I’m updating this post to comment a bit more on the classic acceptance speech by Kate Winslet at the Golden Globes. Hadley Freeman probably puts it best in the Guardian:
They might not be a subject obviously deserving of pity but I’ve always felt a little sorry for celebrities who win awards. There really is no way to give a good acceptance speech. Humility sounds false when it emerges from a multimillionaire A-lister’s mouth, yet a blase tone seems arrogant. Tears are laughable, but jokes rarely work, particularly when made by actors.
Yet even when viewed with a sympathetic heart, Kate Winslet’s acceptance speech … raises the occasional wave of nausea, swiftly followed by a rush of hands to eyes in order to block out the spectacle.
Winslet’s use of the word “gather” alone makes it a classic. Freeman again: “It would be interesting to know if anyone has ever said this outside the Mitford family, since 1932.”
And for any non-Brits, you have to read Peter Bradshaw (also in the Guardian) to gather the full significance of this word. Simply brilliant!
Posted by Pete 
