Brenda
bk...@aol.com
What is the origin of the name "Brenda" as used in
referring to Queen Elizabeth?
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Gregory Monsoux
Pierre Jelenc
<bk...@aol.com> writes:
> What is the origin of the name "Brenda" as used in
> referring to Queen Elizabeth?
It means "queen"; of Celtic origin. Cf. Welsh "brenin", "brenhines"
("king", "queen").
Note that there is another "Brenda", of Germanic origin, meaning "sword".
I don't know whether the "Brenda, ER" is actually a bona-fide name of
Celtic descent or a modern Welsh pun on the pre-existing Germanic name.
One would have to ask a member of the Cabinet or the Privy Council...
The stuff one remembers from a hazy past!
Pierre
--
Pierre Jelenc
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Gwen Lenker
Gregory Monsoux <gry...@globalnet.co.uk> wrote in article
<61oaif$p...@kew.globalnet.co.uk>...
> >referring to Queen Elizabeth?
Brenda...Regina...
Whatever.
John Nurick
On Fri, 10 Oct 1997 16:37:05 -0600, bk...@aol.com wrote:
>What is the origin of the name "Brenda" as used in
>referring to Queen Elizabeth?
_Private Eye_, I believe, in the days when it wasn't done to write
disrespectfully about the Royal Family.
John
I dislocated my e-mail address, and the doctor says it will be
six months before I can see a specialist.
Brian J Goggin
On Sun, 12 Oct 1997 06:43:18 GMT, j.nu...@ialday.ipexpay.omcay (John
Nurick) wrote:
>On Fri, 10 Oct 1997 16:37:05 -0600, bk...@aol.com wrote:
>
>>What is the origin of the name "Brenda" as used in
>>referring to Queen Elizabeth?
>
>_Private Eye_, I believe, in the days when it wasn't done to write
>disrespectfully about the Royal Family.
Prince Charles was Brian. Any others?
bjg
John Davies
In article <8765180...@dejanews.com>, bk...@aol.com writes
>What is the origin of the name "Brenda" as used in
>referring to Queen Elizabeth?
magazine. It has no particular significance, other than being the kind
of boring, lower-middle-class name that seemed to fit Her Majesty's
personality. There were other names attributed to other members of the
House of Windsor, but I've forgotten what they were.
"Private Eye" itself became rather boring and predictable as its first
editor entered middle age, and personally I no longer read it, so I
don't know if they still indulge in this little joke. Last time I
looked, they were still re-cycling a lot of once-funny witticisms.
--
John Davies (jo...@redwoods.demon.co.uk)
Postings guaranteed free from yptographical errors
Brian J Goggin
On Sun, 12 Oct 1997 22:46:35 +0100, John Davies
<jo...@redwoods.demon.co.uk> wrote:
[...]
>"Private Eye" itself became rather boring and predictable as its first
>editor entered middle age, and personally I no longer read it, so I
>don't know if they still indulge in this little joke. Last time I
>looked, they were still re-cycling a lot of once-funny witticisms.
No, there has been little use of "Brenda" in recent times; even Silvie
Krin writes no more, while the "Dear Bill" letters are a thing of the
past. Much of *Private Eye* is, as always, a collection of items of
gossip spread by journalists (often about one another).
On the credit side, Paul Foot is back; Slicker is as thorough as ever;
the books and TV pages are good ... and there's always (well, usually)
the Andrew Neil photo.
bjg
Ross Howard
Mike Page <pa...@pbs.frog.port.ac.uk> wrote:
>Brian J Goggin wrote:
>>
>> On Sun, 12 Oct 1997 06:43:18 GMT, j.nu...@ialday.ipexpay.omcay (John
>> Nurick) wrote:
>>
>> >On Fri, 10 Oct 1997 16:37:05 -0600, bk...@aol.com wrote:
>> >
>> >>What is the origin of the name "Brenda" as used in
>> >>referring to Queen Elizabeth?
