When Sir sends all the boys out and calls the girls filty sluts, what was it all about? All I could see was smoke, if there was something terrible happening, it was too subtly portrayed for me. Can anyone tell me what the fuss was about?
shareFrom what I have always understood, someone had put a used sanitary napkin in the heater. This made Sir livid for good reason.
Peace.
PCL
Yes, it's a used sanitary napkin. BTW: general information: the real gift given to E.R. Braithwaite (the author of the memoir) was a carton of cigarettes!
shareIt is definitely a sanitary napkin, I only know this because I read the book back in the day.
"Nope, no sex scandals yet. But I am open to offers!" ~John Cusack - Well I'm offering! ~sarah
I agree that us the audience have no idea what the smoke fuss is all about - sanitary napkin burning you say? How did you work that out? I've seen and reseen the scene on DVD and there is no way you can tellthat's what it is - only through what Poitier says afterwards can you surmise it to be that, because he's so upset about things "decent girls keep private". Would like to know how the previous contributors worked that out!
shareYou're right david there is no way to work that out, but I was watching this movie with my mom and she said that it was a sanitary napkin aswell. I asked her how she came to that conclusion and she said it was really the only option.
shareMy mom said the same thing when I watched it with her when I was a kid.
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Most people draw that conclusion because there is little else it could be that a "decent woman" should keep private.
This is a logic free zone:
Use of logic will be met with uncomfortable silences
a decent woman should also keep her porno stash private, it could have been burning porn.
shareI finally got around to reading the book and they specify.
shareThe book makes this clear.
shareInstinct, or you can read the novel with tells you exactly what was in there. Not just a sanitary napkin, but a USED napkin. Imagine one of them burning in a closed room...
sharei guessed on it and actually got it right. i read the book shortly after seeing the film.
shareThe author of the book that this film is based on states it very clearly in print that indeed it was a sanitary napkin smouldering on the heating grate. Certainly not too fragrant and rather unsettling in a schoolroom situation in 1967 London.
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What the hell is a sanitary napkin?
"I'm still here, you bastards."
A menstruation pad.
sharemust be an British thing
"I'm still here, you bastards."
do just us british use sanitary pads / napkins then, does the rest of the world just let it drip then?
idiot!
The hell with you, we call it a tampon, i never heard it called a "sanitary napkin", you limey mutt...
"Get up, you son-of-a-bitch...because Mickey loves ya'..."
"sanitary napkin" is the "polite" term and they use it in north america too. public washrooms usually have a bin for disposal thats marked as such (in my expirience anyway)
shareI didn't realize that...and thank you for not being rude...
"Get up, you son-of-a-bitch...because Mickey loves ya'..."
A sanitary napkin is NOT the same thing as a tampon, though they have the same purpose. A typical brand of sanitary napkin is Kotex. Sanitary napkins like Kotex are an absorbent pad and are worn externally. A tampon is an absorbent cylinder that is inserted & carried internally.
sharei've only heard "pad", never "sanitary napkin"...
"Get up, you son-of-a-bitch...because Mickey loves ya'..."
lol...Josh, ur funny, but I see where ur coming from...the average joe does call it a pad...i've never called my pads "sanitary napkins"...lol
www.myspace.com/sweetolicous663
lol...there you go! I didn't think I was only one...in the stores it doesn't say Aisle 14 "sanitary napkins", I've never even seen a box say that...its just Aisle 14 "womens hygiene"...then again, thats maybe just America...and thank you for the compliment...lol..what a funny, weird conversation...
"A four letter Italian word for "goodbye"...Bang...B-A-N-G..."
I don't think it matters much what they are called...'pad' or 'sanitary napkin', that is what Thackeray was referring to.
haha. I'm american. I've known what a *sanitary napkin* is since about the age of 8. To my knowledge, tampons and pads are STILL called that. Amazing.Titch, you're the coolest person in the world :)
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