A general observation relating to nothing in particular and especially nothing on television

[avevale_intelligencer]

If you have a young actor playing the part of a much older man, and he is doing it without makeup or any of the mannerisms of age (because he has to be an action hero at the same time) or in other words purely by suggestion, it does not on the whole assist this endeavour if his co-star makes a point, every single episode, of calling him "boy."

(I was in the kitchen. Honest. I was just fetching the cups. I'll wear headphones next week.)

Comments

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Earmuffs. Merkins. Cats (purring). A Darth Vader type helmet (in which you couldn't hear anything else because of the hissing, unless you use the Force).

But yes, it is true...

[eoforyth.livejournal.com]

Or possibly even the fourth Dr's hat and scarf, as an extra layer of comfort?

[keristor.livejournal.com]

The cats might object to being wrapped in a scarf. I'd put the scarf inside the helmet, though, as extra padding (roughly 2240 pounds of it, a padding-ton) and possibly the hat on top.

(Ear-muffins? Toasted or not?)

[aunty_marion]

You haven't had enough sleep, have you?

[keristor.livejournal.com]

What is this 'sleep' of which you speak? Enlighten me, O mistress...

[eoforyth.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, if you are a woman having to sort out or clean up after a man while he goes around playing super hero/rocket scientist, and regardless of any assigned age, the tendency would be to roll your eyes, roll up your sleeves, and frequently utter 'boy(s)' in various intonations.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, there is that.

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

Exactly. [NODS FIRMLY]

Quite a lot of us lot keep calling most of them lot "girls" for quite a long time after they reach maturity, after all. Fair's fair.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

There are those of the female persuasion who don't actually like that, though. And calling a 907-year-old lady a "girl" would be stretching it for any of us.

I think they should just abandon the pretence and call him something else. Or that's what I would say, if I were still remotely interested.

[aunty_marion]

He has been known to refer to the TARDIS, which is presumably pretty old though not necessarily 907, as 'old girl'.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Ah, but there's a world of difference between "old girl" and "girl." And, for the matter of that, between "old girl" and "old boy." And between any of the above applied to a person and applied to (what is at least part of the time) a vehicle.

Headphones. Definitely. Playing something nice.

[tig-b.livejournal.com]

When I lived in Orkney I was amused by elderly men calling each other 'boy'.

She doesn't have an Orcadian accent, but may have visited?

[howeird]

Oppositely (is that even a word? No? Conversely, then) in a Shel Silverstein song called Time, "Today in the park a grown man called me 'sir'"

[filklore-on-lj.livejournal.com]

Assuming you are referring to Dr Who, I actually thought that was the best episode of this series. Written by Simon Nye, creator of "Men Behaving Badly", no less.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Mm. I wasn't watching it, as I said, so I just caught that bit. I never particularly took to Men Behaving Badly myself, but if people enjoyed it then it's all good.