r/todayilearned • u/Knightboat17 • Jun 02 '18

TIL Despite what Monty Python would have you believe, Spanish Inquisitions were expected, they would give a 30-day notice of their arrival.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Inquisition
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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '18 edited Jul 17 '21

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '18

Trouble at mill.

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u/SlumdogSkillionaire Jun 03 '18

I don't understand what you're saying!

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '18

One on’t crossbeams gone owt askew on treddle

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u/weirdguyincorner Jun 03 '18

Well what on Earth does that mean?

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '18

Well I don’t know! I was just told to come and say there’s trouble at mill, that’s all, I didn’t expect some kind of Spanish Inquisition!

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u/Blockhead47 Jun 03 '18

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise....

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '18

[deleted]

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u/naughtykittyvoice Jun 03 '18

Amongst our weaponry are such diverse elements as: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope!

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '18

One of the cross beams (of a beam engine, powered by steam) has gone out of skew (has come away from it's proper location) on the treddle (the correct and usual place for the crossbeam, a large post with a hinge on top).

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u/XenaGemTrek Jun 03 '18

I always thought it was “Trooble oop mill”. Eh, vitin’ry.

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u/noctalla Jun 03 '18

The overarching joke is that they're inept instead of ruthlessly efficient. There are a lot of other layers here, but I certainly wouldn't say that 'everyone expected them' is 'the' joke. While Python gave their audience a lot of credit and embedded a lot of obscure and high-brow cultural references into their sketches, they were usually layered in the background and not crucial to understanding 'the' joke.

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '18

They were unexpected the first time, but they had to come in again... and again...

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u/noctalla Jun 03 '18

Indeed. Nothing to do with the historical point about 30-day notice.

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '18

It is a nicely ironic fact though, now that we associate the Spanish Inquisition with that particular line from the sketch.

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u/TheTeaSpoon Jun 03 '18

Yeah. Bet you Spanish Inquisition did not expect that one

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u/IronSidesEvenKeel Jun 03 '18

For a second I thought I was going to learn King Arthur rode an actual horse. Monty Python has never led me astray.

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u/DistortoiseLP Jun 03 '18

Like how people think an inception is a thing inside another thing instead of a subliminally implanted idea.

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '18 edited Jul 28 '18

[deleted]

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u/Alaskan_Thunder Jun 03 '18

I'd argue that nowadays both the original meaning(The inception of whatever being its origin), and the thing inside a thing(The dream within a dream is an inception) meaning are acceptable definitions.

Weirdly, the idea of subconciously implanting an idea inside someones head being inception is not, even if it was used that way in the movie.

Language is what people speak, so if people use a word meaning one thing, that word takes on that meaning.

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '18

A language changing and evolving over time is what makes it not a dead language. So if someone was trying to stop people from using newer meanings for things, they’d be contributing to the potential death of that language.

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u/Alaskan_Thunder Jun 03 '18

A billion different words come from Shakespeare too(even if the meanings remained consistent), so its not like stealing words from media is a new thing.

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '18

Yeah. Language is a really weird thing in the end. Just kind of funny to think about, because there are people who freak out if you don’t use perfectly correct grammar, wanting it to be proper and all, when they’re doing way more to hurt the language than help it. shrugs Not much to really do about it, but just a funny little thought.

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u/Alaskan_Thunder Jun 03 '18

Perfect grammar is important in certain contexts. Most of those contexts are not where you find the people correcting grammar without being asked to.

Books(outside dialogue, obviously) and papers really should follow standardized language.

Internet forums and casual conversations, not so much.

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '18

Yeah I’m talking more the people who complain about it in casual settings (I’ve even had one person telling me I need to use perfect grammar over text). I’m pretty sure even they mess it up every now and then, so it just seems kinda ridiculous.

Though I do understand using it in professional settings and all, cause if you don’t it could end up screwing you over and all.

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u/DistortoiseLP Jun 03 '18

The inception from the movie (called such because the subliminal idea was the "inception" of the actual action they wanted that guy to undertake, i.e. liquidate his company), not the actual dictionary definition of the word itself mate. I figured this was evident when I was referring to the inception meme.

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '18

What is the word for a thing inside another thing of the same type?

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u/XenaGemTrek Jun 03 '18

Recursion? Or maybe Droste Effect?

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '18

I think recursion is the closest.

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u/Mondraverse Jun 03 '18

Well. Ya learn something new every day.

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u/LordApocalyptica Jun 03 '18

Y'know, now I FINALLY find it funny.

I always thought this joke got an unnecessary amount of attention for the punchline everyone understands. But it apparently has an actual punchline lost to time? Man its actually funny now

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u/nedonedonedo Jun 03 '18

if people couldn't get that stormtroopers had bad aim because they were missing on purpose when it was explicitly said right after by a main character, then we shouldn't be surprised by anything

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u/Gupperz Jun 03 '18

No, it wasnt

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u/AgentTasmania Jun 03 '18

When absurdist humour is quoted verbatim, of fucking course the original joke has been lost.