Quote: Aaron @ April 12 2012, 12:15 PM BSTYes, like a baboon - although, as he's referring to a theoretical vicar, whether he's implying a big or a small one is open to interpretation. The look on Blackadder's face as he says it may give a hint, but I would suspect big rather than small.
I believe they're small, so it's a dig, but don't quote me on that.
That was my instinctive reaction - but then the thought of vicar with a third leg is a funnier one than a vicar with a perfectly modest portion!
I could post a pic, but you wouldn't thank me for it. Just take my word for it. 
They're tiny.
Quote: WrongTale @ April 12 2012, 11:42 AM BSTIn the last but one scene, when the big guns go silent, George is hopeful that "The big nobs have got round a table and yanked the iron out of the fire."
Yanking also means the same as wanking...
yank (pull) the irons out of the fire means to belatedly retrieve the situation i.e. to avert disaster,
Get weaving does indeed mean get cracking.
Elton and Curtis are likely to have been under the misapprehension that a baboon is well hung.
irons out of the fire
Could relate to branding irons apparently. Whilst in the fire they were hot and ready for action whereas taking them out would result in cooling off.
Quote: Tursiops @ April 12 2012, 3:14 PM BSTyank (pull) the irons out of the fire means to belatedly retrieve the situation i.e. to avert disaster,
Er, first rule of British comedy. Some things have double meanings...
And sometimes characters simply use phraseology that is intended to reflect their background and character. George is essentially Bertie Wooster with the same fondness for idiomatic English and neologisms.
Pull the irons out of the fire is a very common and commonly understood English phrase, yank simply gives it neologistic twist
I have never heard yank on its own used to mean masturbation, even yank off is fairly uncommon. You may be looking for double entendres where they do not exist.
I'd be amazed if the proximity of nobs and yanking was not a deliberate allusion to masturbation.
The sentence structure does not really support thst hypothesis; which is to say that if it is a double entendre it is really rubbish one that does not work.
But there is a difference between double entendre and hiding subtle alternate interpretations. The fact we're debating it with, frankly, equally convincing arguments each side, suggests it to perhaps be the latter.
None of us knows, but I don't think they were aiming for a direct double entendre. Just an allusion.
Thank you all for explanations. This is definitely an enlightening discussion - even if we dearly miss the chance to see how well a baboon is hung 
Seriously, for me the initial idea was that the funny part in vicar's description "Quiet, gentle, hung like a baboon" is the image of quite, gentle vicar having an enormous tackle.
Although the opposite might seen funny as well, regardless of what the real-life members these monkeys have.
Quote: Tursiops @ April 13 2012, 1:31 PM BSTAnd sometimes characters simply use phraseology that is intended to reflect their background and character. George is essentially Bertie Wooster with the same fondness for idiomatic English and neologisms.
I had some googling on this Goodbyeee phrase from George:
"I remember Bumfluff's house-master wrote and told me that Sticky had been out for a duck and the Gubber had snitched a parcel sausage-end and gone goose-over-stumps frog-side."
And one person in a forum explained that this is clearly a parody of the cliched talk of WWI British soldiers, which is supposed to include such colourful expressions.
I think if they'd meant he had a teeny tiny member, they'd have chosen an animal like a dormouse or something. So I imagine, like someone already mentioned, they assumed a baboon would be well hung.
Quote: WrongTale @ April 13 2012, 2:40 PM BSTI had some googling on this Goodbyeee phrase from George:
"I remember Bumfluff's house-master wrote and told me that Sticky had been out for a duck and the Gubber had snitched a parcel sausage-end and gone goose-over-stumps frog-side."And one person in a forum explained that this is clearly a parody of the cliched talk of WWI British soldiers, which is supposed to include such colourful expressions.
I'm not sure if it's specifically a take on trench lingo, but is certainly mocking the English obsession with quaint phrases to allude to death rather than actually bluntly stating the fact, and also to the similarly verbose phrases employed by the idle upper classes. Plus a few mixed cricket terms. They drum this home a bit when George goes on to say that he has no idea what any of it means, but he'd read that they'd died. A really nice exchange, I think.
Quote: zooo @ April 13 2012, 2:42 PM BSTI think if they'd meant he had a teeny tiny member, they'd have chosen an animal like a dormouse or something. So I imagine, like someone already mentioned, they assumed a baboon would be well hung.
Yes, very true.
I've got to assume that they were indeed under that misapprehension. Plus the word 'baboon' is just funny with the way Rowan has to pronounce it to avoid his stammer. And let's face it, the idea of a seemingly innocent holy man with a massive todger is far funnier, and far more Blackadder, than saying he'd have an average or small one!
