« publishers | Main | poetic spam »

dialogue that amuses

This is from an old movie, I would guess few people could place it:

Smythe: That's puttering, sir.
Stew: No! Well well well! That's all right if you like it. Can anybody do that?
Smythe: Oh no, sir. Some people are natural putterers. Others can never master it.

There are a few reasons this dialogue works for me personally. First, I am a natural born putterer. My family will point out this behavior, not to me, but to each other ('mum's in a putter' sez the husband in his native accent).

From a writer's perspective, I like this dialogue because

...it's witty in a way that adds to characterization (you'll have to take my word on that, unless you want to find the movie and study the entire scene in context), and

(this is a pet theory of mine) it points out a truth that is seldom made concrete by means of a dash of the absurd.

February 7, 2004 10:40 PM