"Angel-maker"
Joel S. Berson
Berson at ATT.NET
Sat Jun 10 13:43:56 UTC 2006
"Angel-maker" is not in OED2. (However, it appears s.v. "patrist" in
the title of a book by G. R. Taylor. I have heard/read it in English
somewhere/sometime.
Joel
From another list:
>Axel Munthe, in THE STORY OF SAN MICHELE, tells of his experiences
>as a doctor in Paris in the late 19th story. One is of a beautiful
>well-off woman who leaves her little newborn boy (the product of an
>affair?) with him to place with a couple in the country. He makes it
>clear that when he visits the child, he has been mistreated. On his
>next visit, the child has died. To no one's surprise, apparently.
>
>The whole sequence is understated, and horrifying.
>
>
>Axel Munthe, being Swedish, reminds me that in C19th Sweden there
>was a phrase specifically describing the couple (or woman) who
>performed this kind of service. They were known as "angel-makers".
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list