Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

It sounds very like a much more polite variation of what I've heard said about a woman who is believed to be cold or aloof.

http://www.bartleby.com/63/62/6162.html shows a usage along these lines.

http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/meanings/81900.html is mildly interesting.

I note the word "prissy" is often used to convey a cute display of dignity in pets, so maybe the actual usage is similar. The phrase sounds ambiguous -perhaps context and tone carry some of the meaning. I'm guessing this could convey an affectionate verbal expression or a cutting barb, depending on circumstance.


k

I'll elaborate on what's already been said.

First of all: Butter will melt in anybody's mouth--eventually. If the person is alive and kickin', butter will melt in anybody's mouth.

But the expression is an exaggeration to make a point. The person in question is so very cold, unsociable, frigid that butter, a very melting substance in warm mouths, won't melt in her mouth (even though we know that since she's alive butter actually would melt).

As a child, the expression confused me. I heard my mom apply it to someone in our neighborhood. I puzzled and puzzled over the expression. I thought to myself, "But butter will melt in her mouth! And yet my mother says it wouldn't melt in her mouth. Why? Why? Why!!! This doesn't make any sense. Why is it that butter won't melt in her mouth? What is it about her mouth that keeps butter from melting? I know my mom wouldn't lie to me. I think my mom is incorrect. Butter MUST melt in her mouth! I need to take a close look at her mouth...." And so on. Eventually the real meaning of the phrase hit me later on in life. Oh, what a sense of relief I felt! I melted!

You're so cool you can lie and get away with it.

wwh,

I don't think the expression has anything to do with lying, does it?

WW

I have heard it used to describe a bare-faced liar with so much gall, he could keep on
telling lies even when challenged. "He's so cool, butter wouldn't melt in his mouth."

From the Internet:
he is very calm and clear, he has an air of innocence, cool, smooth talker

Yes, Bill - I have also heard it used in this fashion. But perhaps more often about someone who dissembles rather than tells direct lies. Someone who has committed acts that are (for want of a better phrase) anti-social, yet tries to pass themself off as being social. Another phrase that springs to mind is, "Too good to be true."

I've usually heard it as someone who appears to be very sweet and innocent, but is in fact scheming and plotting behind everyone's backs.

Yes, I agree. Often used about children:

"Look at him, sitting there as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, and all the while he was the one that started it".

It indicates an often false "goody - goody" attitude by someone.

I honestly think the phrase really means:

She's cold.

That's the point of the phrase.

I think these other offerings--lying, scheming, all those related (perhaps) actions--are by-products of a cold temperament. But I think the expression means she is cold.

this one was covered by the Word Maven crew at Random House a couple of years ago, and I quote:

Books on proverbs and sayings all agree that Butter wouldn't melt in her (or his) mouth is not used to describe nice people. So residents of Seattle ought to be annoyed that it was used in an essay about them. The phrase is first recorded in 1530 in John Palsgrave's Lesclarcissement, one of the earliest French grammars written for English speakers, and therefore a good record of the English and French language of that period: "He maketh as thoughe butter wolde nat melte in his mouthe." By 1546 the saying was common enough to be recorded in John Heywood's book of proverbs: "She looketh as butter wouldn't melt in her mouth."

The saying refers to someone who is demure and proper, and therefore "cold" enough to keep butter from melting. But it's used in a contemptuous way to imply that the person is overly demure and proper, and has an insincere desire to please. So the sense nearest the mark is '(one who is) superficially nice but is treacherous deep down'. [EA] The underlying insincerity is shown in this excerpt from Jonathan Swift's Polite Conversation (1738): "She looks as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth but I warrant, cheese won't choak her." The derogatory connotation is also evident in this excerpt from William Makepeace Thackeray's Pendennis (1850): "She smiles and languishes, you'd think that butter would not melt in her mouth."

And this quote from Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind should finally settle the matter among your friends: "'I said some terrible things to him that night when he deserted us on the road, but I can make him forget them', she thought contemptuously, still sure of her power to charm. 'Butter won't melt in my mouth when I'm around him. I'll make him think I always loved him and was just upset and frightened that night'".


so while it may have started out as simply meaning 'cold', it has shifted in meaning somewhat.

Re: Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

i have only heard (and used it) to mean someone is very cold. but i can see how it could be used to define a bald faced liar..

another one we used at home was 'drinking vinegar' as in have you been drinking vinegar?-- and it was used when some one made a very cutting or nasty remark about something.

it was not interchangable with being a sour puss, but was specifically used for the idea of sharp, cutting remarks.

Thanks, tsuwm, for your pasted post. That helped.

By coincidence, the StriveTo vocabulary word of the day is marmoreal, which is related:

"The Word of the Day for December 10 is:

marmoreal • \mahr-MOR-ee-ul\ • (adjective)
: of, relating to, or suggestive of marble or a marble statue especially in
coldness or aloofness"