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SHREK--Chapters 9 and 10 |
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SHREK--Chapters 9 and 10 |
Chapter 9
Princess Fiona says to Shrek, "And where would a brave knight be without his noble steed?"
Donkey misunderstands and comments, "I hope you heard that. She called me a noble steed. She think I’m a steed."
Steed refers to a horse, usually one used in battle and war. Noble steed is a set phrase meaning a horse that behaves honorably in battle. However, Donkey confuses the word steed with the word stud. A stud is a horse or some other male animal set aside specifically for breeding purposes. If you use the word stud to refer to a man, it means he engages in a lot of sexual activity--and thinks he's good at it!
Princess Fiona says to Shrek, "You may remove your helmet, good Sir Knight." Shrek tells her, "I have helmet hair." If you wear a motorcycle helmet and then take it off, your hair is flat like the shape of the helmet. You have helmet hair. Of course, we know that Shrek is just making an excuse not to remove his helmet because he is afraid of frightening Fiona by his looks.
Princess Fiona says to Shrek, "Please, I would’st look upon the face of my rescuer." Shrek replies, "Oh, no you wouldn’t—st." He adds the -st because it seems he is trying to be polite and talk the way the princess talks. Actually, these forms (endings) are not all correct according to the way people used to speak long ago in England.
After Fiona demands Shrek remove his helmet, he replies, "Okay. Easy. As you command, Your Highness." This is a polite form of address to a Princess, but it can also be used to make fun of someone. That is, if a man says to a woman, "Yes, Your Highness" he is insulting her by implying that she is acting like a princess when she is just an ordinary person. There seems to be a little bit of this insulting tone in Shrek's reply.
Fiona is surprised to find that Shrek is an ogre, and Shrek replies, "Oh, you were expecting Prince Charming?" Prince Charming is rather equivalent to the White Horse Prince--the perfect man.
Shrek and Donkey make fun of Lord Farquaad's height with two phrases:
Men of Farquaad’s stature are in short supply. in short supply = there's not much of, hard to find; Not many people are as short as Lord Farquaad. With the outbreak of SARS, surgical masks are in short supply.
There are those who think little of him. think little of = have little respect for
Then Fiona says, "You know you’re just jealous that you can never measure up to a great ruler like Lord Farquaad." and Shrek replies, "Yeah, well maybe you’re right, Princess. But I’ll let you do the measuring when you see him tomorrow. " measure up to = be as good as
Chapter 10
Looking at the stars, Shrek says to Donkey, "Look, there’s Bloodnut, the Flatulent. You can guess what he’s famous for. ...No, look, there he is and there’s the group of hunters running away from his stench." Flatulence is a formal and medical word for saying you get a lot of intestinal gas and fart a lot. The word stench means a really bad smell, even worse than stink. Now odor is only slightly negative, whereas smell is rather neutral. More positive words are fragrance (like flowers) and aroma (often referring to food) and perfume. But even words like fragrance, aroma, and perfume can be used satirically to mean a bad smell, such as "The garbage truck parked right outside my window. That was some aroma!" or "Hong Kong certainly lives up to it's name. It's fragrant alright!"
After Shrek and Donkey make up from their argument, Donkey asks, "So, uh, are there any donkeys up there?" Shrek replies, "Well, there’s um Gabby, the small and annoying." Shrek is trying to be nice to Donkey by making this up to refer to Donkey. A word for talking too much is to gab. The name Gabby can refer to someone whose full name is Gabriel (male) or Gabriella (female), but it can also be a nickname for someone who talks a lot. And Donkey does talk a lot.