beautiful pair of brown eyes - a. 'A fine pair of breasts. Sometimes with a slight pause between the br.- and the -own of brown, i.e. a mock-recovery from a slip of the tongue. It could refer to nipples, I suppose, but I have also heard blue eyes; neither expression was very common: 1950s' (P.B., 1976--who adds, six years later: a spot of what we have now learnt to call male chauvinist piggery), Occ., more weakly, a nice pair . . . ---Hmm, "brown eye" mean something COMPLETELY different now.
all tits and teeth. (Of a woman) having protrusive breasts and large teeth: a low c.p. of C20. Hence, a still low but predominantly Cockney c.p., dating from c. 1910 and applied to a woman wearing an insincere smile and exhibiting a notable skill in displaying the amplitude of her bosom (il y a du monde au balcon). An alert and erudite friend, writing to me in 1967, recalled that he had sometimes heard this phrase elab. to '" . . . like a third-row chorus girl", i.e. one who can neither sing nor dance, and depends upon the display of her exceptional physique to keep her on the stage'. P.B.: cf. all bum and bustle, which epitomises equally well another type of woman: the middle-aged or elderly bustling and bossy sort. ---Not to be a hater, but this one makes me think of Jessica Simpson.
carrying all before her is a raffishly joc. or facetious c.p., dating from c. 1920 and indicating that the woman or girl to whom it is applied either has a liberally developed bust or is rather prominently pregnant.
Ancient example of this condition:
The Venus of WillendorfModern example:
Selma Blair in A Dirty Shameyou have grown a big girl since last Christmas! is a C20 c.p., hardly a cultured address to a girl or even a woman, the ref. being to somewhat noticeably large breasts. (Occurs in, e.g., R. Blaker, Night-Shift, 1934.) Cf you don't get many . . ., and you're a big girl now. ---Favorite catch phrase of creepy uncles everywhere!
I imagine the author of this to book to be akin to Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, except instead of being able ascertain where you're from (and where you've ever lived) just by listening to you talk, this guy can give you a detailed history of every bawdy joke you tell. If anything, it's a pretty good party trick.
I imagine the author of this to book to be akin to Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, except instead of being able ascertain where you're from (and where you've ever lived) just by listening to you talk, this guy can give you a detailed history of every bawdy joke you tell. If anything, it's a pretty good party trick.
No comments:
Post a Comment