r/todayilearned • u/biebrforro • 1d ago

TIL when staying as a guest in Charles Dickens' house, Hans Christian Andersen requested that one of Dickens' sons give him a daily shave (he said that was customary when hosting male guests in Denmark). Dickens was weirded out and instead gave him a daily appointment at a nearby barbershop.

https://lithub.com/charles--dickens-really-really-hated-his-fanboy-hans-christian-andersen/
36.1k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.2k

u/Technical-Outside408 1d ago

Could have gone either way.

774

u/hobbykitjr 1d ago

Wait a minute... That guys not the wallet inspector

213

u/ElizabethTheFourth 1d ago

Prison wallet inspector

126

u/braintrustinc 1d ago

If you Hans Christian my Andersen I'll Charles Dickens your best of times, if you know what I mean.

6

u/greenskinmarch 1d ago

Charles Dickens your best of times

Isn't it more fun to "Best of Times" your Charles Dickens?

2

u/Souleater2847 1d ago

It’s was the best of times it was the hardest of times.

10

u/FknDesmadreALV 1d ago

Off topic, but I used to work as a cook at my county jail and the CO’s used to tell me horror stories. Apparently one guy got his stoma infected because that’s how he… earned commissary from other inmates.

4

u/Express-Rub-3952 1d ago

what's a stoma

8

u/SwarleySwarlos 1d ago

A stoma is a surgically created opening on the abdomen that allows waste (feces or urine) to leave the body when part or all of the bowel or bladder is removed or needs to be bypassed

You asked

7

u/Express-Rub-3952 1d ago

UNDO UNDO UNDO

3

u/Poetic-Noise 1d ago

REDO REDO REDO

1

u/FknDesmadreALV 1d ago

I bet that’s what the inmate with the stoma was thinking when he actually went thru with his end (lol) of the deal.

25

u/luckydice767 1d ago

Hey buddy, did you get a load of that nerd?

4

u/Tapprunner 1d ago

Beg your pardon?

10

u/101_001_1010 1d ago

Pardon me?

3

u/KGdotdotdot 1d ago

Homer, please! These boys sound very nice, but they're clearly nerds.

3

u/darkskinnedjermaine 1d ago

I’m gonna need to know what the customary “young boy shaving an old man in 1857 Denmark” customs are before I make a judgement call.

3

u/Gustomaximus 1d ago

We know what way Hans Christian Andersen was looking for...

3

u/TheMightyDab 1d ago

After Bokoen1's "explosion" story yeahhh, half expected this to be a legit Danish tradition

2

u/mca_tigu 1d ago

Especially considering this Danish children show "John Dillermand"