Better drowned than duffers if not duffers won't drown

[dylanwinter]

would anyone care to unbundle it for me

http://arthur-ransome.wikia.com/wiki/Better_drowned_than_duffers

D

 

[Dave-Shafa]

Someone call you a Duffer, Dylan?

 

[dylanwinter]

sometimes people believe that asking questions is a sign of ignorance

so the duffer word has been used

but not so far this week

I still do not understand what it means

D

 

[JumbleDuck]

would anyone care to unbundle it for me

http://arthur-ransome.wikia.com/wiki/Better_drowned_than_duffers

D

What's your problem with it? The Walker children discuss it in detail. A duffer is an incompetent person, by the way.

duffer (n.)
"inept person; old man," especially "bad golfer," 1842, perhaps from Scottish duffar "dull or stupid person," from dowf "stupid," literally "deaf," from Old Norse daufr, with pejorative suffix -art. Or perhaps from 18c. thieves' slang duff (v.) "to dress or manipulate an old thing and make it look new."

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=duffer​

 

[guernseyman]

Full stop after the first 'duffers'; comma and implied 'they' after the second.

 

[dylanwinter]

I know what a duffer is

but it still makes no sense to me

D

 

[Richard10002]

It means that if they are duffers, it would be better if they drowned but, if they are not duffers, they wont drown.

The kids asked their Mum if they could go sailing on Swallow. She sen an email, (telegram), to Dad. Your quote was his positive response.

 

[Bav34]

The children want to go sailing.

The father says that it would be better to drown than be foolish.

If they aren't foolish they won't drown.

He's telling them to take care.

 

[Croak]

He is saying, if you are f@@k wits, you should die, Darwin principal for your own children, harsh but fair.

 

[dylanwinter]

so it means that duffers down and sensible people do not drown

I have known lots of duffers - Jill has a brother and an uncle who are both complete liabilities in a boat and yet they have had a lovely life afloat crashing and banging into stuff and never once been in any real peril

however,I am sure that lots of good sensible people have drowned - the sea can be quite indiscriminate with who she chooses to take

 

[Bav34]

You're taking it a bit too literally Dylan.

He's telling them to take care.

It has as much real meaning as you telling your wife to take care when she sets off to the shops. Assuming you do.

 

[photodog]

If you want, we can all chip in and get you copy of the annotated complete works of Arthur Ransome......

 

[Bav34]

If you want, we can all chip in and get you copy of the annotated complete works of Arthur Ransome......

Or the précis :

Yes OK.

 

[photodog]

Or the précis :

Yes OK.

I meant Dylan.... I think you get it.

Anyways... It's not the duffer quote we should be talking about.... It's nancy.

I reckon she batted for the other side... As it were.....

 

[Bav34]

I meant Dylan.... I think you get it.

Anyways... It's not the duffer quote we should be talking about.... It's nancy.

I reckon she batted for the other side... As it were.....

Of course.

It was Titty that worried me. A life changing name.

 

[Lakesailor]

Anyways... It's not the duffer quote we should be talking about.... It's nancy.

I reckon she batted for the other side... As it were.....

I'm sorry. Nancy was my ideal. No rug-munching there. Strapping lass, probably with nipple piercings. Certainly deserved to be Ruthless.

 

[dylanwinter]

You know I still do not really understand the use of words

his meaning is so clouded in apparent cleverness

and the message I do not agree with

confused of Botolph Claydon

 

[alahol2]

It would be better if the children drowned than for them to be duffers; if the children are not duffers then they won't drown

Not really very abstruse.

 

[alan_d]

Working out what a statement means and deciding whether or not it is true are two separate processes. It is best not to allow one to interfere with the other.

 

[guernseyman]

Perhaps dw should be aware that the quote is a telegram; these were paid for by the word and thus were often obscure after unnecessary words had been omitted.