>> >
>> >_Private Eye_, I believe, in the days when it wasn't done to write
>> >disrespectfully about the Royal Family.
>>
>> Prince Charles was Brian. Any others?
>Princess Margaret was Yvonne.
Does anyone know the origin of the other type of libel-proof
Eyephemisms: the ones used not for people but for the activities they
allegedly indulged in? The only one I'm fairly sure of is that the
original "tired and emotional" politician was George Brown. Who, for
example, was the first to "discuss Ugandan relations?"
Ross Howard
[My e-mail address is spam-free]
Mike Page
Brian J Goggin wrote:
>
> On Sun, 12 Oct 1997 06:43:18 GMT, j.nu...@ialday.ipexpay.omcay (John
> Nurick) wrote:
>
> >On Fri, 10 Oct 1997 16:37:05 -0600, bk...@aol.com wrote:
> >
> >>What is the origin of the name "Brenda" as used in
> >>referring to Queen Elizabeth?
> >
> >_Private Eye_, I believe, in the days when it wasn't done to write
> >disrespectfully about the Royal Family.
>
> Prince Charles was Brian. Any others?
Princess Margaret was Yvonne.
--
Mike Page
Remove the amphibian from my return address for e-mail.
Brian J Goggin
On Mon, 13 Oct 1997 12:50:24 GMT, rhowa...@mx3.redestb.es (Ross
Howard) wrote:
[...]
>Does anyone know the origin of the other type of libel-proof
>Eyephemisms: the ones used not for people but for the activities they
>allegedly indulged in? The only one I'm fairly sure of is that the
>original "tired and emotional" politician was George Brown. Who, for
>example, was the first to "discuss Ugandan relations?"
There's over a column on this in Nigel Rees's *Phrases & Sayings*, so
I can give neither the full story nor all the caveats. The main points
are:
- venue: a party given by Neil and Corinna Ascherson
- coiner: James Fenton
- Ugandan: name not given, but described as "a former cabinet
colleague of President Obote", "a one-legged former Minister in
President Obote's Government", "the much-loved chairman of the Uganda
Electricity Board, also of the Uganda Red Cross, and an exile for
seven years from the tyranny of Idi Amin."
- party of the, er, second part: leading Irish moralist Mary Kenny
- date: March 1973 or slightly earlier.
It seems that some of the other guests went to watch.
*Brewer's Twentieth-Century Phrase & Fable* gives the same story with
fewer details.
I have a faint memory that Idi Amin later accused one of his
ambassadors, a Ugandan princess, of, er, discussing Uganda in the, er,
powder room at an airport; this as a prelude to sacking her. However,
there is no mention of this in the Rees book.
bjg
John Ritson
In article <01bcd6a1$b8e18f40$074195c1@default>, John Dean <john-
de...@msn.com> writes
>I've always believed it as originated by the satirical magazine 'Private
>Eye'. Certainly they are the only ones to use it regularly. Not sure how it
>started - think it was because H.M. looks so ordinary in a headscarf when
>she's playing with her horses.
A television comedian (Stanley Baxter?) had a regular routine introduced
as "The Duchess of Brendagh speaks to the nation" in which he parodied
the typical broadcast by HM.
>
>>
>> bk...@aol.com wrote in message <8765180...@dejanews.com>...
>> >What is the origin of the name "Brenda" as used in
>> >referring to Queen Elizabeth?
>> >
>
John
Padraig Breathnach
Brian J Goggin wrote:
> Albert Marshall wrote:
>
> >Which Queen Elizabeth? I don't recollect ever hearing our present
> >sovereign lady called Brenda.
>
> You don't read *Private Eye*, then?
>
Be fair, Brian! All that you can reasonably infer is that Albert does not
have "Private Eye" read to him.
PB
Albert Marshall
Padraig Breathnach <padr...@iol.ie> wrote
--
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