I heard a couple of things listening to Hinge and Brackett that I hope you can help me understand.
1)
Dame Hilda is speaking to her friend Peggy on the phone. Peggy has been in hospital, but has returned home. I think the ailment was of perhaps some private nature.
"Congratulations on a speedy recovery, dear. Yes. And you've put the red devils behind you now, have you?"
2) Dame Hilda and Dr. Hinge are discussing an acquaintance.
Dame: "She pushed past me in the butcher's. I was just going into Tolman's. And she ran ahead of me and she said 'I want a nice piece of rump. Would you cut it up small? Because he's in by six.'"
[Big laugh from audience.]
Doctor: The butcher?
Dame: Her husband!
[laughter from audience]
I understand the second laugh, but it's kind-of dependent on the first laugh, which I don't understand.
Is she saying cut it up small so it cooks quicker? Eg ready when husband comes in? I dunno. Maybe there is a double entendres there im missing. Maybe it just sounds funny.
2) Dame Hilda and Dr. Hinge are discussing an acquaintance.
Dame: "She pushed past me in the butcher's. I was just going into Tolman's. And she ran ahead of me and she said 'I want a nice piece of rump. Would you cut it up small? Because he's in by six.'"
[Big laugh from audience.]
Doctor: The butcher?
Dame: Her husband!
[laughter from audience]
I understand the second laugh, but it's kind-of dependent on the first laugh, which I don't understand.
"Rump" is kind-of Brit-slang for a person's arse...
I met the guys behind Hinge and Brackett when I worked backstage for a show they did in Gloucester....brilliant show....of course the guys didn't get on with each other at all when they werre away from the stage but you could never tell....
I dont think it means naked, i suspect it means tablecloth dib. Tableclothes were posh. Not everyone could afford one. It was bad manners to set a table without one eg plates on a wooden table. Maybe also tableclothes hid what quality of table you had. I dunno, im making this up as i go along.
I dont think it means naked, i suspect it means tablecloth dib. Tableclothes were posh. Not everyone could afford one. It was bad manners to set a table without one eg plates on a wooden table. Maybe also tableclothes hid what quality of table you had. I dunno, im making this up as i go along.
A kitchen maid discussing the elderly master and mistress of the house:
"It's my confident opinion that the old dear could never have indulged [in s-e-x]; she hadn't any children and a look at her husband would have confirmed my view. He was a trophy, if the truth was known, and he might just as well have hung on the wall with the other antlers for all the use he could have been."
A trophy? Here in the United of States, a man who was a trophy would be a prize, something valuable. Is it the opposite over there on The Sceptered Isle?
A kitchen maid discussing the elderly master and mistress of the house:
"It's my confident opinion that the old dear could never have indulged [in s-e-x]; she hadn't any children and a look at her husband would have confirmed my view. He was a trophy, if the truth was known, and he might just as well have hung on the wall with the other antlers for all the use he could have been."
A trophy? Here in the United of States, a man who was a trophy would be a prize, something valuable. Is it the opposite over there on The Sceptered Isle?
Could still apply. A trophy as in a "status symbol" but not terribly usefully in a practical sense.
A trophy spouse has negative connotations. For examples, you need to no further than English footballers, some of whose WAGs (wives and girlfriends) may look stunning, but have no other qualities to commend them. Similarly, a toy boy kept by a successful business woman with good looks and no brains would be a trophy.
A prize, on the other hand, is a good thing - an enviable spouse who brings something more than looks to a relationship.
I’d say that’s a fair summing up.
For tomorrow’s lesson, I want you to look up why “enormity” has nothing to do with physical size.
Yeah, a trophy spouse: something to show off. It's usually a trophy wife of a rich much older man, he can show her off when they go out (all blinged up), even though things could be very unhappy at home. It's all about wanting strangers to be envious of you.
I carry a photo of a trophy spouse, For emergencies and special occasions. So far, no one has realised it has been cut down to size, from out of a catalogue.
A kitchen maid discussing the elderly master and mistress of the house:
"It's my confident opinion that the old dear could never have indulged [in s-e-x]; she hadn't any children and a look at her husband would have confirmed my view. He was a trophy, if the truth was known, and he might just as well have hung on the wall with the other antlers for all the use he could have been."
A trophy? Here in the United of States, a man who was a trophy would be a prize, something valuable. Is it the opposite over there on The Sceptered Isle?
The woman saying this lived about 1903 to late 70's-ish, which I think excludes her from the generation that used the phrase "trophy" spouse.
