To burst with someone's meat ???

[rappiolla]

I have googled for the meaning of the thread title to no avail. I came across it in one of Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster books and was not able to figure it out from the context. Perhaps it is dated as is often the case in vocabulary found in other similar books written in the early 20th century.

This is the paragraph:

‘Well, if anybody had told me this would happen, I wouldn’t have believed it. I would have laughed mockingly. Bertie Wooster let me down? No, no, I would have said – not Bertie, who was not only at school with me but is at this very moment bursting with my meat.’

(From P. G. Wodehouse: "Joy in the Morning")

 

[GoesStation]

The speaker had recently served Bertie a large meal.

 

[probus]

Don't feel bad, rappiolla. That's a subtle and difficult one. I was scratching my head a bit over it, but I am sure GoesStation is right.

 

[Tarheel]

I understand the explanation, but it does seem like an odd thing to say. Some people are just eccentric I guess.

 

[GoesStation]

It's typical Wodehouse.

 

[Tdol]

That is the way he writes. And his readers can't get enough of it.

 

[GoesStation]

I just re-read the quoted book a few weeks ago. Wodehouse was brilliant, but he's probably not very accessible to learners.

 

[Tdol]

Not really, but my non-native speaker wife enjoyed the opening of the Jeeves and Wooster with Fry and Laurie, where Jeeves goes several minutes without making sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk7pk58Bq4Q&list=PLqfTwx0sujhz37_DQuXEJDLyiaLWr_MUU

 

[jutfrank]

The speaker had recently served Bertie a large meal.

Is the sexual innuendo intended? I assume it is, right?

 

[emsr2d2]

The speaker had recently served Bertie a large meal.

Is the sexual innuendo intended? I assume it is, right?

In case of confusion, it's not GoesStation's wording above that could be taken as sexual innuendo.

It's the following quote:

but is at this very moment bursting with my meat.’

 

[probus]

Is the sexual innuendo intended? I assume it is, right?

In my opinion, certainly not by Wodehouse way back then. As for the TV series, it may possibly have been intended. Stephen Fry is and has always been subversive.

 

[GoesStation]

Wodehouse's male characters in the Jeeves series were almost entirely non-sexual. They were generally not smart enough to figure out how.

 

[jutfrank]

Wodehouse's male characters in the Jeeves series were almost entirely non-sexual. They were generally not smart enough to figure out how.

Right. I'm not familiar with the characters. I just thought that perhaps Wodehouse intended it to be an accidental innuendo, for comic effect, rather than Bertie deliberately making one.

 

[GoesStation]

Right. I'm not familiar with the characters. I just thought that perhaps Wodehouse intended it to be an accidental innuendo, for comic effect, rather than Bertie deliberately making one.

That would be very uncharacteristic.

 

[Tdol]

I can't think of him doing anything like that and I have read a lot. Some people see a gay undertone in the relationship between Jeeves and Wooster, but I think it's nonsense.

 

[GoesStation]

Absolutely. After all, Jeeves has an understanding with a young lady.

 

[jutfrank]

Am I the only ... member (ahem), then, who does hear an innuendo?

Anyway, like I said, I was wondering if Wodehouse wanted the phrase to sound ever so slightly sexual. Even if the idea was not that it was meant to be a deliberate innuendo on Bertie Wooster's part, isn't it possible that Wodehouse deliberately created one? For whatever reason?

I'd like to see a bit more context.

 

[GoesStation]

It's easy to see the innuendo. I just don't think Wodehouse did it intentionally.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Right. I'm not familiar with the characters. I just thought that perhaps Wodehouse intended it to be an accidental innuendo, for comic effect, rather than Bertie deliberately making one.

I'm sure Wodehouse wasn't making an off-color joke. I don't mean he never would, though I can't remember him ever doing it. It's just that that particular phrase, as a lewd double entendre, would not have been something he would have done. If he was sophomoric, it went in a different direction.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Not really, but my non-native speaker wife enjoyed the opening of the Jeeves and Wooster with Fry and Laurie, where Jeeves goes several minutes without making sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk7pk58Bq4Q&list=PLqfTwx0sujhz37_DQuXEJDLyiaLWr_MUU

I've never seen the TV show. (This is the first I've heard of it.)

But it's not like the Jeeves of the novels to talk nonesense. That was Bertie's department.

Where does it happen on the video? If you can tell us the place where "Jeeves goes on for several minutes," I'll take a look.