Posted by Jeremy Kriewaldt on January 11, 2001 at 00:06:54 from 203.27.30.240:
In Reply to: COOT CLUB - observations part THREE posted by Ed Kiser on January 05, 2001 at 06:41:30:
P180 chapter 15 (and various other places in CC)
The twins refer to their father as "A.P." which one eventually finds is to
stand for "Aged Parent". Is this just a term the twins use, or is such a
"title" in more common usage? In the US, we might refer, in a somewhat
similar manner, to "the old man", meaning the Father (parent, not priest),
but such usage is only a reference, not a "name", and is not normally used
as personal address to one's parent face to face. Both expressions are on
the side of being perhaps a bit disrespectful. As a Father myself, I'm
sure I would rather not be known as "the Aged Parent", or "the old man"
either.
This is another literary allusion by AR which would probably have been more readily recognised by readers in the 1930s. It is from Dickens. I think that the character Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations(again, I think)refers to his father as the Aged Parent and AP in terms of evident affection. So, I suspect no disrespect ny Port and Starboard in their use of the term. My recollections of this are a bit hazy but I do remember thnking when I read the relevant Dickens (more than 20 years ago and I really must do it again soon) "Aha, so that's where AR got that name for Mr Farland".