Faculty of Philosophy

English Department

Language in the Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Idioms, slang and
the new words

Student: Gala Skopljak Mentor: Merima Osmankadi, PhD

September 2015
Table of Contents

Introduction: The Influence of television and media on languages ..................................... 2

Monty Python: British slang and new words .......................................................................... 3
Idioms and their classification ............................................................................................ 4
Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Idiomatic expressions and slang.................................. 6
Tables ...................................................................................................................................... 6
Idioms ................................................................................................................................. 6
Slang...........9
Pythonisms..11
Conclusion13
Works cited......14

1
Introduction: the influence of television and media on languages

When we talk about the shifts that happen in language during the course of time, and its
general evolution, it can be said that we are all familiar with the myth about television and the
mass media as the main influencers of the change in languages in the sense that they are in the
same time enriching and pauperizing it in its own way. Many scientists agree with the myth,
presenting us with the results from their sociolinguistic studies which clearly show at least some
influence of the television and mass media on the acquisition of new idioms, phrases and fixed
expressions.Trudgill admits that television may act as a source for new lexis and idioms, or as
a model for speakers of a dialect to acquire the core phonology and syntax of the standard
variety of a language.(Stuart-Smith, 2006).

But we can at least agree that the development of language is greatly affected by the collision
of cultures, so one thing is clear: television and media brought us closer to once strange and
completely foreign cultures in such a way that, although we are still not able to communicate
with our favorite characters, at least we have the possibility to carefully watch their every move
and to imitate their expressions and ways of speech.Radio, film, TV pushed written expression
toward the spontaneous shifts and freedom of the spoken idiom. They aided us in the recovery
of intense awareness of facial language and bodily gesture. Hence, It Is claimed, a rich colourful
language developed conveying moods and emotions, happenings and characters, even thoughts,
none of which could be properly packaged in words. Conversely, the message communicated
through print ...means that it must first be broken down into parts and then mediated
eyedropper fashion one thing at a time, in an abstract, linear, fragmented, sequential
way(Stuart-Smith, 2006).

But in spite of television having somewhat crucial part in the lives of the newer generations, it,
along with the media, has no other role except for the one of transmitting the news and
messages. We can neither communicate nor interact with television, radio or media and thus
they do not have the ability to completely change language in its core. But the thing that cannot
be disputed is its role in the expansion of the lexicon while adding new idioms and phrases into
everyday speech.The media can act as a new source of vocabulary and idioms, as they show
innovations and spread new forms of language. They can also act as a guide to the standard
variety of the language. But they cannot force spectators to adopt them, because these changes
require motivation from speakers to imitate that model. (Kaewlai, 2014)

2
Be that as it may, the television, or better yet a comedy show which thanks to its enormous
popularity in the previous century can now be called a cult classic, will be of high importance
for the subject of this paper primarily because of its role in the enrichment of the true British
slang and the introduction of idioms and expressions which are widely used even today.

Monty Python: British slang and new words

If we look at the most famous comedy shows not only in Great Britain, although we will
this time focus only on that country, but worldwide, we can rightly say that one of them is
definitely Monty Python which from its early beginnings in the year of 1969 captivated
audience with their unusual and unique humor. But why is Monty Python so important for the
linguistics, many will ask. Namely, that what makes their humor so unique, except of the
excellent parodying of the sociohistorical personas and happenings, the comedians from Monty
Python captivated their viewers from those times and those of today by the usage of the
characteristic British slang and idioms which alongside the wordplay cause a comical effect.
But the main reason of their constant popularity throughout the many passed decades is
definitely the lexicon which they created and the words which through usage in their movies
and the episodes of their show entered everyday speech of many English language speakers and
even English dictionaries. That is how, for example, highly known word spam which is today
widely used, originates from the one and the same Monty Pythons Flying Circus: The real
origin of the term comes from a 1970 Monty Pythons Flying Circus skit. In this skit, all the
restaurants menu items devolve into SPAM. When the waitress repeats the word SPAM, a
group of Vikings in the corner sing SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM,
SPAM, lovely SPAM! Wonderful SPAM!, drowning out other conversation, until they are
finally told to shut it. (Hiskey, 2010) Another word which entered Oxford dictionary is
pythonesque which depicts the style of humor characteristic for the sketches from Monty
Python, denoting or resembling the absurdist or surrealist humour or style of Monty Pythons
Flying Circus, a British television comedy series (196974) (Pythonesque,n.d)

The Pythons worked similar tricks of juxtaposition with words: their most quotable
sentences tend to feature some sudden, jarring contrast between high language and low.
Its probably pining for the fjords, says Palin in the parrot sketch, looking to explain
the Norwegian Blues painfully apparent rigor mortis. Like Cardinal Ximinez leaping
into someones living room, the exotic word gate-crashes the unsuspecting sentence.

