to think most people would understand who Pinnocchio is despite Boris Johnson's dad saying they wouldn't

[chomalungma]

Maybe they can't spell the name.
But they know the idea. A liar.

His dad is upset his son, who has been sacked for lying before, is being called Pinocchio. He claims the British public don't have the literacy to understand it.

Bet BJ is thrilled he's got his Dad onside. What a campaigner. In one fell swoop he's both insulted the public's intelligence and shown himself to be a complete elitist by not realising that although probably relatively few people have read Pinocchio, the character is well known in popular culture through the Disney film and Shrek. Bet neither SJ nor BJ have seen either.

et neither SJ nor BJ have seen either

Yet another question for BJ to be asked

Along with nurse numbers
NHS funding
Police numbers
His views on single mums
Working class males
Muslim women
LGBT people

It's getting hard to keep track of what he's said and what he needs to be questioned on

Hey, as I have read both a full-length English translation of Pinocchio and seen the Disney film, does this mean I'm no longer "ill-raised" and "ignorant"?

Sorry JamieVardy, if you were raised by a single parent then you’re done for. There’s no redemption.

Bugger.

Do you know the thing that shocks me? How easily everyone forgets what it was like to be a single parent or to be a socially-aware child of a single parent 25 years ago. Of course Johnson said that- all the Tories did! Single parents were the scapegoat for all of society's ills back then. Not absent fathers though. Course not.

Gosh the mask really slipped in this interview, didn't it? It showed how for both father and son, the rakish charm and bumbling bonhomie are just a facade. The real person is contemptuous of the British public, entitled, self-serving and lacking any sense of moral code or accountability. How dare you little people hold me to account, don't you know I'm from the ruling classes and entitled to act as I wish, without consequence.

Sadly it works for many. There are a lot of people who've told me they like Boris as he's such a laugh. They have no idea who's really laughing at whom.

The story was abbot more than Pinocchio telling lies though. It was about his journey to become a better person/ real boy. The lying is only a small part of it. So in that score he's right. People don't understand the story. Just the cultural reference.

Not to mention most only know it from Disney and not because they read the books.

Pinnochio told a few lies, not the industrial scale of lies that Mr Johnson tells. Pinocchio had some respect for women.

It's an unfair comparison even though it is getting the point over about lying.

There's a nice picture doing the rounds on facebook, with Boris and his dad, and the caption "If you ever forget how to spell Pinocchio, think of this picture and remember it has two Cs".

JamieVardysHavingAParty I was raised by a single father when my parents split... wonder what he’d make of that?

The story was about more than Pinocchio telling lies though.

Not at first it wasn’t. Collodi originally wrote it as a tragedy warning children about how not to behave, then his readers upset when Pinocchio met a sticky end, so he turned it into a story about redemption. That doesn’t matter anyway, as it is pretty clear what someone means when they call someone Pinocchio.

The man who sent in the email to the BBC couldn't spell Pinocchio either;

"Sorry I didn't spell Pinocchio correctly and I am frustrated and I'm sorry and annoyed with myself because I checked it. So sorry once again. But the spelling wasn't too wrong because Joanna still read it out. But in my defense [sic] Boris Pinocchio Johnson wouldn't spell Pinocchio."

The story was about more than Pinocchio telling lies though.

Yes - other characters telling lies, plus kidnapping, murder and (possibly) paedophilia...

The Blue Fairy wants Pinocchio to be the blueprint for a perfect boy/ human being - when most of the other characters are not. She gave him an impossible task.

Haha SJ is as much a tosser as BJ.

I will now never forget how to spell Pinocchio, thank you MereDint!

SJ showed himself up yesterday his jolly japes on tv with his bff Georgia Toffolo are tarnished he is a buffoon.

In the original tale, Collodi describes him as a "rascal," "imp," "scapegrace," "disgrace," "ragamuffin," and "confirmed rogue," with even his father, carpenter Geppetto, referring to him as a "wretched boy." Upon being born, Pinocchio immediately laughs derisively in his creator's face, whereupon he steals the old man's wig

(From Wikipedia!)

"I think it's amazing that you can read out on air a tweet that calls the prime minister a liar"...

He is a liar.

This isn't a totalitarian regime where you're imprisoned for daring to criticise the government.

The inverse snobbery on this thread is appalling. Think I’ll go onto another thread and call working class Labour voters chavs and see how well that goes down

Emmapeeler1
(From Wikipedia!)

Your reference also says;
"Some literary analysts have described Pinocchio as an epic hero."

What was that about Churchill and all his faults...

He's demonstrated exactly how much contempt he, and many of his class, holds the general public in.

Obviously only those who've been to Eton could understand a literary reference, the rest of us plebs are just naturally thick and inferior, the muck on their boots.

He's not alone - those views are common in his circles - just look at many of BoJo's columns or Rees-Mogg's statements, the same contempt is demonstrated there. It is beyond me why people repeatedly vote for this kind of person, kidding themselves that the toffs actually give a shit about us plebs beyond wanting us for cheap labour or cannon fodder when it suits them.

How is it inverse snobbery?

@clavinova - oh dear... I didn’t get to that bit

I was also wondering that @DippyAvocado!

Silly little man.

Maybe he doesn’t realise that it’s been made into a Disney film?