Newguest  +  671680 Fri, 13 Feb 09 07:29 PM Hi I called the Archbishop of Canterbury and told him I loved what he was doing and that it was great that the Church didn't seem to stand for anything. It was death by cup cake, darling! --- Does it mean that the Archbishop didn't care about the church or that the caller thought church meant nothing and bishop was shocked and died eating a cup cake. Did I understand it correctly? Newguest Joined on Sun, Feb 25 2007 Senior Member 2,104

	Clive  +  671720 Fri, 13 Feb 09 08:42 PM Hi, Can you supply some more context for this? Who is speaking? What kind of person? Is it from a comic novel? Who by? Clive Clive Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004 Canada Veteran Member 29,668 El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo Context, Speaking, Chat, Friendships

	Newguest  +  671729 Fri, 13 Feb 09 08:52 PM MacPhisto's nightly phone calls, often to controversial politicians with whom the audience would be familiar, were a highly entertaining way of raising potentially sensitive issues. Bono explains in U2 By U2 why it was so effective: Gavin Friday said to me, 'If you want to make a Devil you should have horns.' I said, 'Yeah, well I'm not wearing horns. I'll look ridiculous.' He said, 'You need proper red horns.' And he got them made up. I put them on and it was the maddest-looking thing but it helped, because when you're dressed as the Devil your conversation is immediately loaded, so if you tell somebody you really like what they're doing, you know it's not a compliment. We used to ring up fascist politicians like Jean-Marie Le Pen's office and flatter them live in front of audiences of sixty or seventy thousand. I rang Alessandra Mussolini, the Italian dictator's granddaughter, who was getting into politics, and we'd have seventy thousand people singing, 'I just called to say I love you' on her answer machine. I called the Archbishop of Canterbury and told him I loved what he was doing and that it was great that the Church didn't seem to stand for anything. It was death by cup cake, darling! source: http://www.canadanne.co.uk/macphisto/who.html Newguest Whom, Speaking, Chat, Friendships, Colours, Conversational, Arts, Songs, Languages

	Clive  +  671734 Fri, 13 Feb 09 09:05 PM Hi, I don't really know what is meant here. Perhaps this may be a catch phrase that is used in Britain. Maybe, maybe not. Clive  Clive

	Grammar Geek  +  671740 Fri, 13 Feb 09 09:11 PM I seem to think that it means he was sweet to him.  He was insulting him, ridiculing him, but doing it with flattery and what sounded like compliments that there was no way he could fight back. Death (not actual death, but a loss in this battle) by cupcake - by frothy, sweet commentary. I'm not really sure, but that's my guess.   Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,683 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random!

	Newguest  +  671743 Fri, 13 Feb 09 09:17 PM Hi What about this part: it was great that the Church didn't seem to stand for anything. Is he just saying that in his opinion church meant nothing, people didn't go to this place.. Newguest

	CalifJim  +  671759 Fri, 13 Feb 09 09:56 PM Newguest “it was great that the Church didn't seem to stand for anything. ” They are attributing to the archbishop the opinion that the Church doesn't stand for anything -- has no real beliefs.  Perhaps the archbishop is so liberal in his interpretation of theology that it seemed to them that there was barely anything left that the archbishop actually believed in terms of church doctrine.  Whether the archbishop really had this opinion is immaterial to the joke, I suppose. I don't keep up on such political and ecclesiastical issues in Britain, so I can't say for sure, but that's the impression I'm left with. The cupcake remark is meaningless to me, by the way.  I think it's one of those cases where "you had to be there". CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,463 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche Jokes