Friends of Andrew say he has been doing “a lot of thinking and work on himself”.... There is much more thinking to be done as Andrew, who once described himself as “an ideas factory”, contemplates a permanent retirement devoid of flummery. Some in royal circles believe a safe option would be for him to run one of the Queen’s estates. Others, including the royal historian Hugo Vickers, think he should devote himself to a life of charitable rehabilitation.
“Prince Andrew needs to start up an animal sanctuary and work there, Profumo-style,” Vickers said. “The British love animals.”
Retirement devoid of flummery... "Flummery" is one of those words that gets my attention. Oddly enough, I have a tag for "flummery." I'm not sure how that happened. My favorite word is "flummox," as I've mentioned a few times on this blog. And yet I don't have a tag for "flummox," only for "flummery." It makes you wonder, what is flum? Is it like phlegm?
As I've discussed before — here — the OED calls the word "flummox" colloquial or vulgar and suggests it's onomatopoeic, "expressive of the notion of throwing down roughly and untidily."
But what about "flummery"? That's not connected to "flummox." According to the OED, "flummery" originates as the name of a food — a "coagulation of wheatflour or oatmeal." From there, it got figurative: "Mere flattery or empty compliment; nonsense, humbug, empty trifling" or "Trifles, useless trappings or ornaments."
Yes, we don't need any of that from Andrew.
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>There is much more thinking to be done as Andrew, who once described himself as “an ideas factory”, contemplates a permanent retirement devoid of flummery<
Context suggests that perhaps "flummery" is Brit vernacular for "boffing underage girls."
flummery could lead to Beurre manié
... is a French cooking term meaning “kneaded butter.” It is a thickening agent that uses the same ingredients as a roux, flour and butter, but the ingredients are not cooked together from the beginning. Instead, equal amounts of butter and flours are rubbed or kneaded together to make a paste.
"Friends of Andrew say he has been doing 'a lot of thinking and work on himself'"
I think they meant "drinking."
Sod off Wankers.
"Oh, Andy, our collective heart be bleeding pints and pints of the purple piss of sympathy for ya, mate."
"Ha, ha, ha"
from your drinking mates down here at the Royal Society of Yobs.
Look, I'm no big fan of Andrew, (and I loathe Chuckles and Harry) but the age of consent in the UK is 16 years old. I'm pretty sure he could spend the rest of his life screwing 16 year olds if he really wanted.
To be honest, when I found out how old the girls were, I wondered why everyone was freaking out. I was assuming there were like 14 or something.
Profumo did himself some good there, at the end.
See West; "The New Meaning of Treason".
All I want is a room somewhere
Far away from the cold night air
With one enormous chair
Oh, wouldn't it be flummery
Flummery is a grand and descriptive Nero Wolfe word. No wonder it originates in food.
The Mrs and I use it should we discuss political matters. It is a multitasker.
'"flummery" originates as the name of a food — a "coagulation of wheatflour or oatmeal."'
Coagulation. The English really know how to make food sound horrible.
"With one enormous chair
Oh, wouldn't it be flummery'
Are you aware that Edward XII, Victoria's oldest, commissioned for himself a customized f**king chair, one that would accommodate his enormous size?
Maybe Andy could dust it off. It still exists.
Here's a picture of the contraption,
https://cdn.historycollection.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/edward-viis-specially-designed-heavy-duty-love-chair.-twitter.jpg
“Flummox” is onomatopoeic? Hard time wrapping my head around that.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/it-wasnt-just-the-queen-the-whole-royal-family-knifed-prince-andrew-d0glb2f9k This seems to work
"Will no one rid me of this turbulent uncle?"
@Kate, thanks.
Note to Prince Andrew: avoid Canterbury.
If a royal has to be grateful for the position, well, not a royal.
Why just William?
Did all of Bill's girls kill themselves already?
There are hundreds of men on this list.
When does Bill Gates get his?
Why all these Bills?
Sorry about the bad link. Fixed.
Last year, COVID or rain or something cancelled the parade and left Philadelphia a city devoid of mummery.
I don't give a hoot about the royals. But I might watch WWE if Harry and William and Charles and Andrew and Meghan and Kate went into the ring or the octagon or whatever they call it.
the awful creature Andrew Windsor who should be in jail - and only pissants still call him Prince Andrew - can never make up for his abuse of young girls, whether they were 15, 16 or 17.
His mom and his brother were close pals of the awful Jimmy Saville, his brother is the horrible loser we all know, he himself was a pal of the evil abuser Epstein, and his Dad, the "loveable" old guy who "spoke his mind", never said a word about how awful his family was to the innocent. Not once.
They are all gonna lose their royal status and they all deserve to, all of them.
"flummox" is such an ugly word. How could you make this your favourite word? Seriously!! It reminds me of moments in my youth where I threw up after drinking too much - I flummoxed. In our community that was described as, "I went Europe!!" Say it quickly and you will understand.
Now "flummery" is a much better word. I like it. I just want to find out how I could have "a retirement devoid of flummery". I'm 72 and no retirement in sight. Now that you describe its roots it sounds like another throw-up word - a"coagulation of wheatflour or oatmeal." I think I'm going Europe!!
"To be honest, when I found out how old the girls were, I wondered why everyone was freaking out. I was assuming there were like 14 or something."
It is reported that Virginia Giuffre was 17 years old when she was coerced into having sexual intercourse with Prince Andrew, a married man.
I would reject an argument that an age of consent threshold would, in this case, allow a charge of rape to be dismissed in a court of law.
