Talk:The Million Pound Bank Note

Do not delete

DO NOT DELETE PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! --Hippieslayer (talk) 01:21, 23 December 2008 (UTC)Hippieslayer

Ponzi-scheme?

Isn't that a Ponzi-scheme?--80.141.219.160 (talk) 16:44, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

No. see Ponzi scheme. RJFJR (talk) 15:20, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

What's the moral of this story?

This story is obviously intended as a satire, but I don't understand what the author is trying to tell us. 80.141.182.3 (talk) 12:35, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

Really? Well, I don't blame you because me and my university classmates spent sessions after sessions in one of my literature classes analyzing the story; even then our professor looked as if we were just scratching the surface. It is fortunate that I was not studying a literature major. (It is a torture.)

The story's main premise is "money bringing respect" and the condemnation of all this. From one angle, it is people of the book relying more on their eyes than their brains: They think the person who has a one million pound note is a wealthy person! If they had used their brains, they'd have probably realized that a wealthy person must also be a smart person to have become so wealthy; and a smart person knows that carrying a one million pound note is a very stupid thing to do. They'd have also realized that a thief can also steal a one million pound note too. Improbable, yes; but much more probable than a wealthy/smart person carrying such a note. (Actually, the only exceptions were bank employees; hence the impossibility of exchanging the cash.)

From another angle, in the story, money brought respect but way too much of it, much more than what a wealthy person would deserve. It was not just respect the wealthy; it was worship the wealthy! It was specifically obvious in the part that the joint in which Henry dined acquired the right to make money from Henry's presence! (What was the joint's name again? I don't have the book at hand now.)

Oh, if I continue, someone will probably report me from using a talk page as my blog. But anyway, there was a lot of other satirical references too, e.g. in regard to clothes defining the person. There was also something very important about the girl with whom Henry fell in love and her role and metaphorical/satirical meaning; but I don't even remember her name. (I think her name started with P.) We spent a lot of time resolving a wrong belief about her. (For some weird reason, my classmates had imagined her a slutty woman -- but as my professor made it clear, there was no evidence to support that.)

Fleet Command (talk) 07:47, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

peerless bank note

What's a peerless bank note? RJFJR (talk) 15:19, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

wikt:peer#Etymology 2 - meaning one without equal (The other bank note having been cancelled). GraemeLeggett (talk) 22:24, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Names of the eccentric brothers

In the Wikisource text of Make Twain's story, the one eccentric brother is called "Uncle Abel", and no name is given for the other one. The Wikipedia article calls them "Oliver and Roderick Montpelier". Are these names taken from the 1954 movie, or are they actually used in Mark Twain's original text? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.83.251.229 (talk) 16:17, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

English reader

The million pound banknote 103.214.61.136 (talk) 12:54, 6 April 2022 (UTC)

Film, television and radio adaptations

Should under this header not be included: "Trading Places" (1983) by Dan Aykroyd with Eddie Murphy and Jamie Lee Curtis? Alf aus Mannheim (talk) 14:51, 17 December 2023 (UTC)