Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

It was inevitable that we brought this up. He had a very strange affection for this word and seemed to thoroughly enjoy ridiculing us all by pronouncing it perfectly. He'd then get us to try it, to only receive a whole array of "Llainfair sdfushodfuihsdfnsd" or "LLanfiarfdjsdfisdfnsdonfoisdnfisdnfoisndfgogogoch". That was until...

"...Alright folks, I want you to all listen (huh-huh). I'm gunna tell you a delightful story [if reading aloud, try to emphasize the word delightful by giving it a 'Sylvester the Cat' pronounciation]. When I was a mere 100 year old, I fell in love with a beautiful lady from Texas. And I said, I said, 'Wifey o' mine, will you marry me?' She said yes of course but refused to discuss it to this very day. [Why, I hear you ask?] Well, my wifey can't say Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Can you say Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch? I can say Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. But you can't say Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. [A brave student chimes in by saying 'sir, I can say Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch] Ah, well, I'd like to see you in my room, T1, 3.25. [why sir? he asks, mock innocence scrawled in sloppy handwriting across his face] uh...for being rude to your teacher. You must now and forever refer to me as the 'O' Great One..."

Whoo. What a legendary speech. We'll never forget it. Remember folks, Stay Stunning!!! Don't forget to check out our sister blog, Marta of Iceland!

Was he Dutch?

Right. We were all very concerned as to where Mr McLaughlin was actually from. He seemed to be able to pronounce the unpronounceable Welsh town names (you know, that one that starts 'Llanfairpwfwyn...'), spoke very fluent Dutch, and spoke English without an accent. What's wrong with that, I hear you all cry out? Well, he also claimed to have grown up in Holland, along with playing for the Dutch National Football team. Surely that's impossible, considering you have to have Dutch citizenship. So, was he Dutch? We'll leave it to you...

The Queen of England Spiel

This is the all time classic Mr McLaughlin speech. It is quite well known amongst McLaughlin lovers everywhere!

"... well folks, I, uh, I have something to tell you. Last week, I, uh, saw the
Queen of England. Yup, the Queen of England I saw! Stunning it was, stunning. She said, Mr McLaughlin [pauses to laugh], what a stunning Graphics teacher he is! Stunning!!!"

It may not seem like much, but I promise, this is our personal favourite quote. We still are, to this very day, wondering exactly whether or not the Queen approved of his visit. Even in the days when he first told us that story, we were ever so slightly sceptical. In response to our doubt, he bravely defended himself by saying;

"... folks, that's not very nice. I tell you a story and you don't believe
me. Why don't you believe it? [student explains that the Queen has no time for
visits by Graphics teachers] How dare you? You're wasting my time here
folks. So instead, I'll waste yours. So, meet me at my room, T1, 3.25 and
we'll continue our discussion then!"

This was predictably unpopular. But it wasn't only because he didn't usually show up at 3.25, moreover, that he then denied it and kept them behind the next day too.

"...[in response to someone saying basically what I said above], I was there.
You weren't. If you had just waited for a minute longer, I would have got there.
We had a staff meeting. [Student informs him that he/she waited until 3.40, the
longest that were allowed to be kept behind]. Uh-uh folks, I was there at 3.35.
[Student cheekily says 'so, you admit that you weren't there at 3.25?'] Uh?"

Thank you for reading such a long winded entry. I just couldn't help myself. :)

"... Remember folks, stay stunning!!!..."

Holland - The Infamous Vincent Joke

Mr McLaughlin was rather famous for insisting that he once lived in Holland. Then, he came out with the world's most abismal joke, which went vaguely along the lines of this;

Well folks, once, I was in Amsterdam and I went past a
stunning, yup stunning, cafe. Well I thought, yes I thought to myself, Mr
McLaughlin, sir, you deserve a coffee. So, I stopped off into cafe and lo and
behold - I saw old Vincent van Gogh, huh-huh. So, I went over to him and said,
"ol' vincent, d'ya want a drink." [Stupid laugh] and Vincent said, he said, "No
thanks. I've got one 'ere..."

If you don't get it, don't worry, neither did any of us until he explained it the fourth, maybe fifth time (the point is that Vincent van Gogh only had one ear and he says "I've got one 'ere", which sounds the same). Oh and just to clarify, this blog is absolutely nothing to with www.mrmclaughlin.com , which actually refers to someone else. Not this Mr McLaughlin

Prepare to be Stunned!!!

Yup, for all of you sad people (and Mr McLaughlin of course), we have done it!! The McLaughlin blog. Visit weekly for updates and we'll post loads of random junk that Mr McLaughlin told us during his (very) brief spell as our form tutor. Our top of the range stories include his epic tale of seeing God in his Kitchen, the heartwarming conversation he had with ol' Vincent in Holland and the Earth-Shattering visit to the Queen. We also have random Texas pronunciations from his ' ol' wifey from Texas' XP