The very least, in my mind, this foolishness would present to the world as Adultery. Which should, in a just world, earn Prince Andrew a demotion of public duties and loss of public status.
Jail time is unlikely.
roger - having sex with a 17-year-old victim of a human trafficker - having sex with the victim because she is a victim of a human trafficker who deserves to get a life sentence for human trafficking for their crimes - is definitely a jailable offense. At least a felony with a year or more, and in most jurisdictions, there are conspiracy charges too.
If what the creature has been accused of is true, any decent judge would send him away for at least 10 years.
I always thought that "lummox" was a fun word, especially since I don't think I ever heard anybody actually say it.
"Flummox" is good, too, but there are so many other fun words that mean the same thing that it doesn't stand out as much.
At one time Parliament would pass a law saying: none of the Catholic guys, has to be a Protestant guy. A girl if necessary, but Protestant. Is it out of the question that they would now say: not Charles, he's missed his chance, not Andrew just to be sure, let's get on with William and Kate and their brood--girls welcome? Maybe the lawyers could figure out how to express the rule: no deplorables; no one who's in Biden country for unpopularity for more than a year.
Plummy chums flummoxed. Oh, you meant frumerty!
Frummery should be a word.
William seems like the kind of woman who could end the streak begun by Alfred over 1,100 years ago...
Bah Hummbug.
Bah Flummery.
Dickens definitely used the right word. What a wordsmith!
I always thought Flummoxed was Flum-oxed. So, there a "Mox" in there. Who knew. It reminds you of Moxie. And so it it derived from Yiddish? Nope. It was first used in the Pickwick Papers and its origins are "Unknown".
Prince Andrew not a good role model. Want to go to Epstein Island and get blackmailed and screw underage girls? Get rid of your title and do it as a private citizen. funny no one in the MSM is interested about George Mitchell or Billy Bob going to Epstein island. Or Epstein and 6 of his girls "visiting" the White House. Don't want to talk abuot that. But it he had been Bush or Trump. We'd be having screaming headlines on every newspaper and scores of investigative reporters.
Flummery? Flum? Phlegm?
Which leads to my favorite word to say aloud: mucilage.
Which leads back to Prince Andrew, who is in a sticky situation right now.
May he get his just deserts.
Friends of Andrew say he has been doing “a lot of thinking and work on himself”
Demonstrate authentic contrition by pleading guilty and serving time in gen pop, then pick up a hammer and build Habitat homes until he falls off the ladder.
Hearing about an "Edward the Twelfth" (4:53) left me flummoxed. Edward VIIth?
Flummery - a coagulation of PR hype and women's magazine gush completely engulfing with falsehoods all the activities of any man with the word "Prince" preceding his name. Whether he's really a predator or just a big lummox, we'll never know. If Prince Andrew gives up flummery, there will be flummery about that, e.g. "Friends of Andrew say he has been doing “a lot of thinking and work on himself.”
Do I care about the English royals? My 4th great-grandfather led a company of New Hampshire militia at the Bunker Hill fight. If they hadn't run out of gunpowder, they might have ended the war right there. A couple of years later he led a detachment of militia to Saratoga after the second battle there and helped block the British from retreating back to Canada. The Brits had to surrender. The war was over, but the Brits were too dim to realize it.
But if we have to talk about the Windsors . . . . At least judging by the current generations, the best thing they can do is shut up and look (LOOK!) dignified. To the best of my limited knowledge, Queen Elizabeth II has never said an unscripted sentence. Neither has William since he became an adult. But the ones that have talked -- Charles, Harry, Andrew -- have invariably made fools of themselves. So Andrew should go away quietly and not do himself any more harm.
@gspencer
THank you for that picture. I've been looking for one like that for years. Do you know how the lower uphoustery was used?
@Achilles
Indeed, why so many Bills? Is it the name or being a person so named?
The Windsors are fake British and behave terribly.
@stephen cooper
Certainly, for human trafficking the offense would result in jail time… for someone who lacks the money, influence and connections of a member of the Royal Family.
On a related note, OJ killed those two people and walked away.
@mezzrow: it was the first thing I thought of, too. Worth watching the Timothy Hutton-produced series just to see Maury Chaykin say, "flummery!"
The Windsors are fake British and behave terribly.
The scousers I know still call them "the Germans".
If the Queen removes Andrew's title and takes back ownership of any properties that were in his name, then it limits the amount of money he can be expected to pay out in a civil suit. Maybe the Queen isn't all that angry with her son as much as she's protecting the family fortune. Has she forced him to move out on the street? The Queen is and has always been a smart cookie.
The two princes having the most troubles - Andrew and Harry - are the two combat veterans.
Could PTSD play a factor?
The Royal Family and HMG are missing a chance to show how Britain can take care of its damaged heroes.
JSM
>>what is flum? Is it like phlegm?
Ask the Belgians. They speak Phlegmish.
I always thought that "lummox" was a fun word, especially since I don't think I ever heard anybody actually say it.
I came in here to say something about lummox but rollo beat me to it. I don’t hear it anymore but I learned it from re-runs of an old timey sitcom, probably the Honeymooners maybe I Love Lucy, when I was a little kid and have loved it as a word and somewhat loving insult (you big lummox) ever since.
It might have been old timey movie rather than a sitcom
Make Kate Queen and she will save the family. Royals are not an American problem.
Complete creep, Andrew is. I’m thinking that way too many do not recall him being referred to as “Randy Andy” as far back as 40 years and more.
Back in that day, too many reported that in an admiring sort of way.
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