Something that just occurred to me about this scene…
When Watson is parroting Moriarty’s words, he speaks in an incredibly flat voice.
I always saw that as an act of defiance—the only one he had access to at that moment.
But it just occurred to me HOW MUCH of an act of defiance that was.
Because you just KNOW the actual dialogue looks like this:
Moriarty: EVENING!
John: Evening.
Moriarty: This is quuuuITE the turn-up! Isn’t it, Shwurwack?
John: This is quite the turn up, isn’t it, Sherlock.
Moriarty: WHAT would you liii-iiike me to mAkE him sAY nEXT!
John: What would you like me to make him say next.
Moriarty: *Singing* Gottle ooo’ geeeer, Gottle ooo’ geeeer…!
John: Gottle o’ geer. Gottle o’ geer.Finally Moriarty is like, ‘Ok, I’m too fabulous for this,’ and joins the party in person.
I finally googled this phrase (I always thought it was “grottle of gear” and just a nonsense phrase) and found this:
One difficulty ventriloquists face is that all the sounds that they make must be made with lips slightly separated. For the labial sounds f, v, b, p, and m, the only choice is to replace them with others. A widely-parodied example of this difficulty is the “gottle o’ gear”, from the reputed inability of less skilled practitioners to pronounce “bottle of beer”.[8] If variations of the sounds th, d, t, and n are spoken quickly, it can be difficult for listeners to notice a difference.
So, Moriarty was mocking John as being nothing more than a ventriloquist’s dummy. I never got that before.
All accurate. Well done.