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 Hes not the messiah, hes a very naughty boy, says Brians mother in Life of Brian.
When people call something Pythonesque, this is the sort of effect they mean. (Free,
2013)

That what is easily seen is that Monty Python left an enormous legacy of not only unprecedented
funny sketches and gags, but also of expressions which are used even today among the younger
generations. But, I will farther myself from the Monty Pythons Flying Circus show itself in
this paper and focus on one of their more popular movies to which the lack of budget and special
effects only contributed to its uniqueness and impressibility of the expression, and also on
frequent and not so frequent idiomatic expressions and phrases used in it: Monty Python and
the Quest for the Holy Grail, more widely known as Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But,
first I will say a bit more about idioms as such and their classification.

Idioms and their classification

The word idiom itself can have multiple meanings which is explained in the Oxford
dictionary. It can represent A group of words established by usage as having a meaning not
deducible from those of the individual words, be A form of expression natural to a language,
person, or group of people, have the meaning of The dialect of a people or part of a country
or even A characteristic mode of expression in music or art (Idiom [Def 1] [Def 2] [Def
3], n.d.) . Although at a certain point in the movie Monty Python and the Holy grail itself, the
word idiom is used in a completely new meaning which is not mentioned above and with which
we will deal a bit later, I have decided to primarily focus on the first meaning of the word idiom
which an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its
constituent elements(Idiom, n.d.). That means that we have to derive its real meaning from
the wider context. Moreover, idioms can be classified according to their type and different
patterns in which they appear:

Form example meaning

Verb + object/complement
(and/or adverbial)
Prepositional phrase
compound
Kill two birds with one stone Produce two useful results
by doing one action
In the blink of an eye In an extremely short time
A bone of contention Something which people
argue and disagree over

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 Simile (as + adjective + as,
or like + noun)
Binomial (word + and +
word)
Trinomial (word + word +
and + word)
Whole clause or sentence
As dry as a bone
Rough and ready
Cool, calm and collected
To cut a long story short
Very dry indeed
Crude and lacking
sophistication
Relaxed, in control, not
nervous
To tell the main points but
not all the fine details

That what can be said about idioms is that most of them are fixed in form and cannot be
changed or varied. Sometimes, however the grammar or the vocabulary can be varied slightly.
(Dell, & McCarthy, 2010)

5
Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Idiomatic expressions and slang

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the second movie made by the group of British
comedians by the name of Monty Python which debuted in the year of 1975 causing the overall
enthusiasm of the audience worldwide with its unique humor. It can be said that this movie
produced such positive reactions thanks to the completely new material and sketches which
greatly, if not completely differed from those from the Monty Pythons flying circus.

This comedy film revolves around the Arthurian legend of king Arthur and his knights of the
round table which, on the quest of the Holy Grail are countered with many obstacles which
through their banality produce one of a kind comical effect. The film was written and arranged
solely by the very Monty Python group which also made the most of the acting team because
of the huge budget cuts with which they encountered. Nonetheless, all those setbacks appeared
to be a recipe for a success of this movie which can be seen as the first real movie by the Monty
Python group.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the real example of the pure British humor which owes its
comicality greatly to the British slang and idioms. Exactly because of that reason I have decided
to focus on some of the more famous idioms as well as those which are less famous and their
translations, and also on the so called pythonisms which I will discuss somewhat later but which
are also prominent in this movie.

Tables

Idioms

Idiom Meaning Translation Example

Stone dead Completely dead Posve he was stone dead
(Oxford Dictionary mrtav(Filipovi, (Oxford Dictionary
Online) 1999:1085) Online)
Have at (dated) An exclamation Navaliti na Have at you
you indicating that one is nekoga(Filipovi, George,because I'm
about to strike the person 1999:517) going hit you with my
addressed, typically with a fencing sword.

