Talk:Edward Dando/Archive 1

Comments
Nice. Gog the Mild (talk) 22:30, 25 February 2023 (UTC)
 * There seems, to my eye, to be a confusion of tenses. "had been" and "was" both feature. Also "was arrested" and "had stolen" Choosing just one may improve flow.
 * "3 shillings 6d" and "3s and 6d".
 * "By 1840 Londoners ate 496 million oysters a year—a quarter of which was by street sellers." This has 125 mn oysters a year being eaten by street sellers.
 * "Dando had a second three-month sentence in prison before being released in October 1831." This pops up a little unexpectedly. For what? For how long?
 * "he was committed for eight days." I would be inclined to class this as technical jargon.
 * "He was given money to tell his story". By whom and to whom?
 * "A pre-decimal penny equates to approximately £0.38". I think that "in today's money" is needed to allow a reader to make sense of this. Similarly elsewhere.
 * "with 6,000 people killed." Optional: 'dying'.
 * Thanks Gog - much appreciated. I need to clear up the tenses, but the remainder is sorted. - 07:05, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
 * The tenses all now sorted (I hope...) - SchroCat (talk) 12:40, 26 February 2023 (UTC)

From TR
Not much from me.
 * "Numerous sources provide his name Edward Dando, born in Britain" – this reads rather oddly. Perhaps something on the lines of "give his name as Edward Dando, and his nationality as British"
 * "although the British Library describes him as "John Dando", an American" – you do the BL an injustice: your cited source is the British Museum
 * "Dando's April 1830 arrest followed him eating 1.75 pounds" – without straying too far into the realms of pedantry, may I point out that "eating" is here a gerund – a verbal noun – and wants a possessive pronoun rather than a plain one: "followed his eating", just as you would write "followed his lunch" and not "followed him lunch".
 * "in The Pickwick Papers (1836), Dickens relates that "poverty and oysters always seem to go together". You might (or might not) like to add a bit more colour by quoting more extensively from The Pickwick Papers, the last sentence below, in particular:
 * "It's a wery remarkable circumstance, Sir," said Sam, "that poverty and oysters always seem to go together."
 * "I don't understand you, Sam," said Mr. Pickwick.
 * "What I mean, sir," said Sam, "is, that the poorer a place is, the greater call there seems to be for oysters. Look here, sir; here's a oyster-stall to every half-dozen houses. The street's lined vith 'em. Blessed if I don't think that ven a man's wery poor, he rushes out of his lodgings, and eats oysters in reg'lar desperation."


 * "he visited to a tavern in Knightsbridge and drunk sixpence-worth of brandy" – two points here: first you don't want the "to" and secondly the plain past tense of "drink" is "drank". "Drunk" is what you are after getting home from lunching with me.
 * "he ate two plates of beef à la mode and brandy" – I don't think one can eat brandy, whether from a plate or even a glass.
 * Brandy ice-cream? - SchroCat (talk) 12:25, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Wouldn't freeze, surely? Boeuf à la mode ice-cream might be a possibility chez Heston Blumenthal.  Tim riley  talk   13:13, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
 * I've made G&T ice cream before - rather pleasant it was too. A Nigella recipe, I think - and if they can do run and raisin, then why not. I tried to find something in The Alcoholics Cookbook, but no frozen brandy, alas! (And I can't believe The Alcoholics Cookbook is a redlink!) - SchroCat (talk) 13:33, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Naturally I have a copy, though it's The Alcoholic Cookbook, rather than the Alcoholic's Cookbook, which would be coming uncomfortably close to home. The only thing I frequently make from it is the Coffee Marshmallow with Brandy Cream (p. 168), which is easy-peasie and a guaranteed knock-out at dinner parties, though the Gin Torte, made once, was interesting and the Elegant Veal Chops on p. 106 and the Port Baked Plums on p. 155 have stood me in good stead now and again over the forty-odd years I've had the book. Shall ponder if I can get enough to make an article on the book, and report back by email.  Tim riley  talk   13:49, 26 February 2023 (UTC)

That's my lot. I was struck, and indeed rather moved, by your quotation from Dando beginning "I refuse to starve in a land of plenty". By the time I reached the end of the quotation I was almost cheering aloud.  Tim riley  talk   11:39, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Note g: "The pandemic was particularly bad in London that year, with 6,000 people dying" – there are those (of whom I am not one) who have a thing about the "with" construction used here. You could avoid their moaning (another gerund, incidentally) by recasting as "The pandemic was particularly bad in London that year: 6,000 people died".
 * Many thanks Tim. All duly followed. It's a tragi-comic story the whole way through - I wonder if his proximity of mercury as a hatter had a deleterious effect on him - it seems odd that he began doing this without any known trigger, but I don't think we'll ever know the truth of it! Thanks for your comments - I'll be back for more in a few months when it starts going through some other processes. Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 12:43, 26 February 2023 (UTC)