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Since Know Your Meme doesn't give the reference for why it's a lake, maybe not everybody is familiar with british lore: The mythical Lady of the Lake: Probabl

• mrandish 2y ago
  This reminds me that Monty Python and the Holy Grail contributed actual historical knowledge about Arthurian legends to my knowledge base while growing up. Other examples of Python unintentional education include knowing the names of a myriad of obscure cheeses (the cheese shop skit), a shocking number of anachronistic synonyms for death (the parrot skit) and notable contributions of the Roman Empire (Life of Brian 'What have the Romans ever done for us?' skit). While it didn't contribute to my GPA at the time, I'm sure I could name more notable philosophers than any other 8th grader in my school (philosopher's song skit). However, in high school it did spark the interest to look up and read about each of the philosophers in the song.
  • graemep 2y ago
    The problem is that comedy is frequently not factually accurate. Roman Imperial contributions? Was Roman wine better than pre-Roman wine in that region? Did they improve sanitation, irrigation, medicine etc.? Rome was an oppressive slavery based society. Then what about the Spanish Inquisition sketch? It keeps repeating "fanatically devoted to the Pope"" The Spanish inquisition was an arm of the Spanish monarchy, at least two Popes tried to shut it down, and some historians have suggested one of its aims was to reduce the power of the Papacy. I do like the Philosopher's Song, the Dead Parrot and Cheese Shop. Other comedies are no better. Black Adder has a witchfinder (an early modorn innovation) in a Medieval setting. Pop culture is not historically accurate!
    • K0balt 2y ago
      …I think it kinda goes without saying that , perhaps with a very few notable exceptions, satirical television shows are not necessarily renown for their historical, scientific, or anecdotal accuracy. That being said, in my own experience at least, such pseudo-historical references in comedy in particular have spurred me on to independent investigation as to what they were on about, exactly. I’d say that the slapdash integrity is a feature, rather than a bug, since it is implicit in the format that a certain fraction of the assertions made will be bullocks cheese. This spurs curiosity and is also an excellent comedic mechanism. It would be interesting, however, to have a backdrop of steadfast historical “accuracy “ in an otherwise pseudo-slapstick context a-la Monty pythons flying circus. That was kinda part of the gig, but it might be even funnier if they obviously took that aspect with unflinching seriousness. As for the Roman Empire, I’d dare say that in slavery they were contemporary with most societies of their day, and I think to imply that their use of slavery somehow diminishes their contribution to global cultural heritage is not only disingenuous, but also smacks of some kind of pointless reflexive regurgitation of a partisan talking point or conformance/virtue signaling. It kinda undermines your point. Ultimately, there are probably very few, if any, living humans that cannot trace their cultural heritage to slavery, slave ownership, perpetrators horrific atrocities, genocide, human rights violations, war crimes, and violent crimes against women, children, and humanity in general. What matters is what -you- chose to do. Be known for the fruit of your tree, and not as the product of the hill from which you sprout.
      • bigiain 2y ago
        Poe never wrote "Quoth the raven, eat my shorts", but I suspect an order of magnitude or two more people are aware of that poem thanks to The Simpsons, compare to all the poetry teachers ever.
      • bigiain 2y ago
        > It would be interesting, however, to have a backdrop of steadfast historical “accuracy “ in an otherwise pseudo-slapstick context a-la Monty pythons flying circus. That was kinda part of the gig, but it might be even funnier if they obviously took that aspect with unflinching seriousness. That can get super grim too. I saw (maybe read?) an interview with Margaret Attwood about The Handmaids Tale. She took the atrocities committed by Gilead very seriously - and did not make a single one of them up. Every one of them was something historically accurate that really happened somewhere in the world.
  • aa-jv 2y ago
    See also: witches, and how to detect them. Bonus points for recognizing Australians.
  • cardiffspaceman 2y ago
    You forgot Latin. Romanes eunt domus
• initramfs 2y ago
  There's also Father Thames, the River God of London https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1140390 https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1140390
• edm0nd 2y ago
  Upright Citizens Brigade also has a few nice bits about the Lady of the Lake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhPXGABqG5w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhPXGABqG5w
• BurritoAlPastor 2y ago
  Note that, at least in Thomas Malory’s telling, the arm holding Excalibur out of the lake is not the Lady Of The Lake, who is nearby on the lake. The arm holding Excalibur is neither named nor explained.
  • PittleyDunkin 2y ago
    Is Thomas Malory of some kind of significance? Edit: he was apparently one of the primary fanfiction authors of the english tradition
• PittleyDunkin 2y ago
  Sorry maybe I'm dense, but what does the lady of the lake have to do with this image aside from a body of water being present?
  • DirkH 2y ago
    I believe the meme format typically involves asking the tank questions as if it were a great sage with wisdom to impart. So it has to so with the lady of the lake because not only is there a body of water but in both cases there is a role for paying deference to the entity in the water (Lady or tank).
• ComputerGuru 2y ago
  What a funny time when Monty Python and not the various stories of Ming Arthur is how people might be most familiar with “the lady of the lake.”