[Ads-l] Looks like a little bridegroom on a wedding cake

[Pete Morris]

Here's a quote from 1904. I don't  think  it's about a politician, 
though.
And it is probably about the bride.  Does that matter?
Hard to be sure from a brief Google snippet.

<< Like a little sugar figure on a wedding cake , looking sweet , and 
smiling pleasant ! " " thought Walden , humorously recalling his 
gardener's description ; " Scarcely that ! She has a will of her own , 
and possibly - a temper. >>


https://tinyurl.com/2ej9tzpy




------ Original Message ------
From: "ADSGarson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
To: ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu
Sent: 18/08/2021 06:25:18
Subject: Re: Looks like a little bridegroom on a wedding cake

>Laurence Horn wrote:
>>  Nice.  This descriptor brings to mind an analogous one,
>>  when George H. W. Bush (and perhaps also Al Gore)
>>  was regularly described as “every woman’s first husband”.
>
>During the 1984 election Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro
>challenged Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. A debate occurred
>between the candidates for Vice President: Ferraro and Bush. An
>article in "The Wall Street Journal" by Barbara Ehrenreich and Jane
>O'Reilly discussed the debate. Bush was labelled "every woman's first
>husband". This citation was the first match I found during a quick
>search.
>
>Date: 1984 November 8
>Newspaper: Wall Street Journal
>Newspaper Location: New York
>Article: They Didn't Really Intend Gerry to Have a Chance
>Author: Barbara Ehrenreich and Jane O'Reilly
>Quote Page 30, Column 6
>Database: ProQuest
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>We didn’t need a real campaign to prove that a woman can run for vice
>president, or better. While we held our breath and watched, she
>debated the man who resembled every woman’s first husband and she
>managed to do so without being too strident, too feminine, too
>unfeminine, or apparently without even perspiring.
>[End excerpt]
>
>The remark continued to circulate in 1988.
>
>Date: July 10, 1988
>Newspaper: The Washington Post
>Newspaper Location: Washington D.C.
>Article: Sorry, George, But the Image Needs Work
>Author: Curt Suplee
>Quote Page 37, Column 1
>Database: ProQuest
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>WIMP. WASP. WEENIE. Every woman’s first husband. Bland conformist.
>These now shop-worn pejoratives are the essence of George Bush’s
>"image problem" ...
>[End excerpt]
>
>The resonance of the expression is related to the number of divorces
>in a society. The percentage of marriages ending in divorce has been
>trending downward. The percentage of people who marry has also been
>tending downward.
>
>Website: Time magazine
>Article: The Divorce Rate Is Dropping. That May Not Actually Be Good News
>Author:  Belinda Luscombe
>Time-stamp:  November 26, 2018 11:44 AM EST
>
>https://time.com/5434949/divorce-rate-children-marriage-benefits/
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>Have you heard that statistic that half of all marriages will end in
>divorce? It’s wrong. Even if that many marriages ever did disintegrate
>at one point, they don’t now. Divorce is on the decline and has been
>since the 1980s in America (when that 50% divorce statistic took
>hold). Experts now put your chances of uncoupling at about 39% in the
>U.S.
>[End excerpt]
>
>Garson
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


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