What the Dickens?!: Distinctly Dickensian Words and How to Use Them by Bryan Kozlowski

Author:Bryan Kozlowski [Kozlowski, Bryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Humor, Topic, language, Form, Puns & Wordplay, Anecdotes & Quotations, Language Arts & Disciplines, Lexicography, Linguistics, Etymology, Spelling & Vocabulary
ISBN: 9780762461127
Google: L5v0CwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Running Press
Published: 2016-09-27T00:13:58.874524+00:00

Horse Guards’ Time

[hawrs·gahrds·tahym] The exact, precise time. The clock over the Horse Guards Parade in London was thought to be the most accurate and reliable clock in the city before Big Ben.

Thus rumour thrives in the capital. . . . By half-past five, post meridian, Horse Guards’ time, it has even elicited a new remark from the Honourable Mr. Stables.

— BLEAK HOUSE

Punctuality was a quasi-religion for Victorians. Home clocks and pocket watches were cheaper than ever and time was the one democratic gift: Everyone got their equal share, though the virtuous could do more and be more, simply by being punctual. The philosophy found an enthusiastic convert in Dickens as his daily routine, summarized in 1867, attests:

I rise at seven; at eight I breakfast; until ten I walk or ride and read the morning papers; at ten precisely I go to my desk and stay there till two, and if particularly in the vein keep at it until four. Then I take the open air for exercise, usually walking. At six I sit down to dinner . . . during which time I discuss domestic matters with my family or entertain such friends as may honor me with their visits. This, the great occasion of the day, over, I retire to my study . . . and exactly at twelve I extinguish my lights and jump into bed. So rigid is my conformity to this method of work that my family say I am a monomaniac on the subject of method.

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