If a lady is no better than she ought to be, her sexual morals may be in question. The saying, recently popularized by the BBC program Downton Abbey, is what’s known as a charientism, or a bit of sugar-coated snark. By the way, if you’d like to hear more about such thinly veiled insults, check out this episode. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “No Better Than She Ought to Be”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello.
Hi.
This is Jane from Dallas.
Jane from Dallas, welcome.
Thank you.
What’s on your mind?
Well, a friend of mine and I were talking about a BBC production in which the expression no better than she ought to be was used. And again, my friend has a mother-in-law who is English who used that expression commonly. And both of us have encountered it in literature. I’m thinking particularly Sherlock Holmes and some of the Dorothy Sayers mysteries. But I have no idea what exactly it means.
And what was the production from the BBC?
It was Downton Abbey, the new Masterpiece Theater. I think it’s in its second season now.
Right, right. We had another call about the language there. This must be a very provocative program.
Well, I think it’s popular anyway. So set the scene up for us. What was happening when this was said on the show?
The context would be, generally it seems to be in relation to women who are not behaving with propriety. They’re tramps, or on the make, or something is not quite right with them. I’ve never heard it applied to men.
Oh, what a surprise!
Silence.
So this is just something that the characters would sort of toss off to say, well, you know her, she’s no better than she ought to be?
Precisely. You’ve kind of laid out the details as we know them. One, it is not usually used in North American English, so Canadians and Americans are usually mystified. Unless, as you say, they watch BBC productions or read Dorothy Sayers novels or are familiar with British literature and probably older British literature, not so much the modern stuff.
The term is a little old-fashioned. I think it’s brought out by newspaper columnists at the Daily Mail when they want to get away with calling a woman a slut without fear of libel or lawsuits. No better than she ought to be or no better than one ought to be does mean someone of questionable morals. It usually means questionable sexual morals, but occasionally it will mean that they thieve or that they do other things that are looked down upon. As you say, they’re against the mores of common society.
Why it’s phrased that way is probably lost in the mists of time. But the best guess that I have is that we’re talking about sexual morals. And this phrase was generally used during a period when you really couldn’t talk about sexual activities at all. So even though you were referring to someone as being most likely sleeping around, a slut, a tramp, that sort of thing, you really couldn’t say that. So you needed a euphemized or disguised way to kind of wink, wink and say, well, she could be great. I mean, this is kind of the understood part of the expression. She could be great. She could be a saint or a nun, but she isn’t. She’s probably about as low as she could be. That’s more or less the translation of that.
Yeah, and there is an obscure term for this kind of thing. We’ve talked about it on the show before, carientism, C-H-A-R-I-E-N-T-I-S-M. And it’s that kind of sugar-coated snark that Grant was talking about when you say, well, bless her heart, or somebody tells you their great plans, and you just kind of say, how’s that working out for you?
Exactly.
Well, Jane, did you have trouble understanding that idiom?
I mean, if you just break it down, though, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
That’s the problem with it, is that when you break it down, it really doesn’t make any sense.
Exactly.
But, of course, from the context, you know exactly what it means.
Exactly.
That’s its power.
Yes.
It defies analysis, except through context.
Right?
Well, my takeaway for this program is going to be sugar-coated snark.
We specialize.
Well, thank you.
Our pleasure, Jane.
Thanks for calling.
Thank you so much.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Sugar-coated snark.
A Way with Words, sugar-coated snark.
Yeah, it reminds me of when I would babysit for bratty kids and the parents would come back and I’d say, oh, they were as good as they could be.
Well, bring us your sugar-coated snark or any other linguistic question you’d like to ask. The number is 877-929-9673 or send it in email to words@waywordradio.org.
