Home & Garden4 mins ago
you're a big girls blouse
5 Answers
Where did the modern saying Big Girls Blouse come from?
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No best answer has yet been selected by johanna02. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.The earliest I remember is Hylda Baker using it as a catchphrase. Maybe she originated it too.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-big3.htm
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-big3.htm
-- answer removed --
Given that the etymologist, Michael Quinion, in the link above admits that "your guess is as good as his" as regards the origin of the saying, here's my favourite idea on the matter.
I've always half-believed it was a play on words, in which 'full' was supposedly mistaken for 'fool'. The one thing you can state categorically about a real big girl's blouse is that it is 'full'...of big girl, that is! As a result, I imagined that calling someone a big girl's blouse was roughly equivalent to calling him a 'fool'. I appreciate that it refers to the soppy, wimpish, effeminate elements, but any man showing such tendencies could easily be considered and, therefore, called a fool as well. "You can't drink Coke in the pub, you fool!"
Right...I've taken Mr Quinion's advice and had a guess...why don't you do the same?
I've always half-believed it was a play on words, in which 'full' was supposedly mistaken for 'fool'. The one thing you can state categorically about a real big girl's blouse is that it is 'full'...of big girl, that is! As a result, I imagined that calling someone a big girl's blouse was roughly equivalent to calling him a 'fool'. I appreciate that it refers to the soppy, wimpish, effeminate elements, but any man showing such tendencies could easily be considered and, therefore, called a fool as well. "You can't drink Coke in the pub, you fool!"
Right...I've taken Mr Quinion's advice and had a guess...why don't you do the same?