"Plenty Of Room In The Back"

[JO]

In the first part of "Plenty Of Room In The Back" Billy refers to how fat female opera singers are.
Since i have been following Amira Willighagen

I find almost none that are fat, the great Montserrat Caballé is of course heavy.
So i wonder over the years how many other times the cast has used popular sayings that are not true.
Joe

 

[captain clutterbuck]

I think all historic series have some terminology that may have been acceptable at the time but is far from it now and there are terms like those you refer to which are never acceptable and should never be used in the context of describing any human being . I am sure if you trawl through LOTSW there are probably going to be multiple teeth itching examples of sayings that are perhaps not acceptable now.

 

[dick]

Programme makers seem to want to obey the modern ideas. Even historical programmes (Call the Midwife etc )seem to bring a modern slant to the dialogue and use current thinking that would not have been thought of then ! One of the attractions of LOTSW is having already lived through it, it is nice to be reminded of the slower pace and ideas of the period. If this makes me something of a Dinosaur, so be it !

 

[Sarkus]

Opera singers being heavy is an old stereotype. The old phrase “until the fat lady sings” is a reference to that.

As Captain notes above LOTSW is full of stuff that is considered politically incorrect now. For example, here in the US a sports radio host was recently fired after he made fun of a sports agent of Asian descent in a comedy bit that included playing “chopsticks” style music in the background. LOTSW used similar music whenever Entwhistle showed up. If a comedy show did that here nowadays it would be considered offensive.

 

[Marianna]

Opera singers being heavy is an old stereotype. The old phrase “until the fat lady sings” is a reference to that.

As Captain notes above LOTSW is full of stuff that is considered politically incorrect now. For example, here in the US a sports radio host was recently fired after he made fun of a sports agent of Asian descent in a comedy bit that included playing “chopsticks” style music in the background. LOTSW used similar music whenever Entwhistle showed up. If a comedy show did that here nowadays it would be considered offensive.

That kind of thing has always been offensive, even to some non-Asians, but until relatively recently too few of us were speaking up about it. Even though I cringe at some of the lines in LOTSW, and would have reacted the same way when the episodes were first broadcast, I still can enjoy the comedy. Maybe my mind is way too compartmentalized.