* See footnote p. 179

* The French translation has this note (in French): A famous English miser.

1 It is a curious but well-known fact that bugs are much commoner in south than north London. For some reason they have not yet crossed the river in any great numbers.

1 Pavement artists buy their colours in the form of powder, and work them into cakes with condensed milk.

* The French translation has this note (in French): In Hindustani, there are two pronouns for the second person singular. One, ap, is the more respectful and corresponds to our [= French] polite use of vous. The other, tum, is used only between very close friends or by a superior to an inferior; it is the equivalent of our tu. An Englishman in India would not tolerate being called ‘tu’ by a native.

* The French translation has this note (in French): A name once given to the district of Whitefriars, which was, in the seventeenth century, a regular refuge for all kinds of wrongdoers by virtue of a right of sanctuary which was finally abolished in 1697.

1 It survives in certain abbreviations, such as ‘Use your twopenny’ for ‘Use your head.’ ‘Twopenny’ is arrived at like this: head–loaf of bread–twopenny loaf–twopenny.

* The French translation has this note (in French): A word for which there is no precise equivalent in French. In Hindustani, bahin means ‘sister’ and chut ‘the sexual organ’. To call someone bahinchut is to remind him gratuitously that you are on the most intimate terms with his sister. Barnshoot is the same word corrupted by the English soldiers who brought it back to England; it has completely lost its original meaning.

1 I have been in it since, and it is not so bad.

1 This must be an underestimate. Still, the proportions probably hold good.

1 In fairness it must be added that a few of the casual wards have been improved recently, at least from the point of view of sleeping accommodation. But most of them are the same as ever, and there has been no real improvement in the food.

PENGUIN BOOKS

Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
Penguin Books India (P) Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India
Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, Cnr Rosedale and Airborne Roads, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First published by Victor Gollancz 1933
Published in Penguin Books 1940
This edition first published by Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd in the Complete Works of George Orwell series 1986
Published in Penguin Books with an Introduction and a new Note on the Text 1989
Reprinted in Penguin Classics 2001