Quotes from 'Zulu' |
Alan
Site Admin
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A few quotes from 'Zulu', as if we needed reminding.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058777/quotes |
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Barbara Grant
Guest
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The link didn't contain one of my favourites, namely
"Are you sure you're on the right side of the river, Mr. Witt?" Barbara |
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HARMAN
Guest
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If 1200 men couldn't hold a defensive position this morning, what chance have we with 100?
"He had a point" |
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Barbara Grant
Guest
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Rich,
I'd always assumed that "chin-chin" meant "ta ta." Is that right? Maybe someone knowledgeable about British English can enlighten me... Barbara (From My Fair Lady, "There are even places where English completely disappears...well in America, they haven't used it for years!") |
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Paul Bryant-Quinn
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One of my favourites:
[Chard]: "They had names, they had faces: they were our men." |
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Alan
Site Admin
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Barbara,
I always thought chin-chin was to do with chin up, twice. |
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Martin Everett
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Alan
It was a phrase used in WW1 - so was probably not in use in 1879. I always find it difficult - because many would wish to believe that 'Zulu' was actually real - but it was a 1960s creation of John Prebble - he created dialogue that he thought was acceptable to 1960s audiences. It would be equally difficult for a modern scriptwriter to devise a lively script true to the Victorian age - such is the development of language. What many are seeking, Coll in particular, is the H G Wells' Time Machine to be able to transport themselves back to 1879 - to witness the actual key players in AZW, and importantly understand the some of the mistakes that there were made. The downside would be it might be too horrific spectacle - certainly not an entertainment. |
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_________________ Martin Everett Brecon, Powys |
Sawubona
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When Baker asks who was left behind in the hospital, what has he just picked up and dusted off? Is it a helmet plate?
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chin-chin |
Simon Rosbottom
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Another view - 'a salutation' which is correct for the context of Caine's character in Zulu - (note I didn't say "Bromhead").
In use long before WW1. CHIN-CHIN. In the "pigeon English" of Chinese ports this signifies 'salutation, compliments,' or 'to salute,' and is much used by Englishmen as slang in such senses. It is a corruption of the Chinese phrase ts'ingts'ing, Pekingese ch'ing-ch'ing, a term of salutation answering to 'thank-you,' 'adieu.' Hobson-Jobson is often a good source for solving the origins of such phrases. http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/search3advanced?dbname=hobson&query=chin-chin&matchtype=exact&display=utf8 Regards |
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_________________ Simon |
rich
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Thanks Simon for the reference.....fascinating from the source..and I finally got a great definition of "coolie" as well.
Martin: regarding scriptwriters and the Victorian period I always thought that if Robert Bolt got a hand in developing the Zulu film scripts those films he would certainly have had the wherewithal to have the characters speak the language of the period on the screen. If there was anyone who had a feel for language and the written word it was him. He did write "Dr Zhivago", "Lawrence of Arabia" and "A Man for All Seasons", three great classic films. |
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_________________ Rich |
Paul Bryant-Quinn
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That has always interested me too, Sawubona. I see 'Chard' as holding a lump of soil, and had taken it to be a visual reference to the line spoken by Neil McCarthy's character, Pte John Thomas ('Tommy'), who similarly bends to pick up a handful of earth: "... And the soil ... there's no moisture in it. Nothing to hold a man in his grave." Could be wrong, of course ... |
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Sawubona
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The quest for the answer to the handful-of-dirt/helmet plate conundrum led me down a tortuous path beset with incompatibilities of region coded DVD's in region specific DVD players and worse. But I've returned bearing the news that, viewed at a magnification of 4X on a paused frame, Sir Stanley Baker is incontrovertibly holding a scorched helmet plate, albeit what appears to be that of the Royal Artillery. A clump of dirt would have been good too.
Still no wristwatches in sight however, so Sheldon's reward is yet unclaimed. |
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Paul Bryant-Quinn
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... and another fond theory bites the dust! |
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Sawubona
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Some soil being discernible on the helmet plate, I'm thinking that Baker might be using it simply as a handy utensil with which to scoop up some dirt and that the dirt itself is the focus rather than the plate. Sadly, I'm afraid that only Cy Enfield could ever have layed this provoking mystery to rest and with his passing we lesser men were doomed to forever wonder.
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Quotes from 'Zulu' |
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