Much Ado and WWII

In response to my Wellesley review of Much Ado, vvalkyri linked to the Rude Mechanicals' recent Much Ado, also all-female, and also set post-WWII.

Which is a somewhat interesting synchronicity . What is it about World War II that matches with Much Ado? I'm ignoring the coincidence of both being all-female casts, since that's only a choice for the Rude Mechanicals; Wellesley is obviously always single-sex.

For Much Ado to work, you have to have returning soldiers. And you have to have soldiers returning from a heroic, popular, and obviously just war. In American culture, we've really only had one of those in living memory. There have been times since then where our troops have been used in necessary and just causes, but none of them were both large-scale and popular. We haven't had ticker-tape parades for returning troops since the Forties.

Virginia Tech shooting

When I first saw this, it said, "21 dead." I went to find the link to post it, and the link text was "25 dead." The headline now says "29 dead."

God grant that the number is no higher when you read the article.

It is the deadliest school shooting in United States history.

A question for the Brits on my list:

So, what the hell does "chuffed" mean, anyway? I've heard it several times, and I've got it narrowed down to two possible meanings: happy/pleased/proud, and annoyed/worried/upset.

While it's possible that it means both of these, I kind of doubt it.

So -- is "being chuffed" a good thing or a bad thing?

Because pedantry is one of my ways of dealing with tragedy

People are calling the Virginia Tech massacre the deadliest school massacre in American history. It's actually "only" the deadliest school shooting. In 1927, in Bath Township, Michigan, school board member Andrew Kehoe dynamited the local school while class was in session, and then, after rescuers had gathered, drove up in his car, and detonated THAT in one of the first suicide car bombings. Forty-five dead, and still the deadliest school attack. I pray that that "record" still stands tomorrow, and that the death toll today doesn't surpass that.