Let's poll the Daily Telegraph's 1891 review of Ibsen's Ghosts

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Poll Closing Date: Sunday, 17 May 2026 00:00 (in 1 day)

They didn't like it, and made sure you knew. Which barb hits the hardest?

More of the review here: https://books.google.no/books?id=DHsyT9a9CW8C&pg=PA93&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Positively abominable
An open drain
A loathsome sore unbandaged
A dirty act done publicly
Candid foulness
A lazar house with all its doors and windows open
Loathsome and fetid
Gross, almost putrid indecorum
Literary carrion
Crapulous stuff


abcfsk, Thursday, 30 April 2026 17:43 (two weeks ago)

Lazar house! Learned a useful new term today.

orifex, Thursday, 30 April 2026 17:50 (two weeks ago)

Hey that's the tracklisting for my new OSDM record how did it leak

. (jamiesummerz), Thursday, 30 April 2026 20:26 (two weeks ago)

there's something to be about the phrase "literary carrion". It has to become the title of ..something.

abcfsk, Thursday, 30 April 2026 20:30 (two weeks ago)

Crapulous stuff

johnny crunch, Thursday, 30 April 2026 23:26 (two weeks ago)

'A dirty act done publicly' or gtfo

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 30 April 2026 23:29 (two weeks ago)

weirdly this is word for word the Telegraph's 2026 review of the Green Party

einmal ist keinmal (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 30 April 2026 23:44 (two weeks ago)

I gotta go with "literary carrion"

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Friday, 1 May 2026 00:38 (two weeks ago)

"A dirty act done publicly"

That's the most contemporary

xyzzzz__, Friday, 1 May 2026 12:13 (two weeks ago)

"A lazar house with all its doors and windows open" is where this starts to feel like gilding the lily. I have a lot of time for lilies, gilt or un-, but even I can't resist the pure concentrated sniffiness of "A dirty act done publicly."

Tell me who sends these infamous .gifs (bernard snowy), Friday, 1 May 2026 12:54 (two weeks ago)

"nasty-minded people who find the discussion of nasty subjects to their taste in exact proportion to their nastiness"

ILB board description

jmm, Friday, 1 May 2026 12:56 (two weeks ago)

I kind of enjoyed the overheated use of "putrid" as a modifier of "indecorum".

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Saturday, 2 May 2026 19:06 (one week ago)


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