if his stores did not stock such cards.<\/p>\n

Mr Procter, who runs 14 branches across London, Oxford and Bournemouth, said: “We don’t set ourselves up as arbiters of taste. We sell these cards because there is a demand for them. It is the way language and humour are going.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In school when we studied Hamlet, I remember our teacher telling us that we would not have any examination questions on this passage:<\/p>\n

HAMLET
\nLady, shall I lie in your lap? Lying down at OPHELIA’s feet<\/em><\/p>\n

OPHELIA
\nNo, my lord.<\/p>\n

HAMLET
\nI mean, my head upon your lap?<\/p>\n

OPHELIA
\nAy, my lord.<\/p>\n

HAMLET
\nDo you think I meant country matters?<\/p>\n

OPHELIA
\nI think nothing, my lord.<\/p>\n

HAMLET
\nThat’s a fair thought to lie between maids’ legs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He didn\u2019t say why, but I studied diligently to find out.<\/p>\n

So the problem with these Christmas cards isn\u2019t the language so much as the attempt to create humour without imagination. Simply being vulgar \u2013 and I can\u2019t think of anything more vulgar than the gratuitous association of God incarnate and a word that is constantly on the lips of every illiterate lout in Christendom \u2013 is not funny, clever or Shakespeare.<\/p>\n

Grow up, Scribbler.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vulgar Britain. Even Christmas cards are not immune from the F-word The Christmas cards are sold in Scribbler, a prominent chain of stationers which specialises in “edgy” cards by young British graphic designers, as well as the fashion store Urban … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-fall-of-the-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}