I was driving and listening to a local radio station (Wave 105) this morning and they were doing a ‘Guess the Year’ competition. A caller came on the line to the presenter and said it was 1992. “How did you get that?” he asked. “Well” the caller said “it was also the year of the Queen’s anus horribilis!!!! A moments pause and the presenter said “I think you mean annus horribilis. Anus horribilis is something quite different”. He then got a fit of the giggles and couldn’t go on, I nearly swerved off the M3 ’cause I also couldn’t stop giggling.
In case anyone’s forgotten here’s what wikipedia wrote about Her Majesty’s annus horribilis “Annus horribilis is a Latin phrase meaning “horrible year”. It alludes to annus mirabilis meaning “year of wonders”. Queen Elizabeth II brought the phrase to prominence, in a speech to the Guildhall on 24 November 1992, marking the 40th anniversary of her Accession, in which she described the closing year as an “annus horribilis”. �1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an Annus Horribilis”.
Wikipedia doesn’t have an entry for anus horribilis, we must just try and imagine what it would be like!
Jeff // Jun 15, 2009 at 19:21
I dont have to imagine as it follows a couple of pints & a curry !