I do think it was for reasons excluding height, but I still find it quite funny. I do hope the accent factored in - with the guv'nah and the niyun I'm inclined to believe Jeeves does have a cockney accent naturally but hides it or minimises it for the sake of image (servants to be seen up top like valets, butlers, footmen, and more senior sorts of maids, were apparently supposed to speak clearly and eloquently, to reflect on the household). Even if Jeeves is tall, and thus of course over 170cm, this does add to my thoughts of him being shorter than Bertie, if still only by a little.
I've read a good portion of the stories so far, and I've been marking where character appearances get described. Thus far in four out of five of the omnibuses Jeeves hasnt been called thin or tall, but likely it's all packed into the omnibus im still waiting on, hahah. The tall comment is, at least. Dark I can confirm though, I've come across that one.
I think perhaps, it means that Jeeves, despite exuding that perfect stuffed frog face for his work, is not actually that serious underneath it. A case of... resting butler face, as it were. And people likely did overlook it, because first person narration holds character bias and Bertie is prone to exaggerating much of the traits he comes across. Spode is likely not seven or eight feet tall, for instance.
Even if his face was still, its possible Jeeves's voice was fairly emotive beyond the regular indeed sirs, like in his quoting of poetry and the like. Plus the humour being missed, as you said.
A very grave man without much humour or emotional range does not, I think, upon being surprised to find a man he knows unexpectedly in the garden in the middle of the night, start talking about the stars at random.
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Date: 2017-03-07 10:57 pm (UTC)I've read a good portion of the stories so far, and I've been marking where character appearances get described. Thus far in four out of five of the omnibuses Jeeves hasnt been called thin or tall, but likely it's all packed into the omnibus im still waiting on, hahah. The tall comment is, at least. Dark I can confirm though, I've come across that one.
I think perhaps, it means that Jeeves, despite exuding that perfect stuffed frog face for his work, is not actually that serious underneath it. A case of... resting butler face, as it were. And people likely did overlook it, because first person narration holds character bias and Bertie is prone to exaggerating much of the traits he comes across. Spode is likely not seven or eight feet tall, for instance.
Even if his face was still, its possible Jeeves's voice was fairly emotive beyond the regular indeed sirs, like in his quoting of poetry and the like. Plus the humour being missed, as you said.
A very grave man without much humour or emotional range does not, I think, upon being surprised to find a man he knows unexpectedly in the garden in the middle of the night, start talking about the stars at random.