6
 sword or other hand-held (Yourdictionary.com)
weapon
(Yourdictionary.com)
Call it a An even score at the Neodlueno se But despite his
draw conclusion of a game or zavriti (Filipovi, efforts, it's not
match 1999:321) enough: the points are
(Oxford Dictionary still even and the
Online) match is a draw.
(Oxford Dictionary
Online)
Knock it Stop doing something. Prestati s radom Danielle, knock it
off (Oxford Dictionary (Filipovi, 1999:610) off. The
Online) overprotective mother
role doesn't suit you.
(Oxford Dictionary
Online)
Have a look at with attention Pogledati (Filipovi, "Have a look at this!"
look (Thefreedictionary.com) 1999:517) (Thefreedictionary.co
m)
Mind ones Refrain from meddling in Brini se za svoj posao; Fortunately, not
own other peoples affairs. ne paaj se u tue everyone minds his
business (Oxford Dictironary poslove (FIlipovi, own business, and one
Online) 1999:691-692) day I was approached
by just such a person.
(Oxford Dictionary
Online)
Take by Happen when someone is Zaskoiti, iznenaditi My five-year-old
surprise not prepared (FIlipovi,1999:1127) son's question took me
(Oxford Dictionary by surprise.
Online) (Oxford Dictionary
Online)

7
Go one's Leave in a different Razii se (Bujas, Once they were
separate direction from someone 1999:1280) inside, they planned to
ways with whom one has just be back in the
travelled or spent time entrance at 11:45 pm
(Oxford Dictionary before they went their
Online) separate ways and
rode different rides.
Smash to a Beat someone severely Izbiti koga na mrtvo You didn't get to see
pulp (Oxfor Dictionary Online) ime (Filipovi, any of that because we
1999:865) were smashed to a
pulp.
(Oxford Dictionary
Online)
Bugger off Go away Tornjati se, izgubiti Bugger off!
(Oxford Dictionary se, otii(FIlipovi, (Oxford Dictionary
Online) 1999:130) Online)
In the nick Only just in time Upravo na vrijeme, The upshot is that the
of time (Oxford Dictionary ba u pravom asu error was fixed, in the
Online) (Filipovi, 1999:723) nick of time.
(Oxford Dictionary
Online)
Live to tell Survive a dangerous Doivjeti (Filipovi, Thankfully, people
the tale experience and be able to 1999:648) survive cancer and
tell others about it. live to tell the tale.
(Oxford Dictionary (Oxford Dictionary
Online) Online)
Die in vain without any useful Umrijeti uzalud Clegg said Friday's
result (FIlipovi, 1999:1246) military operation
(Thefreedictionary.com) went well, and that
these soldiers did not
die in vain.
(Thefreedictionary.co
m)

8
Bugger up to spoil something or do
something badly
(Macmilandictionary.com)
Take cover Protect oneself from
attack by ducking down
into or under a shelter
(Oxford Dictionary
Online)
Snuff it Die Umrijeti(Filipovi,
(Oxford Dictionary
Online)
Upropastiti I've buggered up the
(Filipovi, 1999:130) sudoku somehow and
can't finish it.
(Wiktionary.com)
Potraiti zaklon, The man ducked and
zakloniti se (Filipovi, took cover on the
1999:238) opposite side of the
bar.
(Oxford Dictionary
Online)
The family is in line
1999:1037) for money left by
Mother but not before
the old boy upstairs
snuffs it.
(Oxford Dictionary
Online)

Slang
Word Meaning Translation Example
Bint A girl or woman. We arrived in
(Oxford Dictionary Exeter at and
Online) retrieved the keys
from the bints at the
letting agency, drove
to Silverton and
arrived at the lovely,
lovely cottage.
(Oxford Dictionary
Online)
Tart A woman who Bludnica, His affair with that
dresses or behaves in razvratnica, drolja posh tart has finally
a way that is done for him.

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 considered tasteless (Filipovi, (Oxford Dictionary
and sexually 1999:1133) Online)
provocative
(Oxford Dictionary
Online)
loony crazy or foolish Luak, luakinja Every family
(Merriam-Webster (FIlipovi, includes someone
Dictionary Online) 1999:656) who's a little loony.
(Merriam-Webster
Dictionary Online)
Yap Talk at length in an Brbljati, lajati We were up late
irritating manner (Filipovi, 1 last night drinking
(Oxford Dictionary 999:1308) and yapping.
Online) (Oxford Dictionary
Online)
Scarper Run away When the baby did
(Oxford Dictionary arrive, the father
Online) scarpered for good.
(Oxford Dictionary
Online)
Manky Inferior; worthless The titles mask
(Oxford Dictionary more than mere
Oline) manky hanky
panky.
(Oxford Dictionary
Online)
Git An unpleasant or Bezveznjak But we need to
contemptible (Filipovi, improve and
person 1999:472) revitalise, not only
(Oxford Dictionary for the old gits like
Online) me.
(Oxford Dictionary
Online)

10
Pythonisms

After the great success which followed the comedy show Monty Pythons Flying Circus,
and also later movies by Monty Python crew, viewers became so fascinated by the new type of
this unique humor that they founded a certain kind of a cult for the faithful followers of Monty
Pythons sketches under the name of Pythonism. But, Pythonism does not only mark a sort of
a so called religion born from the obsession whit Monty Python, it is also a name of the figure
of speech and idioms, expressions and phrases which were used only in that show. In Urban
Dictionary the term Pythonism is explained as: The church of Monty Python, a cult following
of the greatest British Comedy troop to ever exist. Pythonist, a follower in the church of Monty
Python. (Urban Dictionary Online, n.d.)

