I heard a sound clip of John Boehner turning the gavel over to Nancy Pelosi yesterday. He referred to her as the "gentle lady." I guess he meant this as equivalent as saying the "gentleman" from across the aisle, but he blew it.
Lady is already equivalent to gentleman: "ladies and gentlemen." Calling her a gentle lady is like calling a guy a gentle gentleman. In other words, it becomes an descriptive adjective instead of a formality.
I don't think Boehner intended to say that Pelosi is gentle. I think it's just a hint at the adjustments that will need to be made to get used to a female speaker of the house.
2 comments:
Actually, Gentlelady is a long used term in the house. See this transcript from CNN in 1998:
"I've listened to part of the debate, and I have to agree with the gentlelady from Colorado"
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/10/08/impeachment.advancer/transcript3.html
I just did a google search for "gentle lady congress", and got 772,000 hits, so I concede your point.
Nevertheless, although it may be fairly common, it's still goofy.
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