John William Waterhouse The Siren

John William Waterhouse The SirenJohn William Waterhouse The Lady ClareJohn William Waterhouse FloraJohn William Waterhouse Circe offering the Cup to UlyssesJohn William Waterhouse Boreas
Nonono. ‘S not blister. ‘S what you say when you’ve discovered something. You goes running out into the street shoutin’,’ said the smouldering figure urgently. ‘S’pecial word,’ it added, its brow creasing under the soot.
The crowd, reluctantly satisfied that there were going to be no more explosions, gathered around. This might be nearly as good.
‘Yeah, that’s right,’ said an elderly man, filling his pipe. ‘You runs out shouting "Fire! Fire!" ‘ He looked it off the alchemist’s smouldering hat, ‘I for one don’t see why people in this city need to go round shouting heathen lingo just ‘cos they’ve had a bath. Anyway, look at him. He ain’t had a bath. He needs a bath, yes, but he ain’t had one. What’s he want to go round shouting foreign lingo for? We’ve got perfectly satisfactory words for shoutin’.’
‘Like what?’ said Cut-me-own-Throat: triumphant. ‘ ‘S not that . . . ‘ ‘Or "Help!" or-’ ‘No, he’s right,’ said a woman with a basket of fish on her head. ‘There’s a special word. It’s foreign.’ ‘Right, right,’ said her neighbour. ‘Special foreign word for people who’ve discovered something. It was invented by some foreign bugger in his bath–’‘Well,’ said the pipe man, lighting
The pipe-smoker hesitated. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘like . . . "I’ve discovered something" . .