'I am a good egg'
I'm sorry' but I haven't got any idea as to what bob was trying to say, anyone got a clue?
shareIt means he's really a good person despite the circumstances.
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MovieChat Forums > Down by Law (1986) Discussion > 'I am a good egg'
Sometimes troublemakers are referred to as "bad eggs," but the idiom only works one way. That's why the other two were laughing when he referred to himself as a "good egg."
shareUm, maybe it's a regionalism, or maybe it's just a generational thing, but my parents (New Englanders in their mid-60s) occasionally refer to someone or other as "a good egg." In context, it means the person is a regular Joe, a good sport, a decent sort. When Roberto uses the expression, he means what he's saying, and says it accurately. The comedy arises from the expression's quaint, old-fashioned feel, and its contrast with the story that precedes it.
shareI thought it was something he mistranslated from italian...
shareWell, I'm from New England and I've heard that expression from my parents generation; but the movie wasn't set in New Bedford. I think the other poster had it right when s/he suggested that it was a case of a reversed idiom ("bad egg") and used for comic effect.
Hey you kids, get off my lawn!
"a good egg" is an expression.
im english (brighton) and often use that phrase to describe someboddy.
e.g "you are a good egg" i.e your "warm" personality, spirit and good nature shines though you....
Besides, he said "I 'ham' a good egg". Putting 'ham' and eggs together sorta cracked me up... but I guess I'm alone.
shareThat was funny. I thought that combination of the way he said it, the fact that he, as a non-native speaker trying to understand English, would use that idiom, and the circumstances were funny. However, I have to say that it is a normal expression to call someone a "good egg." It is just as normal, and in fact to me seems more common, than to call someone a "bad egg." I suppose in some areas that's not so, but my part of California it is completely normal.
shareRight! good egg, bad egg, spoiled rotten, spilt milk, there's even a "Good Egg" breakfast restaurant chain similar to "Denny's" out there...as far as it goes...
"What's that? You just called me a bastard didn't you?/i" - Vyvyan Basterd
Plus, in a prison cell like that, they're all in the same basket!
shareAbsoslutely. The humor comes from the fact that this Italian character is drawn to English idioms, and that he chooses this particular one at this moment. It's also a very human moment: he is trying to connect positively with his cell mates as an intrinsically good/valuable and worthy of friendship, framing them in this light as well.
shareDon't forget that he writes down expressions that he hears in his "book of english". He might heared someone using this expression, like the "Buzz off", and now uses it, without understanding by himself the connotations or the origins of such idiom.
That what makes him so funny - he uses many metaphorical and poetic expressions to explain simple situations, and thus speaks the language not through literal translation, but through the meaning of that situation.
"Good egg" is indeed a 'normal' expression, not an inversion, but it's not the sort of language a hipster would use, which I think is the point. The other two prize cool above all else, whereas Bob has no understanding of cool whatsoever, but it turns out has a much better idea of how to live.
I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity.
I had it on caption during the movie and it always said, 'I "ham" a good egg.' Lol. Anytime there was a word that started with an "a," he would put an "h" in front of it. Made it funnier because the whole ham and egg thing.
But, yeah, he was trying to say that he's a good person.
I teach Italians 'for a living'. Most of them, at lower levels of English proficiency will ALWAYS aspirate a word that starts with a vowel (strange, because they don't aspirate their own vowel-beginning words), then DROP the 'h' on any word which begins with such. So, for somebody of Roberto's character's level, to say 'I Ham a good egg', is perfectly natural. In fact, I wonder why he didn't say, 'I Ham a good Hegg'...
I swear, teaching Italians, I feel like Professor Higgins with Eliza Doolittle...
("In 'Ertford, 'Ereford an' 'Ampshire, 'Urricanes 'ardly, HEVER 'appen.")
Btw, anyone notice how, in almost EVERY Jarmusch film, there's a kind of linguistic crisis of sorts? I think it's one of his paradigms...
Glen
I ham a good egg, hahahaha...
shareI remember when I was young..14 or 15 or so. I had a friend who's parents were loaded; $800,000+ or so house. And they went out.
We killed a fifth of vodka that night and when his parents arrived back he was passed out and I was puking; but answered the door for them.
They called me a "bad egg" and it still leaves a mark. I still liked to think of myself as good then.
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bob was the best egg
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