take more than an earful

[kingston_123]

Mr Gruber says about the popping book which Paddinton's aunty wants to sell:

Mr Gruber: You see, this popping book is the only one of its kind. And they want rather a lot of money for it. Oh,

Paddington, a talking bear, takes out a coin in its ear:

Paddington: well, Mrs bird found this coin in my ear at breakfast.
Mr Gruber: Perhaps there's more. It would take more than an earful, Mr Brown. I'm afraid you would need a thousand of those coins.

How is "earful" word suits here?

Source: Paddington 2 (2017)
Screenplay: Paul King & Simon Farnaby

 

[bhaisahab]

An ear full of coins.

 

[emsr2d2]

Mr Gruber [STRIKE]says[/STRIKE] is talking about the [STRIKE]popping[/STRIKE] pop-up book which Paddington's [STRIKE]aunty[/STRIKE] aunt wants to sell:

Mr Gruber: You see, this popping book is the only one of its kind. And they want rather a lot of money for it. Oh,

Paddington, a talking bear, takes [STRIKE]out[/STRIKE] a coin [STRIKE]in[/STRIKE] out of [STRIKE]its[/STRIKE] his ear:

Paddington: Well, Mrs Bird found this coin in my ear at breakfast.
Mr Gruber: Perhaps there's more. It would take more than an earful, Mr Brown. I'm afraid you would need a thousand of those coins.

How [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] does [STRIKE]"earful"[/STRIKE] the word "earful" [STRIKE]suits[/STRIKE] fit/work here?

Source: Paddington 2 (2017)
Screenplay: Paul King & Simon Farnaby

Note my corrections above.

 

[kingston_123]

Note my corrections above.

Paddington, a talking bear, takes a coin out of its ear - I think "its" is correct because of gender of Paddington is unknown.

 

[probus]

- I think "its" is correct because of gender of Paddington is unknown.

We are usually precise about the gender of animals only when we are talking about humans. Other animals, in everyday usage, are usually gender neutral, i.e. we use "it" for them. Paddington, on the other hand, is a talking bear. Therefore Paddington is a pseudo-human and deserves a gender of its own.

I propose that Paddington be male, but I can easily be persuaded otherwise.;-)

 

[kingston_123]

We.....

using "it's" before aunt is wrong?

 

[Rover_KE]

[STRIKE]using "it's" before aunt is wrong?[/STRIKE]

Is it wrong to use "it's" before aunt?

Yes, because "it's" is a contraction for "it is" or "it has".

 

[emsr2d2]

The possessive pronoun is "its" (no apostrophe). "It's" is a contraction of "it is" or "it has".

Also, as we have noted, because Paddington is a talking bear, who wears clothes and lives in a house, he (I have always identified Paddington Bear as a male although I can't remember if that's made clear in the books) should be given human characteristics and referred to with gender-specific pronouns.

We do use "it" sometimes when referring to animals but we generally don't refer to animals having aunts and uncles.

 

[bhaisahab]

Mr Gruber refers to Paddington as 'Mr Brown'.

 

[emsr2d2]

Mr Gruber refers to Paddington as 'Mr Brown'.

Of course he does! I'd forgotten/missed that.

 

[outofdejavu]

I notice that Moderator emsr2d2 changed aunty to aunt in Line 1 in Post #1.


I was wondering whether the reason for that change depends on the fact that Line 1 is a scene description instead of a dialogue transcript.
(Popping book was changed to pop-up book in the scene description, while popping book remains unchanged in the dialogue.)

* * *


What if the form of address is an affectionate one?
If a woman is addressed as Aunty/Auntie [Name] in a book or film, is it fine to use Aunty/Auntie (with or without a name) in a book or film summary? Very much obliged!

 

[GoesStation]

You'd normally use aunt (with no uppercase) in a summary because you're naming the relationship, not addressing the person.

 

[emsr2d2]

I left the words "popping book" in the dialogue because I was under the impression that it was a transcript taken straight from the script. However, I changed "popping book" to "pop-up book" in the first line of the post because I had never heard of the former. When I tried Googling "popping book", I got nothing but hits for "pop-up book", reinforcing my belief that that is the common and natural term.