In the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the most striking Pythonisms are present in the
taunting between king Arthur and the French guard. These are some of the figures of speech
and idioms created for the purpose of inducing comicality.

FRENCH GUARD: You dont frighten us, English pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottom,
sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur King, you and all your
silly English k-nnnnniggets. Thpppppt! Thppt!Thppt!

GALAHAD: What a strange person.

ARTHUR: Now look here, my good man

FRENCH GUARD: I dont wanna talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food
trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! You mother was a hamster and your father
smelt of elderberries!

Figure: mycterismus, the sneer.

FRENCH GUARD: How you English say, I one more time, mac, unclog my nose in
your direction, sons of a window-dresser! So, you think you could out-clever us French
folk with your silly knees-bent running about advancing behavior?!
or
LANCELOT: No, no, sweet Concorde! Stay here! I will send help as
soon as I have accomplished a daring and heroic rescue in my own
particular... (sigh)
CONCORDE: Idiom, sir?

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 LANCELOT: Idiom!
CONCORDE: No, I feel fine, actually, sir.
LANCELOT: Farewell, sweet Concorde!
CONCORDE: I'll-uh, I'll just stay here, then, shall I, sir? Yeah.
Figure: cacozelia, using foreign words and other ways to display ones eruditiononly
to look like an idiot. (Heinrichs, 2005)

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Conclusion

Although it was never wholly proved that television can change a certain language
completely, we can conclude from the previous linguistic studies that it does have an important
influence on the expansion of slang and the creation of new idiomatic expressions. That is why,
when we look at Monty Python as a British cult classic among the comedy shows, we can say
that exactly this one, and later also Only fools and horses has left a strong impression on the
public of not only Great Britain, but also worldwide. Monty Python, except of opening the road
with its satire and social critique for many new similar shows to come, if we look at it
linguistically we can say that it also greatly contributed to the introduction of new expressions
into the British slang. That is why the words which were first used exactly in the Monty
Pythons Flying Circus are used even today in the everyday speech like for example Spam or
Pythonesque. In the same way did well known phrase from the Monty Python and the Holy
Grail picture, Tis but a scratch find its way in the slang of English language speakers,
especially among the younger generations, so it can frequently be found on the funny gag
websites such as world famous 9gag.com.

The movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail itself actually played a very important role for the
Monty Python group as well as for the British slang, especially because of the use of the
pythonisms which can be explained as a special kind of humor caused by the wordplay which
was often used in Monty Python. This can be noticed through the figures of speech seen in the
conversations between king Arthur and the peasant Dennis, but it is most distinct in the taunting
of the French guard.

Through all of this it is clear that Monty Python group played a crucial role for the Great Britain
in general, and it rightly bears the title of a cult classic. Through their unique humor we can not
only better understand the very history of Great Britain and its social and political regulations,
but also the development of its language, slang and idiomatic expressions. In that, Monty
Python can be easily compared with Yugoslavian show known as The Surrealist Top Chart
which was run during the early 80s. Be that as it may, one thing is certain, Monty Python left
an indelible mark on the development of the language as well as the unique British humor.

13
Works cited

Stuart-Smith, J.(2006). Language and the Influence of the Media. Sociolinguistics in Scotland.

Kaewlai, J. (2014, December 26). Influence of the mass media on the English language. Media
and pronunciation. Retrieved August 3, 2015.

Hiskey, D. (2010, September 10). How the Word "Spam" came to mean "Junk message"
Retrieved August 3, 2015.

Oxford Dictionary online (n.d.). Retrieved August 3, 2015.

Free, D. (2013, January 2). The Beatles of Comedy. Retrieved August 3, 2015.

Dictiontionary.com (n.d.). Retrieved August 3, 2015.

Dell, F., & McCarthy, M. (2010). What are idioms? In English idioms in use: Advanced ; 60
units of vocabulary reference and practice ; self-study and classroom use. Stuttgart: Klett
Sprachen [Vertrieb].

Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online (n.d.). Retrieved August 3, 2015.

Heinrichs, J. (2005). Pythonisms - Figures of Speech. Retrieved August 3, 2015.

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