Thursday 11 June 2009

Those things

The role of chairman at a conference is simple: at the start of a lecture,  announce the name of the speaker [you should try to get this right] and the title of their talk [ditto], and at the end, say "Let us thank the speaker." Except that this time I did it, I committed the spoonerism that every chairman dreads. 

Fortunately the theaker on this occasion had a sense of humour.

12 comments:

Mrs Pouncer said...

Inky, were you pissed? Or distracted? Or had you the sudden realisation that any discussion of the Kahler-Einstein problem for Fano manifolds isn't cutting it for you anymore?

KAZ said...

I bet you did it on purpose.
Come on - confess.

Kevin Musgrove said...

what age, sex and inside leg was the speaker?

Gadjo Dilo said...

I remember Radio 4 newsreader "Naughty" Charlotte Green saying the spoonerism they all dreaded most was on "West Bank".

xerxes said...

Not pissed, not distracted (the talk had been reasonably interesting), the speaker was a nice guy but unalluring (a goofy Canadian ffs, I might as well have had a wax effigy), it just happened.

Mind you, some people do have, er, disturbing features and would have caused the audience to endorse my suggestion enthusiastically. Perhaps I should explain that in maths the best talks are still given with blackboard and chalk, so that most of the time a rear view is presented.

Lulu LaBonne said...

Do you mean to say the Theaker had a large derriére or was it interestingly shaped?

xerxes said...

Lulu, he was unremarkable and so were all his aspects. As a rentboy on your zeppelin he would be a washout. (I almost typed our zeppelin. Now there's a dream... .)

Kevin Musgrove said...

"Perhaps I should explain that in maths the best talks are still given with blackboard and chalk, so that most of the time a rear view is presented."

Which is why a 24-year-old blonde in action slacks is not a good idea if you want your boys' grammar school's A-Level class to get good grades.

Lulu LaBonne said...

If you had a zeppelin Inky - I'd be on it!

Oooh Kevin - 'Action Slacks' - love it

Kevin Musgrove said...

Lulu - so did we!

Dr Maroon said...

Zepplins schmepplinns. A well exploited spoonerism I remember was the Hillhead by-election when Roy Jenkins stood as the new leader of the S.D.P.
"Woy's a ranker" was the slogan of the S.P.D.

Dr Maroon said...

Clarissa you're such a twister.