Today's Forgotten English

quizcuss
A meddlesome, inquisitive person.

--Thomas Darlington's The Folk-Speech of South Cheshire, 1887

Birthday of William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911), English playwright and librettist, who collaborated with Sir Arthur Sullivan on such popular operettas as The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, and H.M.S. Pinafore, which brilliantly spoofed the shortcomings of the Royal Navy. Shortly after the demise of a composer Gilbert knew, an annoying fan who was unaware of the death inquired about that musician's current project. Gilbert discreetly replied that as far as he knew, the composer was "doing nothing." When the fan pressed him again, saying, "Oh, come now. Surely he must be composing something," the irritated Gilbert replied, "On the contrary, sir, he is de-composing."

Ba-bump-bump.

"Schwenck?"

-The Gneech, very model of a modern web cartoonist