Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Ceci n'est pas une pipe



Outside Baker Street station is a statue of the mythical Sherlock Holmes, complete with pipe. There's not much point me banging on about the area because as ever, the Diamond Geezer got there before me, so follow the link if you want to read up.

The title is an allusion to the Magritte painting. I wonder how many non-french speakers are aware of the double entendre? (warning - link contains foul language and descriptions of base acts) Was it deliberate? I think so.

posted by Ham at 00:05 -- Comments here: 6

Comments on "Ceci n'est pas une pipe"

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (00:20) : 

How many sex allusions are featured in this picture? Pipe does not count, of course ;)

Anonymous (you bet)

 

Blogger Ineke said ... (09:13) : 

I remember learning this sentence at school and when i lived in France discovering it could have a double meaning. Intentional? I am not sure.
Nice picture!

 

Blogger hfkais said ... (11:09) : 

today, I see London Daily photo's widget in this link(http://widgets.yahoo.com/gallery/view.php?widget=39066). That widget is very good. I just install and see. :)

 

Blogger Ham said ... (18:38) : 

I confess I was being deliberately contentious, but I still think there is more than a germ of truth to the idea.

We want and believe our artists (in all the arts) to be clean and beautiful as the work they produce. The truth is that they are {sweeping statement alert} mostly a lot more earthy than we care to imagine. We can cope with Tracey Emin, maybe, but what about Van Gogh cutting off his ear and giving it to a prostitute? Or the sexual high jinks of the turn of the century painters in Paris? Laurence Olivier's sexuality? Personally, I would have them no other way; it seems intrinsically linked to their creativity.

I'm not suggesting that is a main theme of the painting but - if the expression was in use at the time, which I don't know - it is probable that the meaning was not lost on magritte.

 

Blogger Sam said ... (13:06) : 

LOL - my husband (French) got a laugh out of that title.
Love the photo.

 

Blogger Unknown said ... (00:24) : 

Of course, it was deliberate ! I'm french and i think you would say "double sens" instead of "double entendre".

 

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Name: Ham Location: London, United Kingdom View my complete profile