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Pedants' corner

It's Miss Havisham......

26 replies

Maireas · 25/02/2024 09:35

Ok, not everyone is familiar with Great Expectations. Not everyone is a fan of Dickens.
However. It is not Mrs Haversham, Miss Haversham or any other variant which crops up frequently on here.
Someone has a user name including "Miss Haversham", which I find very annoying. It's Miss Havisham . So I'm having my pedantic rant on here, rather than correcting them. Rant over, but I may be back. As you were.

OP posts:
tomago · 25/02/2024 09:35

Never read it. It's it any good?

Maireas · 25/02/2024 09:38

Brilliant. Wonderful book. There's a mystery, a love story, excitement, humour, political and social comment...and features a woman unable to get over being jilted at the altar years previously. She is Miss Havisham!

OP posts:
CheerfulBardo · 25/02/2024 09:38

tomago · 25/02/2024 09:35

Never read it. It's it any good?

It’s a perfect novel. (And short by Dickens’ usual standards, if that’s a consideration.)

Yes, OP, ‘Miss Haversham’ drives me nearly as crazy as ‘Heathcliffe’, which makes a brooding, Byronic character sound like a seaside B and B with gnomes in the garden.

Maireas · 25/02/2024 09:40

Ye gods, @CheerfulBardo ...so true. If you're going to take a literary character as your user name, at least check it out.

OP posts:
Marcipex · 25/02/2024 09:42

Isn’t he called Heathcliff? Or is he Heathcliffe?

CheerfulBardo · 25/02/2024 09:45

Maireas · 25/02/2024 09:40

Ye gods, @CheerfulBardo ...so true. If you're going to take a literary character as your user name, at least check it out.

It’s not even user names, it’s just people talking about Wuthering Heights!

(Generally in the context of it not being ‘romantic’ and Heathcliff and Cathy not being nice or relatable, which they seem to think is Emily Brontë getting it wrong, rather than their own misconceptions about a novel that was never going to involve meet-cutes or everyone living happily ever after.)

CheerfulBardo · 25/02/2024 09:46

Marcipex · 25/02/2024 09:42

Isn’t he called Heathcliff? Or is he Heathcliffe?

He’s called Heathcliff. Not Heathcliffe.

DaBlackCatsAreDaBestCats · 25/02/2024 09:46

The novel is a masterpiece of love versus money x

tomago · 25/02/2024 09:46

Thanks I'll give it a go!

Maireas · 25/02/2024 09:47

DaBlackCatsAreDaBestCats · 25/02/2024 09:46

The novel is a masterpiece of love versus money x

It is indeed. Also snobbery and pretentiousness v honesty and kindness.

OP posts:
GiantHornets · 25/02/2024 09:49

Just to be pedantic, how do you know that the user name Miss Haversham has anything to do with Great Expectations? It could be someone who lives in the village of that name, which is near to Milton Keynes

Maireas · 25/02/2024 09:49

Was there ever a novel so misrepresented as Wuthering Heights, @CheerfulBardo ?
I love it because it's such an intriguing gothic novel, with characters (not least Heathcliff) who are unpleasant and cruel. It's not a romance.

OP posts:
MILLYmo0se · 25/02/2024 09:50

I was a v strange child, this film was the highlight of Christmas for me every year, would set my alarm to be sure I didn't miss it as it was always on early in the morning. I was ecstatic when the book appeared in a big box my mams work colleague put together for me when I was off school yet again for a long period when I was 11.....have to admit though I do have to think for a second as to what her name is, I think my accent adds a slight 'r'

Maireas · 25/02/2024 09:51

GiantHornets · 25/02/2024 09:49

Just to be pedantic, how do you know that the user name Miss Haversham has anything to do with Great Expectations? It could be someone who lives in the village of that name, which is near to Milton Keynes

You have a good point, but they add the suffix "veil" which indicates that it's the jilted bride character.
I don't want to have a go at them personally (maybe it's too late!) but it's really about the misspelling of her name which is frequent on MN.

OP posts:
DaBlackCatsAreDaBestCats · 25/02/2024 09:53

Maireas · 25/02/2024 09:47

It is indeed. Also snobbery and pretentiousness v honesty and kindness.

Exactly that and beautifully explored x

Maireas · 25/02/2024 09:54

@MILLYmo0se - was that the 1946 David Lean version with John Mills? Very atmospheric. Dickens' novels are hard to make into good films because of the significant content and number of characters, but that one is enjoyable. There was a tv series recently that was very bad. A strange interpretation, and not well done.

OP posts:
Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 25/02/2024 09:55

Shameful confession: years ago I changed my username to AllMimsyWereTheBorogroves. It was ages before I noticed that the word Lewis Carroll invented in Jabberwocky is borogoves, not borogroves, and that was because I noticed someone with a similar username who'd spelled it right. Oops. Blush

PersephonePomegranate23 · 25/02/2024 09:56

Oh dear, the 'Miss' is integral to Miss Haversham's character and story. Someone obviously knows nothing about the (brilliant) story, which begs the questions, why have that username?

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 25/02/2024 09:57

(Now expecting to be banned from Pedants' Corner.)

Maireas · 25/02/2024 09:57

I wouldn't have picked that up, @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g , although some Lewis Carroll fan/pendant may have been annoyed.

OP posts:
Maireas · 25/02/2024 09:57

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 25/02/2024 09:57

(Now expecting to be banned from Pedants' Corner.)

😂

OP posts:
Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 25/02/2024 09:58

DaBlackCatsAreDaBestCats · 25/02/2024 09:46

The novel is a masterpiece of love versus money x

I think this could also be said of Our Mutual Friend.

Maireas · 25/02/2024 09:59

Another brilliant book! Although my favourite is Bleak House. Fewer screen interpretations, so fewer opportunities for my pedantry to be activated.

OP posts:
Tlolljs · 25/02/2024 10:00

Maireas · 25/02/2024 09:54

@MILLYmo0se - was that the 1946 David Lean version with John Mills? Very atmospheric. Dickens' novels are hard to make into good films because of the significant content and number of characters, but that one is enjoyable. There was a tv series recently that was very bad. A strange interpretation, and not well done.

We watched this at school, I’ve never forgotten the rats running over the wedding cake.

CheerfulBardo · 25/02/2024 10:03

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 25/02/2024 09:55

Shameful confession: years ago I changed my username to AllMimsyWereTheBorogroves. It was ages before I noticed that the word Lewis Carroll invented in Jabberwocky is borogoves, not borogroves, and that was because I noticed someone with a similar username who'd spelled it right. Oops. Blush

I went through a phase of using Carroll coinages as user names! I think I was ‘Outgrabe’ at some point, and also ‘MomeRaths’.