Metamorphoses 2: Fat Foreigners Are Funny by Ovid
Author: Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
Publisher: not known
Source book: The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next #7)
Ovid! Goodness me, I struggled with Ovid when I was studying for my Latin “A” level. What a pity that we never got to translate the Metamorphoses 2: Fat Foreigners Are Funny. This was the 1970s, when fat foreigners were routinely considered funny, but it’s hard to learn that the ancient Romans, supposedly mad keen on high culture (don’t start about the ancient Greeks) also thought that fat foreigners were funny.
Thursday tells us that for many years William Shatner’s depiction of Kirk in Star Trek was considered unique, until it was discovered that an identical character pops up in Ovid’s Metamorphoses 2: Fat Foreigners Are Funny all the time.
Luckily, I now live in the 2020s, where poking fun at fat people is wrong, as is being mean to foreigners. Although, check out the more unpleasant U.K. tabloid newspapers, or indeed the comments government ministers regularly throw out, for seriously old fashioned views on fat people and foreigners.
Fat foreigners, indeed fat anyone isn’t funny. What were you thinking Publius Ovidius?
Unless, of course, you were not responsible for writing this book?
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| I’m sorry I really can’t remember where I found these photographs on Instagram |
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