TheBlackberryAlarmclock.com

Thingish Things

Random Anecdote, AA Milne

Written By: William F. B. O'Reilly - Jun• 17•11

Milne, [A]lan [A]lexander (1882-1956) British journalist and playwright, best known for his books for children, When We Were Very Young (1926), Now We Are Six (1927), and The House at Pooh Corner (1928.)

(Christopher Milne explains how his father tactfully corrected his table manners.)

“Once, when I was quite little, he came up to the nursery while I was having my lunch. And while he was talking I paused between mouthfuls, resting my hands on the table, knife and fork pointing upwards.  ‘You oughtn’t really to sit like that,’ he said gently. ‘Why not?’ I asked, surprised. ‘Well…,’ he hunted around for a reason he could give. Because it’s considered bad manners? Because you musn’t? Because… ‘Well,’ he said, looking in the direction that my fork was pointing, ‘suppose somebody suddenly fell through the ceiling. They might land on your fork and that would be very painful.’ ‘I see,’ I said, though I didn’t really.”

 

Courtesy of The Little Brown Book of Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman, Editor. (A recommended buy.)

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.