Recently, a novelist died ... Diana Athill ... who had been sexually promiscuous. In a newspaper column, I read
"Diana Athill, who died this week, was never a slave to conventional morality."
It immediately (yes, I know I'm weird) set me thinking ... in the early days of May 1945, suppose a member of the Commentariat had written
"Adolf Hitler, who died this week, was never a slave to conventional morality."
Aren't Language Games fascinating?
But Father, surely, these days, being sexually promiscuous is indeed an enslavement to conventional morality?
ReplyDeleteAm I mistaken to think it is a British national pastime to use euphemisms to insult people in their obituaries without being sued, e.g. "confirmed bachelor" (homosexual), "uncompromising ladies' man" (rapist), "generous with his affections" (adulterer), "convivial at all hours" (drunkard), "never a slave to conventional morality" (massive pervert)?
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