What the Heck's a "Grass Widow"?
Rob Farr & Kathy Lipp-Farr
Harry Langdon's "Saturday Afternoon" and in the title of Max Linder's
short "Adventures of A Grass Widower" (though I'm sure this is an
English translation of another French title). I give up! What the heck
does it mean and where does it come from???
Rob Farr
Bruce Calvert
leaves him and goes back to her mother.
It may be a term for being divorced. Here is the Roget's Thesaurus entry...
http://www.daimi.aau.dk/~lynbech/roget/entries/905.html
Rob Farr & Kathy Lipp-Farr wrote in message <35CDED...@ix.netcom.com>...
DShepFilm
Harry Langdon's "Saturday Afternoon" and in the title of Max Linder's
short "Adventures of A Grass Widower" (though I'm sure this is an
English translation of another French title). I give up! What the heck
does it mean and where does it come from???
>>
I was curious about this and looked it up when I was preparing the Max Linder
film for our series "The Movies Begin" in 1994. A grass widow is a spouse who
is left behind while his/her partner goes on vacation. I don't have my complete
Oxford English Dictionary here in the country but the shorter OED indicates it
to be an English term. (Probably off topic, I believe the vulgar British term
for the, er, public area is "lawn," which might give you some ideas).
The original French title for the Max Linder film which in English is called
"Troubles [not Adventures] of a Grass Widower" is "Max Celibataire," which
needs no translation.
I can't believe I'm posting this!
David Shepard
eric stott
was off for a long period either cutting grass for feed in a distant
pasture, or off grazing cattle. In European countries the summer
pasturelands could be miles away from the farmstead, and those who
worked them stayed away for long periods.
Eric Stott
"She's a Grass Widow Mr Gallagher"
"And I'm a lawnmower Mr Shean"
(from "Positively Mr. Gallagher..."
Fortunato
dshe...@aol.com (DShepFilm) wrote:
> I was curious about this and looked it up when I was preparing the Max Linder
> film for our series "The Movies Begin" in 1994. A grass widow is a spouse who
> is left behind while his/her partner goes on vacation. I don't have my
complete
> Oxford English Dictionary here in the country but the shorter OED indicates it
> to be an English term. (Probably off topic, I believe the vulgar British term
> for the, er, public area is "lawn," which might give you some ideas).
>
Generally, the lawn IS a public area--at least in my neighborhood! I can't
help but think you meant PUBIC.
--
"The Moving Finger writes and Having Writ,
Moves on. Nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel Half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it."
--Omar Khayyam/Edward Fitzgerald
Eric Grayson
>First, dshe...@aol.com (DShepFilm) wrote:
>>> (Probably off topic, I believe the vulgar British term
>>> for the, er, public area is "lawn," which might give you some ideas).
>
>>Generally, the lawn IS a public area--at least in my neighborhood! I
can't
>>help but think you meant PUBIC.
>
>
phrased
>it!)
>
>Either that, or he was quoting a line from one of the "2000 Year Old Man"
>albums.... :>)
>
Doesn't Rhino own the copyright on that? Perhaps David will have to
rephrase that.
Eric
Tim Dunleavy
>> (Probably off topic, I believe the vulgar British term
>> for the, er, public area is "lawn," which might give you some ideas).
then, Fortunato wrote:
>Generally, the lawn IS a public area--at least in my neighborhood! I can't
>help but think you meant PUBIC.
Er, Fortunato.... I think David was making a joke. (Note the way he phrased
it!)
Either that, or he was quoting a line from one of the "2000 Year Old Man"
albums.... :>)
-Tim
DShepFilm
I've always been informed that a Grass Widow was a woman whose husband
was off for a long period either cutting grass for feed in a distant
pasture, or off grazing cattle. In European countries the summer
pasturelands could be miles away from the farmstead, and those who
worked them stayed away for long periods.
Eric Stott
"She's a Grass Widow Mr Gallagher"
"And I'm a lawnmower Mr Shean"
(from "Positively Mr. Gallagher..."
>>That makes sense! I stand informed.
