Barefoot, pregnant, and slaving over a hot stove
November 16, 2009 8:14 AM
Where the expression "barefoot, pregnant, and slaving over a hot stove" came from? What is the history of it in English speaking countries?
Here's a reference to "barefoot and pregnant" from a 1958 newspaper (2nd para, middle col), referring to a Dr Hertzler.
"slaving over a hot stove" is usually a separate expression - I've heard that often enough on its own, while I've never heard the "barefoot and pregnant" part. Here's a reference from 1887*, although Google News dates it from the twenties.
*Note that this is only what Google Books claims is the date and Google Books' metadata is notoriously dodgy.
posted by Electric Dragon at 8:49 AM on November 16, 2009
Some forty years ago, Dr Hertzler advanced a hypothesis which young women of today seem bent on proving correct. "The only way to keep a woman happy," he said, "is to keep her barefoot and pregnant."I can't find with a quick search who Dr Hertzler was, or whether that's a genuine citation, but it's possible it was Arthur E Hertzler.
"slaving over a hot stove" is usually a separate expression - I've heard that often enough on its own, while I've never heard the "barefoot and pregnant" part. Here's a reference from 1887*, although Google News dates it from the twenties.
*Note that this is only what Google Books claims is the date and Google Books' metadata is notoriously dodgy.
posted by Electric Dragon at 8:49 AM on November 16, 2009
I always hear 'barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen'. Maybe a regional difference -- I'm in the southeast US.
posted by 2xplor at 9:08 AM on November 16, 2009
posted by 2xplor at 9:08 AM on November 16, 2009
I agree with 2xplor, and I am in the Midwest. I have heard 'barefoot and pregnant' on its own before, but much more rarely than with the 'kitchen' part tacked on.
posted by Carillon at 9:13 AM on November 16, 2009
posted by Carillon at 9:13 AM on November 16, 2009
I'm with Electric Dragon. I've heard "keep 'em barefoot and pregnant" (occasionally with "and in the kitchen" included) and "slaving over a hot stove" regularly since I was a child in the early 70s (upper Midwest), but I don't think I've ever heard them used together. I'm fairly sure that Mr Van Delsem was not the first person to use the phrase -- Dad always claimed he'd heard it first in the Army in the early 1950's, from a platoon mate from the Deep South.
posted by jlkr at 10:09 AM on November 16, 2009
posted by jlkr at 10:09 AM on November 16, 2009
> Here's a reference from 1887
They didn't talk about "an Italian take-away" in 1887; it's probably at least a century later. When are they going to do something about the metadata??
From page 138 of The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody, by Will Cuppy (Holt, 1950): "Peter kept Catherine barefoot and pregnant most of the time."
From Forbes, Volume 64 (1949), page 13: "By early 1949, TWA was—in the words of its new president, Ralph S. Damon—both 'barefoot and pregnant.'"
Now, here's another metadata perplexity; Google Books claims this is from 1919: "The mountaineers down in North Carolina used to say that to keep a woman faithful you should keep her barefoot and pregnant." But Proceedings of the session of the Association of American Railroads is a serial publication that continued at least through the 1950s, so unless someone can turn up a physical copy and check the date, I think this has to be discounted.
Note that Wikipedia's "probably first used on August 27, 1963" is utter bullshit and needs fixing.
posted by languagehat at 11:37 AM on November 16, 2009
They didn't talk about "an Italian take-away" in 1887; it's probably at least a century later. When are they going to do something about the metadata??
From page 138 of The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody, by Will Cuppy (Holt, 1950): "Peter kept Catherine barefoot and pregnant most of the time."
From Forbes, Volume 64 (1949), page 13: "By early 1949, TWA was—in the words of its new president, Ralph S. Damon—both 'barefoot and pregnant.'"
Now, here's another metadata perplexity; Google Books claims this is from 1919: "The mountaineers down in North Carolina used to say that to keep a woman faithful you should keep her barefoot and pregnant." But Proceedings of the session of the Association of American Railroads is a serial publication that continued at least through the 1950s, so unless someone can turn up a physical copy and check the date, I think this has to be discounted.
Note that Wikipedia's "probably first used on August 27, 1963" is utter bullshit and needs fixing.
posted by languagehat at 11:37 AM on November 16, 2009
I have fixed wikipedia. If anyone wants to clean up language, feel free.
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 12:32 PM on November 16, 2009
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 12:32 PM on November 16, 2009
In Australia the phrase was "barefoot, pregnant, and chained to the kitchen"
posted by jannw at 5:29 AM on November 17, 2009
posted by jannw at 5:29 AM on November 17, 2009
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From Wikipedia
posted by azarbayejani at 8:18 AM on November 16, 2009