The Real Inspector Hound

The Real Inspector Hound Glossary

Absurdism

The conflict between the human tendency to seek inherent value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any.

Au fait

In touch

Birthday Honours

Titles given on the British sovereign’s official birthday

Black Magic

A brand of chocolates

Blind man's buff

A game in which a blindfolded person has to catch and identify others not blindfolded

Faites vos jeux. Rien ne va plus. Rouge et noir.

Place your bets. No more betting. Red and black. (French)

Foghorn

A fog signal that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards or boats of the presence of other vessels of foggy conditions.

French windows

A pair of windows, reaching to the ground, that open like doors between room and garden

Grub Street

Grub Street in London was inhabited by hack writers in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Kinetic

In motion

Lads

Boys; in this context, other theater critics

Minister's Humber

The model of the car assigned to the minister

"oil my gun"

Slang for using the bathroom

Queen Anne

A style of home built in the reign of Queen Anne or in the architectural style of that period

Red herring

Something, especially a clue, that is or is intended to be misleading or distracting

Settee

Medium-sized sofa with arms and a back

The paint and the motley

Theater (literally, greasepaint and the particolored costume of the jester)

Turn-ups

Trouser leg cuffs

Twelfth men

Reserve players on cricket teams (comprised of eleven members)

Workshy

Lazy and disinclined to work