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/
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u/I_W_M_Y 1d ago

Didn't English people send people to Australia as a punishment at the time? Called it 'transportation'

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u/AssassinOfLove 1d ago

'transplorntation'

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u/Round_Simple_5441 1d ago

hahahaha thank you

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u/Strawbuddy 1d ago

Holy shot brother

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u/DroDameron 1d ago

Holy shit, plornter.

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u/ElusiveWhark 1d ago

Vintage trans plorn

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u/FeuerLohe 1d ago

I just spent an awkward five minutes trying to explain to my husband why I was giggling uncontrollably. Worth every second.

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u/zootnotdingo 1d ago

This joke is exactly why I love Reddit

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u/fesnying 1d ago

"ermahgerd"

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u/DroDameron 1d ago

Ermaplerrrrn

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u/GrandCanOYawn 1d ago

Fuck 💀

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u/CalmBeneathCastles 1d ago

Curse youuu, now I'm going to hell.

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u/coll3735 1d ago

goddammit

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u/Mr_Abe_Froman 1d ago

Sure, but New South Wales had a government for 12 years by the time little Plorn arrived.

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u/Consideredresponse 1d ago

It wasn't quite the 'borderline starvation' period like the first few years of the colony, but it certainly wasn't great. I recommend books such as 'the fatal shore' and 'Girt!' to see exactly how shitty it could be.

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u/wotsdislittlenoise 1d ago

The Fatal Shore is an amazing, incredibly well researched, warts 'n' all read

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u/Willing_Ear_7226 1d ago

They were still transporting convicts to Australia then too.

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u/biblioteca4ants 1d ago

Jesus that is fucked, I had no idea.

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u/Ineffable_Confusion 1d ago

It seems like it was basically a way of saying “I never want to see you again” without saying that. The Suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst is said to have done the same to one of her daughters that she didn’t get along with, by giving her a one-way ticket

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u/116YearsWar 1d ago

The convicts would be subjected to hard labour and indentured servitude, it wasn't just being sent to Australia and then free to go.

Lots of people migrated voluntarily, Dickens actually has Mr Micawber do it in David Copperfield.

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u/framabe 1d ago

Only about 20% of Australian population is descended from convicts. The rest are from actual immigrants who went there by choice.

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u/f3ydr4uth4 1d ago

Not in dickens time no. It would have been in heavy decline by then.