In Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, the starving boys of the workhouse draw lots to decide who will ask for more food after supper. The lot falls to Oliver. He goes up to the master and says: “Please, sir, I want some more.”
The master turns very pale and aims a blow at Oliver’s head with the ladle. The board is horrified. A gentleman in a white waistcoat declares: “That boy will be hung.”