Pyramids

39

The high priest’s commentary on the gods’ battle for the sun is obviously based on sports commentators. In particular, several of the phrases are based on the diction of David Coleman, a popular British figure of fun noted for his somewhat loose grasp on reality and his tendency towards redundancy and solecism. In fact, an amusingly redundant comment spoken live by a personality is sometimes referred to as a ‘Colemanball’, after the column of that name in the satirical magazine Private Eye.

Typical Colemanballs include, “…He’s a real fighter, this lad, who believes that football’s a game of two halves, and that it isn’t over until the final whistle blows”, or during the test (cricket) matches, “And he’s coming up to bowl now… The bowler’s Holding, the batsman’s Willey…”. (That last one wasn’t even by David Coleman, but still qualifies as a Colemanball).