I have to assume the poor woman sat bolt upright in bed at 3am and shouted, “I called Kathy Lette a moll!” Put it down to nerves, meeting an idol and a theatre filled with hundreds of other devotees, but somewhere between her brain and the microphone that stood in full view of all in attendance, there was a mischievous alter ego ready to make sure she’d never dare speak in public again. Kathy Lette’s first book, Puberty Blues, is full of molls and Chiko Rolls, so it could have been passed off as clever satire. Credit: Don Arnold/WireImage This unfortunate faux pas occurred at a book launch for Lette’s most recent novel, The Revenge Club , and the fact that Lette had just been talking about her first book, Puberty Blues , which is full of molls and Chiko Rolls, meant it could have been passed off as clever satire.
Except it wasn’t. The woman’s eyes widened as she swiftly self-corrected: “Kathy, you’ve been a role model for women..
.” This literary fan had suffered an unfortunate affliction known as a spoonerism, where the beginnings of two words are transposed. I’m sure she was grateful Lette’s new novel isn’t about pheasant pluckers or we’d all have been hocked and shorrified! My giggling at this comical moment was mainly of the nervous variety, as I’d only recently cast dispersions, instead of aspersions, in a radio interview where thousands got to hear my spectacular blunder.
If only it had been a gardening segment where I could have cast nastur.
