Simon saw this one in Brighton and writes, "The "victory" referred to is Nelson's at the battle of Trafalgar - presumably whoever made the sign didn't consider it a convincing victory. Perhaps they were French."
"Banheiro" "quebrado"
8 years ago
12 comments:
This is an awesome blog and this entry is fantastic! I hate-love bad grammar.
OHHHHHHHHHH BURRRRRRRN DIIIIIIIIS DAAAAAAAMN NAAAAAAAAW
Anyway, the french are pretty useless
Those damn French. So bizarre. I love this blog as well. It rocks my metaphorical socks. :D
P.S. I am French so I am allowed to say such things, silly American.
P.P.S. I am also American. (I could go on but I will spare you)
The definition of Victory is subjective. If you're thinking merely of price, The "Victory" Inn is a win for you but is it really worth all the asbestos?
Excellent blog by the way.
I live in Brighton, and I suspect that it refers to anyone who thinks that this pub is a victory in their search for a pleasant beer-consuming environment.
Hollow victory at best.
Victory inn, like Victorian.
Really guys? Although the arrogance of the "victory" inn does make me angry. pointing out your own pun. As if we're to naive to understand it.
Hold on a second, it was incredibly common in late 19th and early 20th century advertisements to use quotes to emphasise a brand name, and that usage actually makes sense, since printers and sign writers didn't necessarily have fonts for different typefaces - since a 'font' was a ton of cold lead and mighty expensive! So I would call this an archaic or historical usage, rather than an illiterate one.
Perhaps they're simply quoting the British...
As PJR wrote, Nelson's flagship was HMS Victory, which sits, still in-commission, in Portsmouth harbor.
It appears that the signsmith was unable to render the vessel's name in italics on the inn's sign, so they chose, instead, to use quotation marks to render the proper name (although underlining would have been more appropriate, though odd on a sign).
Dan S has got it. This sign does indeed make sense.
Yes, Dan S is right. If it was called _The Victory Inn_ then its name would just refer to some unspecified victory. Calling it _The "Victory" Inn_ shows that it is named after the particular ship HMS Victory. In text descriptions of naval activities of this period, it is quite common to find the name of a ship without its HMS, but in quotes or italics instead.
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