|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 197
member
|
member
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 197 |
>>>how about SWMBF (she who must be followed).<<< It's a good thing you included an explanation with this teD. When I first saw it my interpretation was Single White Male, Black Female. (swf, swm, etc being common abbreviations in personal adds in the newspaper.)
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
old hand
|
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004 |
swf, swm, etc being common abbreviations in personal adds in the newspaper.And here I thought you were happily married. Does Mr Xara know?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 197
member
|
member
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 197 |
>>>And here I thought you were happily married. Does Mr Xara know? <<< quite happily married, thank you. i used to read them occasionally just for the humour of it. people say some funny things in the personals. colour me clueless, but i still haven't figured out what SWMBO means.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
SWMBO ...and as a fully-paid up member of this three ring circus you think the personals have some oddities, xara?!! I think the phrase "She Who Must Be Obeyed" is an Arthur Daly-ism, from a popular 1970s(?) Brit TV show called Minder where Arthur is a 'dodgy geezer' who wheels and deals on the fringes of complete criminality but kow-tows to this wonderful unseen Mama Ex Machina. http://www.tales.ndirect.co.uk/COLE.HTML
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 197
member
|
member
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 197 |
>>>...and as a fully-paid up member of this three ring circus you think the personals have some oddities, xara?!!<<< that's why i said i used to read them. i've moved on to better things! >>>Mama Ex Machina.<<< seems as though i miss quite a bit not watching brit tv. i'd have to watch more old brit sitcoms that anything else to catch all the subtle humour that flies around this place. aah well...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
Maverick thought: I think the phrase "She Who Must Be Obeyed" is an Arthur Daly-ism, from a popular 1970s(?) Brit TV show called Minder where Arthur is a 'dodgy geezer' who wheels and deals on the fringes of complete criminality but kow-tows to this wonderful unseen Mama Ex Machina.
No, Arfur Daley used to refer to "'er indoors". SWMBO came from Rumpole of the Bailey a legal sitcom of the same period. Rumpole either referred to his wife as Mrs Rumpole, or "she who must be obeyed".
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
old hand
|
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004 |
Hmmm...
CK says: SWMBO came from Rumpole of the Bailey a legal sitcom of the same period. Rumpole either referred to his wife as Mrs Rumpole, or "she who must be obeyed".
We've had this somewhere else, of course, if only I could find the reference, and as I noted, dear ol Lumpore (as the author John Mortimer is sometimes referred to in parts of South East Asia), got the reference himself from H Rider Haggard's classic late 19th century novel She, in which the 'she' in the title was short for She-who-must-be-obeyed, which is what her subjects called her.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
shanks suggests: dear ol Lumpore ... got the reference himself from H Rider Haggard's classic late 19th century novel She, in which the 'she' in the title was short for She-who-must-be-obeyed, which is what her subjects called her.And he may well have gotten it from the same source as Professor Gay Robins ( http://www2.cc.emory.edu/HART/directory.htm#robins) who claims that it was a title of The Women of the Palace, i.e., the Pharaoh's Mother and his Principal Wife ( http://www.per-sekhmet.org/perankh/royal_wmn.html).
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
old hand
|
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004 |
And he may well have gotten it from the same source as Professor Gay Robins who claims that it was a title of The Women of the Palace, i.e., the Pharaoh's Mother and his Principal Wife.Excellent! Thanks for that. The story goes back further and further. The Egyptians, of course, being a boot-strapping civilisation, I presume we can expect to find no precedents to their usage?
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,423
Members9,182
|
Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
0 members (),
793
guests, and
3
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|