Pages

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Downton Abbey floozies

An interesting article about linguistic anachronisms in Downton Abbey. Click here.

2 comments:

  1. Ha! I wondered about some of those ('get in touch', especially).

    Another this article didn't mention: Carson called Lavinia "that blonde piece" which struck me as rather Dashiel Hammett-esque.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, here's the amazing thing, Stephanie. According to the OED, "piece" has been used of women since... 1400! Originally quite positive in connotation but already by the 1600s beginning to be derogatory, as in this quotation: 1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy i. ii. iv. i. 191 A waspish cholerick slut, a crased peece. Cool, eh?

      Delete