David Shepard
paul johnson
eric stott wrote:
> DShepFilm wrote:
> >
> > <<I've seen the phrase used in two silent movies. Near the beginning of
> > Harry Langdon's "Saturday Afternoon" and in the title of Max Linder's
> > short "Adventures of A Grass Widower" (though I'm sure this is an
> > English translation of another French title). I give up! What the heck
> > does it mean and where does it come from??? (snip)
> Oxford English Dict. says 'a woman who has co-habited with a man and is unmarried
> or a woman who has had an illigitimate child '
James N Beaver
>Harry Langdon's "Saturday Afternoon" and in the title of Max Linder's
>short "Adventures of A Grass Widower" (though I'm sure this is an
>English translation of another French title). I give up! What the heck
>does it mean and where does it come from???
>
John Wayne used the term in TRUE GRIT. From the context there, I always
took it to mean a divorced woman.
Jim Beaver
Rob Farr & Kathy Lipp-Farr
>
> > Oxford English Dict. says 'a woman who has co-habited with a man and is unmarried
> > or a woman who has had an illigitimate child '
I can imagine Max Linder being a grass widower of this sort, but surely
not the sweet little old lady in "Saturday Afternoon"! And if she was,
in 1926 she wouldn't proudly announce it to everyone within earshot.
So on the basis of these learned posts, it would seem that there were
two definitions, one simply meaning a divorcee or a woman seperated from
her husband for long periods of time, and the other being more
salacious.
Rob Farr
Robert Birchard
I think this was the more accepted sense of the term--although the
idea of being temporarily separated (as in husband in the city while
wife is at the shore during the summer) was probably the origin of the
term.
--
Bob Birchard
bbir...@earthlink.net
http://www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/Guest/birchard.htm
Lars Gunnar Lönnberg
while her/his spouse is away visiting mother, friends or something like
that. We have that expression in Swedish too, but I don't know "whence the
expression is derived".
Lars Gunnar
__________
Rob Farr & Kathy Lipp-Farr skrev i meddelandet
Robert Tonsing
side", as opposed to a "dirt widow".
- Robert
Robert Birchard wrote in message <35D595...@earthlink.net>...
>James N Beaver wrote:
>>
>> Rob Farr & Kathy Lipp-Farr wrote in message
<35CDED...@ix.netcom.com>...
>> >I've seen the phrase used in two silent movies. Near the beginning of
>> >Harry Langdon's "Saturday Afternoon" and in the title of Max Linder's
>> >short "Adventures of A Grass Widower" (though I'm sure this is an
>> >English translation of another French title). I give up! What the heck
>> >does it mean and where does it come from???
>> >
>> >Rob Farr
>>
Theodore Goodman
widow is defined as "a woman abandoned by her husband. (See also
_graveyard widow_.) _Jane's husband isn't dead, but she's a widow just
the same -- a grass widow._ _Bill ran off and left Mary a grass widow._
Graveyard widow: a woman whose husband is dead. (See also _grass widow_.)
_Bill died twenty years after he ran out on Mary. So instead of a grass
widow, Mary's a graveyard widow now._ _When my husband disappeared, I was
afraid I was a graveyard widow._
(By the way, the Edward Hamilton mail order book seller currently sells
"Country Jawing" for $7.95 plus shipping. See http://www.hamiltonbook.com )
In article <35CDED...@ix.netcom.com>,
Michael Brunnbauer
>
> It is a divorced woman, as in "the grass is always greener on the other
> side", as opposed to a "dirt widow".
> > I think this was the more accepted sense of the term--although the
> >idea of being temporarily separated (as in husband in the city while
> >wife is at the shore during the summer) was probably the origin of the
> >term.
> >--
> >Bob Birchard
> >bbir...@earthlink.net
> >http://www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/Guest/birchard.htm
we over here in austria have a "straw widow/er", which is the same as what Bob B.
describes and what was obviously the meaning of the Max Linder title.
it means one part of a temporarily separated couple
Criblcobls
>we over here in austria have a "straw widow/er"...<snip>...
>it means one part of a temporarily separated couple
I agree - although the term has been very loosely used to describe many states
of couple disassociation, it was predominently used to indicate one half of a
TEMORARILY separated pair. I was raised in Canada - perhaps the term has been
re-defined in the US...?
With a hearty handclasp,
Otis Criblecoblis
DzubeG
Deborah
Earlyfilm
From: dzu...@aol.com (DzubeG)
Doborah wrote:
>Grass widow - a woman who's husband golfs excessively. :-)
Duh....
"Golf Widows" , caused by Sally Rand, is playing at Cinecon.
Why don’t we all just go and see it :-D~~
Earl