pearl-clutching

[Ben Zimmer]

More on the history of pearl-clutching:

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/01/pearl_clutching_how_the_phrase_became_a_feminist_blog_clich_.html


On Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 1:15 PM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
>
> >
> > On Aug 13, 2011, at 7:13 AM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> >>
> >> "clutch the pearls" is in a few dictionaries of gay slang (in one,
> >> glossed as 'gasp'), but of course without citations or datings; these
> >> things are just lists of words and phrases.
> >>
> >> E. Patrick Johnson has a chapter on gay black discourse in Leap & Boellstorff (ed.),
> >> Speaking in Queer Tongues (2004), with several mentions of "clutch the pearls" (and
> >> the accompanying gesture) in this community.
> >>
> >> it also seems to have a history in the British gay cant Polari.
>
> Following the lead for "In Living Color" here is a citation in 1990
> from NewsBank Access World News:
>
> WHO'S THE JOKE ON, ANYWAY? DEBATING `IN LIVING COLOR'
> The Record (New Jersey) - Sunday, May 13, 1990
> Author: By Virginia Mann, Record Television Critic: The Record
>
> Antoine, played by David Alan Grier, says he has just three words to
> describe actor Ralph Macchio: fab-u-lous. And Blaine, one of the many
> creations of gifted comic Damon Wayans, thinks Glenn Close is a man.
> Otherwise informed, he squeals, "Well, clutch the pearls. What a
> sneaky thing to do."

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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