Cracker by Damian Christie

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Cracker: About a Boy

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  • recordari,

    I'm confusing myself now.

    I'll let it go. After all you recommended Murakami, and now I'm three books in and loving it. Forget the 80s, I'm getting nostalgic for Jolisa's bookie thread. I'm reading a new Jasper Fforde and I have no where to talk about it. Sorry, thread anachronism.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    Does anyone know where the insult 'egg' came from? I know it's in Macbeth, and possibly more Shakespeare - but how the hell did we end up with it? It fascinates me.

    Me too. It's at least as common in Australia as it is here. Very big with people who say "Mate" a lot, as in "Yore an egg, mate."

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Cecelia,

    Thou liest, thou shag-hair'd villain!
    What, you egg!

    Thousands of fifth formers doing Macbeth?

    And recordari - chacun a son gout??? Can't read Fforde. Tried and failed.

    But I'm so wired - I'm nearly all the way through Season 5 of The Wire and I've got no one to discuss it with because everyone else has seen it and moved on.

    Hmmm It's so brilliant. Talk about characterisation of fatherless young boys ... Might have made me more critical of Boy than it deserved.

    In fact, Shakespeare would have been proud of it.

    Hibiscus Coast • Since Apr 2008 • 559 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    Can't read Fforde. Tried and failed.

    Hmm, not sure I can let that go ;-)

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Cecelia,

    Hmm, not sure I can let that go ;-)

    Sigh. I'll have to try again.

    Hibiscus Coast • Since Apr 2008 • 559 posts Report Reply

  • Tessa Houghton,

    Thou liest, thou shag-hair'd villain!
    What, you egg!

    Thousands of fifth formers doing Macbeth?

    Exactly where I remember it from :D
    Maybe that is the answer. My god. That'd be hilarious.
    I wonder if it is part of the Australian curriculum too?

    Wellington • Since Aug 2009 • 18 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Perhaps "egg" is the ultimate in insulting someone's lack of maturity.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    You egghead? Isn't that the opposite?

    This could be the makings of a good yoke. I'll just go see if I can crack it.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW,

    Perhaps "egg" is the ultimate in insulting someone's lack of maturity.

    If it was Shakespeare that wrote it, then "egg" must have been the pen-ultimate insult, thus implying it really was the "chicken" that came first as the ultimate insult.

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    I'm not a jealous thread-keeper, feel free to let this wander to discussions of The Wire, Murikami, Fforde, what have you...

    @Cecilia - maybe the generational thing does explain it. I dare say if Boy was set in modern day, the conversation would be much different, and probably full of swearing. As I said, for some reason in the 80s we all knew swear words, but very rarely used them.

    I wonder whether the two sides of the insult might in fact be "egg" and "spoon". Both popular terms of derision in the 80s...

    And #TheWire. I feel where you're at. Finished it late last year, very tempted to start again at the start. Although it wasn't until I finished the last episode I realised I wasn't in fact "catching up" with a series that was about to start a new season anytime soon, and that it had started, and ended, before I'd ever heard of it... It is brilliant. Significant characters that "get got" without so much as a second thought, the least condescending narrative and dialogue I have ever heard.

    Ironically, it's quite easy to find threads from people in Baltimore saying how stereotyped the characters and unrealistic the dialogue are :)

    I've just picked up Cormack McCarthy's 'The Road', putting me in probably the same place vis-a-vis other people as you are with the Wire. It's bleak. And my workmate kinda ruined it by saying <SPOILER>: "And you keep hoping something will get better and it never does."

    And how many people (including my Aunt, who has always been my inspiration for good literature, introducing me to the likes of Vonnegut and Pynchon when I was a teenager) are going to tell me I *must read* 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'. I'm sure its addictively good, like Dunkin Donuts and Steven King, but a little piece of me will surely die...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Like @recordari, I didn't see stereotypes, certainly not such that they grated. The kids' dialogue seemed particularly natural to me, but then again I wasn't a Maori kid living on the East Coast in the 80s.

    I was, for about six months in 1984, going to school not that far from where Boy was shot. (At which time, I was punched in the face by a future V.C. winner, but that's a whole other story.) Pretty well-observed, as far as I can remember.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    (At which time, I was punched in the face by a future V.C. winner, but that's a whole other story.)

    Bloody hell, isn't it just...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Bloody hell, isn't it just...

    Just as well I inisuated that Willie Apiata smelled like he was over-affectionate towards farm animals before he got all that SAS training.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    I've just picked up Cormack McCarthy's 'The Road', putting me in probably the same place vis-a-vis other people as you are with the Wire. It's bleak. And my workmate kinda ruined it by saying <SPOILER>: "And you keep hoping something will get better and it never does."

    I guess your workmate stopped reading a couple of pages before the end.

    And how many people (including my Aunt, who has always been my inspiration for good literature, introducing me to the likes of Vonnegut and Pynchon when I was a teenager) are going to tell me I *must read* 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'. I'm sure its addictively good, like Dunkin Donuts and Steven King, but a little piece of me will surely die...

    Colm Toibin had a good comment on this the other day, on radio: he sees these books everyone else is reading and immediately wants to read George Eliot or something no one is reading.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Just as well I inisuated that Willie Apiata smelled like he was over-affectionate towards farm animals before he got all that SAS training

    138 characters, just sayin

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    138 characters, just sayin

    What happens in the playground stays in the playground?

    Just as well most of my school-yard commando activities happened in the 70s, and I can legitimately claim memory loss. But in similar form, I was the one throwing the insults, not the punches.

    In related news, I loved the character of Rocky especially. Just sayin'.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    I guess your workmate stopped reading a couple of pages before the end.

    I know what you're trying to do, and thanks. But it's okay, I've read Kafka. I'm cool was bleak endings to bleak books.

    Although maybe it was my workmate who was being more clever than I give her credit for, altering my expectations. Like when my friend told me it was Hosanna who was going to win NZ's Next Top Model, but it wasn't, and I was like, OMG... except with Cormack McCarthy's post-apocalyptic dystopia.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    138 characters, just sayin

    I don't geddit...

    Colm Toibin had a good comment on this the other day, on radio: he sees these books everyone else is reading and immediately wants to read George Eliot or something no one is reading.

    I said as much the other day. If I'm reading what everyone else is reading, how will I know I'm edgy?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I don't geddit...

    Tweetable (and tweetworthy), young skywalker

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    Poi-E is back in the charts.

    Boy helps Poi E climb the charts

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    They should release the Boy video version. It is taking off now, but with that one, it would go viral.

    Umm, as many of you may already be following the Crazy Horses Gang on Facebook, is it Ok to link to a fan photo? Oh well, here goes... This was ZOMG ponies!

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Cecelia,

    Damien - I love that comment about Baltimore people saying that The Wire contained stereotypes. It's a really good point. The word stereotype for Boy is probably too strong, I admit - Rocky is pretty unique. Everyone I know has a soft spot for Rocky ...

    I can't quite articulate what I feel about the film. A friend suggested I watch Maori TV for a wider representation of Maori ...

    By the way, Land of the Long White Cloud was IMHO a great kiwi film.

    I don't know if you would like Dragon Tattoo. A good read but not great fodder for the soul:)

    Hibiscus Coast • Since Apr 2008 • 559 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    @Cecelia - it's fine, if you feel it's stereotyped, that's how you feel. I'm happy for you not to like it - I just wanted to recommend it to people because I really did!

    Land of the Long White Cloud I really liked too, it was lovely. A lot easier to avoid criticisms of being stereotypical or unnatural when you're making a documentary of course ;)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

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