Althouse: "'I don't see that I deserve to be put upon and stormed at for nothing!' concluded the small woman, bigly."

September 28, 2016

"'I don't see that I deserve to be put upon and stormed at for nothing!' concluded the small woman, bigly."

A quote from Thomas Hardy's "Far From the Madding Crowd," discovered just now as I — participating in this Facebook discussion — looked up "bigly" in the Oxford English dictionary.

concluded the small woman, bigly... that cracks me up.

21 comments:

rhhardin said...: Hit me with your midpoint, she said meanly.

- computer generated Tom Swifty; 9/28/16, 1:23 PM
Nonapod said...: The Songify guys have put up their interpretation of the debate. Still waiting on Bad Lip Reading's interpretation.; 9/28/16, 1:30 PM
traditionalguy said...: A woman bigger than 5 feet tall and 100 lbs is more woman than is necessary. The small ones are the aggressive ones.; 9/28/16, 1:35 PM
ALP said...: I am the living embodiment of this quote. A shade under 5' and hell on wheels. From time to time, I'll catch a reflection of myself among friends/co-workers. My small size, relatively speaking, always surprises me. "How can I be this small - I don't feel like it?"

Tiny women can employ their lack of size in one of two ways: make sure you have a protective man by your side at all times, or cop a "terrier" attitude that lets everyone know: I may be small but don't underestimate. I've used both, depending on the situation.; 9/28/16, 1:40 PM
Wilbur said...: "The small ones are the aggressive ones."

Just like our canine friends.

Several decades ago, I knew a lay-about - who was in a position to hold forth on the subject - who would state as a scientific fact "Little woman - big pussy. Big woman - little pussy".

He regarded the science as settled.; 9/28/16, 1:41 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Wilbur, no. Just no. Or rather, YMMV so very, er, widely.; 9/28/16, 1:46 PM
tcrosse said...: The Navy version was "Big woman - big pussy. Little woman - all pussy".; 9/28/16, 1:48 PM
Bilwick said...: It's from Hardy's little known but prophetic first novel, "Hillary of the Clintonvilles."; 9/28/16, 2:01 PM
Bill said...: I love Hardy's poetry. Here's the first stanza of "The Convergence of the Twain", about the fate of the Titanic:

In a solitude of the sea
Deep from human vanity,
And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.; 9/28/16, 2:04 PM
effinayright said...: Althouse, your report on "bigly" embiggens us all.; 9/28/16, 2:07 PM
gadfly said...: John Podhoretz beat you to "bigly." For those who can get by the Commentary Magazine paywall, here is their 9/27/16 podcast entitled "He Blew It Bigley."

It is an educational and enjoyable listen here.; 9/28/16, 3:05 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: Truly, madly, bigly.; 9/28/16, 3:10 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: NYC -- The Big Apple, etc. New Yorkers always see themselves as the Big League. Never ever occurred to me that Trump said, "bigly." LOL; 9/28/16, 3:21 PM
John henry said...: Awww...

I thought that this was gonna be about the bigly Miss Universe. I looked at her photos and she really was "bigly". Not just a little overweight but like La Blimpa.

She really pissed me off last night on Anderson Cooper. She became an American Citizen a few years back but says that "my country" is Venezuela. Not the US where she is a citizen, but Venezuela. If she feels that way, she should be sent back.

She had a very interesting non-denial about threatening to kill a Venezuelan judge. Basically "That was 20 years ago, I am no saint and Trump should never have said I was fat. Even though I was."

Quote very approximate.

John Henry; 9/28/16, 3:42 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Trump admonished a key employee for non performance. If women were equal to men, this would not be an issue.; 9/28/16, 4:08 PM
Darrell said...: Trump fought off the others to let her keep her title after she gained sixty pounds. He held press conferences defending her for stress eating. Hillary gets a Venezuelan fan of Papa Chavez to betray Trump's goodness toward her and idiots think it's a story.; 9/28/16, 4:14 PM
gspencer said...: "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" - Jebediah Springfield

Edna Krabappel: "Embiggens"? I never heard that word before I came to Springfield.

Miss Hoover: I don't know why. It's a perfectly cromulent word.; 9/28/16, 4:25 PM
Matt Sablan said...: When I heard it, I thought he said "Big League." It wasn't until after the debate I realized I misheard.; 9/28/16, 4:39 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: He IS saying big league.; 9/28/16, 4:41 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "John Podhoretz beat you to "bigly." "

Huh? It's totally last year. My point is that anyone still talking about it must be joking or a damned fool. That's the discussion at Facebook, where John links to a Slate article form last November (which clears it up easily).; 9/28/16, 5:15 PM
Birches said...: Embiggens. Heh.

2016 really is The Simpsons election.

I made a shirt that says, "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos."; 9/28/16, 8:28 PM