I attended a talk by a foreign gentleman, and it is the Second or Third time I have heard him speak.
One of his distinguishing characteristics, apart from the inanity of most of the ideas he attempts to peddle, is that he has a Very Strong Foreign Accent, to the point that it is quite hard to understand what he is saying.
Now, for me, that is a bonus, but he uses his odd pronunciation like a red nose or very large shoes in the circus. Oddly enough, most people at the event seemed to agree that he was a Very Funny Man.
He was talking about astrology, a subject he confessed to not understand and to have very little reliable and relevant information to share, but all the while he made little asides related to his nationality, his odd accent, national stereotypes, and so forth.
I saw some knots of listeners were doubling up with laughter, and the gentleman at my table, who had some anarchic badges and an unsavoury air, was a big fan. At one point he stood up and proclaimed "he is very funny" and "I like him", beaming around at people in the vicinity and apparently struggling to contain his mirth.
I smiled politely.
The only funny thing about the speaker, in my mind, is that he has lived in England for many years and yet he has apparently failed to summon the initiative to learn the proper pronunciation of the English language, a matter that, when we consider the sterling efforts applied in that direction by far lesser mortals than he, identifies him as nothing more than a dolt, or a dolt and a shyster, since he uses his ignorance to mesmerize his audience and justify his purse.
He stood on the platform for nearly two hours, with a break, and spoke no true thing of note and a great deal of tiresome waffle. I learned he would receive the entire admission takings, which would have amounted to a very tidy sum, especially considering the sad fact that most of us receive no payment whatsoever for talking through our hats.
