One of the things I used to like about The Two Ronnies was that quite a few of their sketches were about language, or at the very least made use of peculiarities of English for their humour.

Last night I watched the first episode of the new season of Mitchell and Webb. It finished with a sketch about a pedantic company manager gradually shooting all the people at a meeting. He shot the first one for pronouncing the name of the letter "H" as "Haitch" rather than "Aitch". He shot the second for saying "pacifically" when she meant "specifically". The third was despatched for saying "expresso" instead of "espresso".

He then responded to criticism by saying "I killed my own wife for ironically saying, 'mispronounciation'."

Subsequently the sole remaining member of the meeting took him to task for saying "ignorami" rather than "ignoramuses" and he shot himself, pausing only to shoot the other man for saying "whoever" rather than "whomever", before expiring in a pool of blood.



The sketch is here, though as it's probably been posted without permission, I can't say how long for.


Now that's what I call pedantry.

For some reason I couldn't pull up the sketch (lines of colors), but from your post...hilarious!

I saw no cartridge case ejection on a semi-automatic pistol. But then a silencer wouldn't have worked had it actually been automatic, so I submit that they shoot the producer for getting the firearms stuff wrong.

hey shoot the producer for getting the firearms stuff wrong

Actually, silencer do work on semi- and fully-automatic weapons. (Of course, the silencer does not suppress the sound of the action ejecting the cartridge.) You might be thinking of their not working too well on revolvers. The flash out the front of the gun also looked to be CGI at one point.

Having fired many a semi-automatic pistol, I'm well aware that considerable noise is created by the fired cartridge case being ejected, though not nearly as much as the muzzle blast, which the silencer muffles, and the case flies out when the slide goes back. And if it's a high-velocity round, there's a crack from the bullet's going past Mach 1. I still maintain that the video violates verisimilitude.

I don't think it necessarily detracts from the sketch.
Although of course, technically speaking, he should have shot himself right at the start for misusing the word "acronym" to apply to HHH which properly speaking ought to be called an initialism.

I still maintain that the video violates verisimilitude.

Yes, because it's a humorous sketch. Very little of what one sees and hears in movies and on TV has verisimilitude. I remember the discussions at the time (in the late '60s) of how guns on the nightly news in reports from the Vietnam War did not sound right. Most people these days have not been around firearms discharging. They go by what they've seen and heard on the various media. The man in the sketch shooting people is not really firing the (prop) gun. The muzzle flash is CGI and no cartridges are being ejected. Another violation of reality seen often in fiction is the person being shot being knocked ten feet back from where they were standing. Do actually accomplish this effect, the firearm would knock the shooter over in a similar fashion.

FWIW, the Wikipedia article has a nice discussion (with references) to the noise a gun makes when firing.

Yep, good old Newtonian physics. I guess Sir Isaac wasn't consulted by the movie makers.

Geoff, shouldn't you be objecting to the fact that they aren't wearing ear protection?

Now that's what I call pedantry - objecting to the way the gun and its firing is depicted.

quote:

Originally posted by neveu:
Geoff, shouldn't you be objecting to the fact that they aren't wearing ear protection?

Since the pistol has a silencer, the noise is tolerable. Now if he had used a shotgun...

Geoff the unpleasant Pedantic peasant

And, of course, I forgot to include the linkin my posting above.