The predominant order around this area is, ‘a gentleman and a scholar’.
Perhaps it is only my perception, but every time I’ve heard the phrase used, it was always as flattery: not really sincere, but not mocking, either. The act that prompted the use of the phrase never seemed to match, or call for, such a descriptive or labeling response either. For example: “Mary asked me to give this box to you.” To which one replies, “Thank you. You’re a gentleman and a scholar.”
Huh? How does delivering a box make one either a gentleman or a scholar?
If the phrase is truly used to describe a person, and not merely the half-hearted, flattering act of one parroting a handy phrase that’s similar to something written by a well-known author, why hasn’t the phrase, ‘a lady and a scholar’, or ‘a scholar and a lady’ become as equally popular? Are female scholars not every bit as scholarly as male scholars?
Whom would you nominate - in the present public arena - as a Scholar and Gentleman?
Hmmm. That’s a tough one, wow. I’m not sure any of us knows anyone in the public arena well enough to make a valid assessment. Judging only by what I’ve seen on TV etc., of various people, the only name I can come up with as being a scholar and a gentleman is Bill Moyers. He seems to be fairly scholarly, and has always appeared to me to behave in a gentlemanly manner. The only person springing immediately to mind as a lady and a scholar is Dr. Mae Jemison.
