Despite promises to the contrary, I still haven’t dragged myself out of the politics pit, as the sides are just too slippery.
You don’t learn much at the bottom of the Brexit pool, but I did pick up something new thanks an insult involving a piece of ginger.
After last week’s many plot twists, part of the fallout saw 21 ‘moderate Tory MPs’ (it’s a relative term) ejected from their party. One of the defenestrated was Sir Nicholas Soames, grandson of Winston Churchill. As Boris Johnson venerates Churchill, there was a clanging irony to this expulsion.
Interviewed by The Times after his removal from the party, Soames turned on Johnson, saying that his life story amounted to…
“Telling a lot of porkies about the European Union in Brussels and then becoming prime minister”.
Soames then attacked the leader of the House, Jacob Rees-Mogg, calling him an “absolute fraud”. Rather splendidly, Soames said JRM was…
“A living example of what a moderately cut double-breasted suit and a decent tie can do with an ultra-posh voice and a bit of ginger struck up his arse”.
I understood this insult until the rectally inserted spicy root. My befuddlement was shared by others on Twitter – and then someone came up with the answer. This happens often and suggests there is more to Twitter than passing on insults and being smart; although, to be fair, the rudeness is the main attraction.
“Ginger stuck up his arse” is an insult linked to the equine world; Soames was being horsey rude, if you like. When raw ginger or other irritants are inserted in this unkind way, a horse will carry its tail high, making it appear livelier or younger than is the case.
Once you know this, you can appreciate the insult. As, yes, Rees-Mogg does carry on as if his arse has been super-charged with a stick of ginger – also as if someone made a bonfire in his mouth with an 18th century dictionary.
The phrase to “ginger up” comes from the same misuse of the root on a horse’s arse; also linked indirectly is “ginger group”, defined by Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable as: “A small group of people whose object is to stir the more passive majority into activity, especially in politics. The allusion is to the spice…”
There is a theme here, if you wish to follow, as we were all gingered up with assorted Euro-myths and wilful misunderstandings (aka blatant lies) before the EU referendum.
By the way, Nigel Farage – a lead member of the Spice Churls – carries on as if he has two sticks of ginger and a whole packet of Ginger Nuts shoved up his behind; but I digress and will almost certainly do so again, for what else is there?
Incidentally, saying someone has a “poker up their arse” generally means they are being inflexible or perhaps humourless.
Rather more sombrely, another inappropriate use of a poker, red hot in this instance, is said to have seen off King Edward II in 1327. That is certainly how the king dies in Marlowe’s play of the same name; a gruesome departure that stays in my mind from a production years ago at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.
Historians do not in fact agree over whether Edward II was murdered with a red-hot poker; some maintain he died later in Italy.
With regards to Brexit, Leave or Remain, that has shoved a red-hot poker up all our arses.