In the name of Saddam's Bronze Buttocks...

[caddyman]

Every now and again the world delivers a little welcome surrealism to keep me happy. I do like my surrealism; there’s not enough of it around. Or maybe there is.

Anyway, Aunty reports that in Derbyshire an ex-soldier turned art dealer attempted to auction a chunk of the infamous bronze statue of Saddam that was destroyed when the war moved in on Baghdad in 2004.

Nigel Ely was serving with the SAS at the time and used a sledgehammer to break off part of the toppled statue, before bringing it home as a souvenir. (Does it count as looting if the locals don’t want it?).

The artefact was offered for auction and bidding reached £21,000 before it was withdrawn from sale having failed by some distance to achieve its reserve price of £250,000. The proceeds of the sale had it gone ahead, would have gone toward helping injured ex-servicemen from the UK and the US, but worthy as the aim may be, who honestly would fork out a quarter of a million for a piece of rubble?

It did occur to me though, that given the nature of the piece, that it could and should enter the English language, perhaps as an oath or some such. You see, the two foot chunk of bronze was one of the statute’s buttocks.

“By the Bronze Buttocks of Saddam, I swear…”

Comments

[changeling72.livejournal.com]

It does rather make one wonder who bid 21k? Not quite the same as owning a piece of the Berlin Wall...

[ladkyis.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of an oath, but it depends what the oath was for.... and would I have to put my hand on it when I swore the oath.
Or do you mean the other sort of oath and swearing?

I think I am having a bimbo moment

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

I sort of meant the second kind, but the first is even funnier, so we could have both.

I swear this in the name of Saddam's Bronze Buttocks.