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Mostyn's expression, 'I feel a right Jonah.'

posted 12 years ago by finnegansword-772-990306
11 replies | jump to latest

You will remember the scene where Mostyn explains to Smiley and the others in the safe house the circumstances leading up to General Vladimir's death on Hampstead Heath? At the very end of his speech he says something like,"he was my first agent, and now he is dead......I feel a right Jonah."

I have never really understood this rather dated English slang expression (in US English it has an entirely different vulgar meaning). In an effort to find an explanation, I looked up the Urban Dictionary and the nearest example given there was as follows:

"Seafaring slang. Refers to somebody who's the cause of bad luck; a jinx. The bearer of bad juju."

I would be interested to hear your interpretation of what was meant in this context.

[–] bikerpaul68 12 years ago

I've never heard this expression outside "Smiley's People" and I've no idea why an Oxbridge graduate (was it a St Edmund's Hall scarf he was wearing?) should use sailors' slang.

[–] finnegansword 12 years ago

While on the subject of quaint expressions apparently favoured by English Public School boys of yesteryear, the term "juju man" springs to mind. I can't say I remember this expression ever being used outside the covers of a novel.

But perhaps some of you move in more exalted circles, so why not share your experience with us groundlings?

*****

In the light of recent (British) political events, perhaps "pleb" should be added? I believe le Carre used this word in a novel somewhere. Of course, those of us who had a Classical education know (without consulting a Latin/English Dictionary) that it is short for Plebeian: of the common people.

(Oh dear, it gets worse according to Thesaurus "somebody who behaves in a coarse or crude manner, or has common or vulgar tastes, especially somebody from a lower social class (insult)"

*****

A scurrilous verse to be sung to the Music Hall song, "Oh Mr Porter - (what shall I do?")

"Oh Mr Policeman, what shall I do?
Open up the Precinct Gates, and jolly well let me through,
I swear I never swore at you, though whipping would do you good,
There’s a good chap, its been a hard week, I’m sure I’ve been misunderstood."

Anon.

On 19 October 2012 the Chief Whip offered his resignation to David Cameron, the Prime Minister. THE TIMES NEWSPAPER ran a headline, ""The Police get their Man." Shame!

[–] finnegansword-772-990306 11 years ago

On the BBC "TODAY" PROGRAMME this morning fresh revelations have come to light that a policeman with access to the officer's log recording the earlier incident with the Chief Whip, posed as a civilian observing the verbal exchanges. This matter is presently being investigated by the Cabinet Office. Very curious.

Mitchell writes (in the Sunday Times, 23/12/2012) that he eventually decided to resign on 19 October after it became clear he had lost the confidence of a significant section of the 2010 intake of new Tory MPs.

The IPCC said on Monday, 17 December, that its role in the investigation was to establish whether the officer's claim to have witnessed the clash between Mitchell and police in September was valid or not. The officer was also being investigated over whether his account of the incident was accurate.

This affair is turning into one of the biggest scandals of 2012 with the Met. Police impartiality now in question.

Feb. 1. 2013 A fourth person has been arrested in connection with this distressing affair.
Feb. 4. "What began as a story about what was really said became a story about who leaked a police log, but is now much more serious.” (Nick Robinson, BBC Journalist.)

[–] Miarse 11 years ago

Jonah in sailors' superstition

A long-established expression among sailors uses the term "a Jonah" as meaning a person (either a sailor or a passenger) whose presence on board brings bad luck and endangers the ship. Later on, this meaning was extended to "a Jonah" referring to "a person who carries a jinx, one who will bring bad luck to any enterprise." An example of a so-called "Jonah" would be that of the sailor in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, who was cursed to be lost at sea after he killed an albatross.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah

[–] finnegansword 11 years ago

This long-running saga can be followed on the "Plebgate goes legal" page. Recently, the PM and Home Secretary intervened.

[–] m-j-mooney 12 years ago

I was born in 1954 (in Birmingham, England - a LONG way from the sea!) and I've always been familiar with the term "Jonah" to mean a curse or a jinx. Most British people of my generation would recognise it without a thought.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] angelofvic 10 years ago

The same expression (with the same meaning) is used several times in that wonderful film, Captains Courageous.
.

[–] coadewords 10 years ago

I have resorted to BREWER'S DICTIONARY OF PHRASE & FABLE, a revised edition which tells me that it has Biblical associations with Jonah and the Whale. He was thrown overboard by the crew who considered him very unlucky for the ship. He was swallowed by a great fish (a whale?) and vomited out three days later. He survived to preach wonderfully at Nineveh, etc.

In other words a very unlucky person who brings bad kamah to those around him.

[–] den09 9 years ago

Very commonly used expression in my day I still use it. Also cant remember which (Beano or Dandy perhaps ) but Jonah was a character in a weekly comic long ago and disaster followed in his wake

[–] poetcomic1 8 years ago

Jonah's refusal to attempt to convert Nineveh as ordered by God put him under a curse and the ship's crew plagued by a terrible storm threw him overboard (to be swallowed by the whale).