Movie anachronisms: gold-digger [Was: WYSIWYG]

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Sun Jul 29 15:34:38 UTC 2007


The time one can waste!  A 2000 TV dramatization of "Lady Audley's
Secret" (? 1862, but there seem to be plays based on it as early as
1850) had one character refer to her as a "gold
digger"  (OED2:  1920).  I actually bought and tried to read the book.

Now that I have been educated, I consult Gutenberg.  Gold (from
Australia) is an element of the plot, and the material and color are
recurrent images and metaphors, particularly for Lady Audley with her
"golden" hair and alleged marriage for money.  But I do not find
"gold-digger" -- only "gold-diggings"  (OED2:  1852, 1869).  I can
imagine the TV script writer extending the theme to "gold-digger".

Joel

At 7/29/2007 03:05 AM, Bapopik wrote:
>RESCUE DAWN is a movie about Dieter Dengler, a fighter pilot who was shot
>down in Laos in 1965. It's very realistic, but...
>...
>"What you see is what you get!" says one of the characters in the movie.
>It's an anachronism.
>...
>...
>...
>(GOOGLE NEWS ARCHIVES)
>
>_Argus, The (Newspaper) - May 7, 1966, Fremont,  California_
>(http://www.newspaperarchive.com/newspapers1/na0022/6794035/51066932.html)
>Subscription  - Argus, The - NewspaperArchive - May 7,  1966     SO With The
>exception of landscaping and  decorator furnishings, what you SEE is what you
>get. all  fireplaces (as Many as three in ONE panelings, ...
>...
>...
>(GOOGLE NEWS ARCHIVES)
>_Reviews, Previews_
>(http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/145332062.html?dids=145332062:145332062&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=SEP+18,+1
>970&author=By+Lawrence+Laurent&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Reviews,+Previews&
>pqatl=google)
>Pay-Per-View - Washington Post - ProQuest Archiver - Sep 18, 1970     "What
>you see is What you get." This is  one of the punch lines used by
>comedian Flip
>Wilson, appearing as  "Geraldine Jones," in last night's premiere of ...
>
>
>
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