What about the whole "impoverished gentry" dealy-o? Or couldn't he have an older half brother who got the goods and he was left with nothing? (Hey, I've seen Sense & Sensibility).

Hobbits live in NZ, don't forget that.

William had never been shown to have a profession, so there must have been some money somewhere. Not enough for him to have proper clothes for a party, but what can you do?

The fact that, at his age, he didn't work, could mean moderately impoverished gentry, or could mean jumped up middle class with doting mother.

I'd forgotten the hobbits. Sorry.

William had never been shown to have a profession, so there must have been some money somewhere.

Doesn't mean he didn't work. My personal William was a clerk or a school teacher when the family needed a little extra money. In fact, it's entirely possible that my William is Nicholas Nickleby.

Or William Williamson? (I don't know if William has a canonical last name.)

Angus..... Dan's gone!!! I wish all three of them could have won, I think they're all so lovely.

Emlah, I'm just this minute writing an overexcited blog post on the topic! I loved all the final three, but I'm thrilled that a girl's going to win this one.

In fact, it's entirely possible that my William is Nicholas Nickleby.

Am-Chau is me. I forget the episode where he says something like, "Listen, children and learn," but that sealed it for me.

Or William Williamson? (I don't know if William has a canonical last name.)

I'm pretty sure he does, but that we didn't get told it until Season 7.

For my part I found the William flashback sequence in FFL just cringe-inducing. I mean, I found Marsters' portrayal very disarming, with the floppy hair and the glasses and I was fond enough of the whole idea of him being a romantic poet and general buttmonkey. It was a nice twist on Spike, and I think it was a good call. But the execution made me cringe. "William the Bloody" on the basis of his "Bloody Awful Poetry"????

• There is absolutely no way on earth that the word 'Bloody' would have been employed in that context. Any more than the word 'Fucking' would have been employed in that context. No. Way. At. All.

• Even if it were employed (which, I cannot emphasize enough, it would not have been), the word 'Bloody' in the phrase 'Bloody Awful Poet' means 'Really'. Or 'Very'. Or 'Thoroughly'. That kind of thing. So it would be like calling him "William the Very".

• I did mention about the not using the word 'bloody' in that context, yes?

Also:

• Cecily behaved in a manner highly inappropriate to her station.

• William's clothes. (Although there are pieces of fic which retcon this nicely.)

Ahem. Sorry 'bout that - where was I?

Thanks for that link, PMM. I was going to say `thankyou ma'am' but then realised I didn't know whether you were one and didn't want to put my foot in it.

She most definitely isn't a bloke. She can drag up surprisingly well, but Plei is most emphatically not a bloke. For which we may all thank our lucky stars - the girl is foamy.

It's interesting coming into this board only very recently that some of you seem to know each other really well. Being new, you pick up little clues about others....but sometimes it's hard to remember them, and if the name doesn't obviously say male or female, even that can be a mystery.

It's a bugger, isn't it? And there's so damned many names to remember, I know. It helps that there have been various Face to Face meetup type things, and so even if one couldn't attend, one could see the pics (oh, I remember the pics from last year's F2F vividly. There were many corsets, and pink bunny ears, and leather pants. It was very bunkworthy). Plus there's the fact that before we moved to the Phoenix we were at World Crossing, where your posts are accompanied by wee pictures. So that was helpful. Hie thee to the Buffista gallery, though, for a glimpse of Buffista folk incarnate.

Unclear Canon: If that's just to another magic user or if she tastes like strawberries in general.

I suppose she could just have stolen Scully's shampoo...

(Sorry. Carry on.)