Films

Haven't seen Family Plot for ages, but if my memory serves me correctly, the title is a double-entendre. A "plot" is a piece of ground set aside for burial; a "family plot" is one shared by all the (deceased) members of the same family.

The second meaning is "plot" as in "plan" or "scheme" -- didn't the family in the film have some sort of fake-medium scam going...?

Found this at www.filmsite.org/cloc.html:

"[The title is said to refer to:]

- a clockwork (mechanical, artificial, robotic) human being (orange - similar to orang-utan, a hairy ape-like creature), and

- the Cockney phrase from East London, "as queer as a clockwork orange" - indicating something bizarre internally, but appearing natural, human, and normal on the surface."

Looks likely enough to me!

Ananymos,
It is oUrangutan. So I think that conection is mere guess. I've read that before.

No, goossun, the correct spelling is "orangutan." The correct spellings of some other words in your sentence are "connection" and "guess."

Heh, by "guess" I completely meant "connection."

I give up.

It's also correct in American English to spell it "orangutan." The first element, the "ourang" part, is "man" in one if the Indonesian languages, interestingly, so the title could also be read as if it referred to a cyborg, robot, or just an artificially "enhanced" person.

The "one of the Indonesian languages" in question is Malay, as any fule kno.

Read the book, I forget exactly what is written and in what edition (because it's not in all of them), but the writer defines it in the very beginning or introduction or something, it means something to the effect a fleshy object (orange) or (man) working exactly how you want it (like clockwork). So a clockwork orange would be a person who has been trained to work perfectly. Like our dear friend the main character. Hope that helps.