In the 1960s I read a book which had in its title the name Mrs Grundy. The lesson I took from the book, & one which stayed with me, was that euphemisms - for example words to do with sexual activity - eventually & inevitably themselves become unacceptable in polite society because it is the thing or the activity itself, not the word, which embarrasses us
This is. I think, proved over & over in modern political correctness, which attempts to suppress words such as fat or short but allows slim or tall to pass
When I became a blogger - thinking to concentrate only on Great Thoughts - I tracked down the book, intending to use it as a launching pad for musings on our current usage of the word black. This has always seemed especially ironic to me (though not to be denigrated on that score) since I was taught by my school Latin teacher that the Latinate form Negro had been adopted because it was thought that the Old English black - with its connotations of darkness & evil - should not be applied to members of the human race
I never quite felt I had found the right words to express these thoughts, so the piece remains sitting in my blog as an unpublished draft only
I also remember, in the mid-80s, reading reviews of a much acclaimed history of Black people in Britain - Invaluable, S Rushdie - but since that was a time of upheaval in my life I never got round to reading it
Off & on, over the last couple of years, unable to remember either author or title of the black history book, I have been trying to track it down, ever since I discovered a Victorian quote about Sir Arthur Sullivan. With no success. even when, with renewed vigour, I consulted the website & promotional literature during Black History Month last October
Then, last December I think, I heard on Radio 4 an obituary of a man who had written what sounded like that book. Off to the Library next day - catalogue confirms they have a copy, in Basement storage. Approach the desk in anticipation - only to find that it has just been issued to another borrower. Obviously heard the same programme
Yesterday - finally - the catalogue reveals the book is available once more. This time I leave the library with the book safely in my bag & repair to Caffe Nero for a reviving cappuccino
Turn to the biographical note: Peter Fryer was born in Yorkshire in 1927 .... several books .... including .... MRS GRUNDY: STUDIES IN ENGLISH PRUDERY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had completely failed to make the connection before
Sullivan appears in the Index only in relation to an admiring entry about Samuel Coleridge Taylor without further comment. So I dont think Peter Fryer can have known that Sullivan had more than mere musicianship to provoke fellow-feeling with Coleridge Taylor
Which makes me all the more sad that I cannot write to let him know how I appreciate those two books, & maybe share my small find with him
Related post: Sir Arthur Sullivan: A notable black Englishman
