Friday, 18 March 2011

The Prince's English

That nice (if possibly quite a lot less exciting that one might have hoped - or is that just viewing monarchy through a 21st century prism?) Prince William has been bringing good cheer to the people of Christchurch. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, this is what he told them, (while donning the inevitable US-style emblazoned cap [but at least not backwards]): "There was a lot of us who were in the military were gnashing our teeth to get over here." Leaving aside the 'munted' (to use the Prince's word to describe Christchurch post-earthquake, reportedly) use of the verb 'to be', 'gnashing our teeth' is new to me in this context. 'Champing at the bit' would be more my idea of the king's English - but then neither William, nor indeed his father, is yet a king.
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4 comments:

  1. George18 March 2011 at 02:35

    Could "munt" perhaps be a typo for or corruption of "mung"? The word is used in American tech circles, and according to "the jargon file", it was understood at first to be an acronym for "mash until no good"; then the fad for "recursive acronyms" came along and it became "mung until no good".

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  2. Anonymous18 March 2011 at 12:59

    Have you read Kingsley Amis's book The King's English? Hilariously erudite

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  3. Umbagollah18 March 2011 at 17:22

    Civilians champ. Soldiers gnash.

    Anyone and anything can be munted.

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  4. zmkc19 March 2011 at 01:57

    George - someone just mentioned that it means to be affected by the drug called ecstasy here (more Prince Harry than Prince William in that usage possibly)
    Nurse - I shall pursue it at the library, when I'm not engaged in renewed newspaper skirmishing
    Umbagollah - I feel quite munted this morning, in a non ecstasy sense (horrible cold, mild laryngitis, since you ask [stifle that yawn])

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