Victorian Slang Pertaining to Cohabitation (and it’s consequences)

1811 Slang Pertaining to Cohabitation

• Heavy baggage ~ Women and children.
• She wears the breeches ~ The wife governs her husband.
• Butcher’s dog. i.e. lie by the beef without touching it ~ A simile often applicable to married men.
• To join giblets ~ Said of a man and woman who cohabit as husband and wife, without being married.
• He has tied a knot with his tongue, that he cannot untie with his teeth ~ He is married.
• Noozed ~ Married, hanged.

~ 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue 
 
“He always was a small man. Made smaller by his wife.”
~ Emma (2009 movie)

“If you cannot get the right kind of business partner, marry a good honest wife.”
~ Around the Tea Table by T. De Witt Talmage (1875)

“Why should she be rewarded for gratifying her own inclination in marrying the man of her choice? We repeat, that we cannot exactly perceive why, when the union of a couple of lovers, in many cases, adds to the happiness, honour, and glory of the married pair alone, their friends should think it a duty to levy on themselves these contributions; so often inconvenient to the givers, and not much cared for by the receivers.”
~ The Ladies’ Guide to True Politeness and Perfect Manners or, Miss Leslie’s Behaviour Book
by Eliza Leslie (American 1864)

{Gail’s monthly read along for July is: Passion Blue by Victoria Strauss}

GAIL’S DAILY DOSE

Your Infusion of Cute . . .

Pixar’s walking teapot.

Your Tisane of Smart . . .
The Widow & the Law: A Brief History of Widows’ Pensions in Britain

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Quote of the Day:
“Marriage is for noblewomen with nothing else to do.”
~ Tamora Pierce, Trickster’s Choice

Tags: CHANGELESS, IMPRUDENCE, Victorian Culture, WAISTCOATS & WEAPONRY