Original artwork, not a still
I'm anaspeptic, phrasmotic, even compunctious to have caused you such pericombobulation.
— Blackadder • 1983
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The apology continues the offence it pretends to repair. Its long, plausible-looking inventions make a show of deference while giving Johnson fresh reasons to fear his life's work is incomplete. The sentence works as mock-erudite Blackadder language because its emotional meaning is clear even when almost none of its grand words belongs in the dictionary.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for BlackadderShow the scene
In ‘Ink and Incapability’, the second episode of Blackadder the Third (1987), Samuel Johnson believes his dictionary has captured the language. Blackadder enjoys making him doubt it by offering impressive-sounding words he has supposedly omitted. After Johnson reacts to the invented congratulations, the butler follows with an apology made from still more invented vocabulary. The growing pile of nonsense is designed to unsettle the visitor while sounding exquisitely polite to the Prince.
Sources (2)
- Ink and Incapability — episode subtitle transcriptBlackadder the Third — Ink and Incapability; quoted conversationReference checked
- Blackadder the Third — WikiquoteInk and IncapabilityReference checked
Context reviewed
