pearl-clutching

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Aug 13, 2011, at 7:13 AM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      Fwd: pearl-clutching
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>
> from a friend who uses various versions of the expression and has for years:...

to go along with the American black gay usage, here's a British example:

oh glorious rapture, vertu has launched. (flash) the phones (called "instruments" in vertu-speak) are okay, but the real meat seems to be the one-touch vertu concierge: allows one to find theatre tickets, make reservations, or (assumably) order KFC. and, as promised, they are indeed clutch-the-pearls expensive: €6000 to €24000. golly.
posted by patricking on Mar 27, 2002
  http://www.metafilter.com/tags/british?page=3

this is about the (British-based) Vertu luxury mobile phones

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