Not Today, Josephine

Hi there, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Lou from North Carolina.

Hey Lou, welcome.

I heard your radio program, A Way with Words and Phrases, or whatever the name is, and I had an interesting phrase that my dad used to use when we were younger, and I remember it because when we would go out with him to the store and ask for things, we’d usually get the same response from him.

And it was not today, Josephine. And as a kid, I never knew who Josephine was.

Oh, boy.

Yeah, when I got older, I figured Josephine sounds a little Renaissance-type, old-time reference, and I was thinking maybe since my dad was sort of an amateur thespian.

And, you know, he had been in some plays back where he grew up down in Charleston, South Carolina.

And he may have brought this phrase in from a Shakespearean play or something.

But that’s something he’d always say to us.

Not today, Josephine.

Yeah, so there’s a story behind that.

And the story is that the Empress Josephine was not able to give Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte an heir.

He desperately wanted a male heir.

And so this is the early 1800s, and their marriage started to break down, much ill will on each side.

He was incredibly unhappy.

He was actually a philanderer of the First Order, and apparently he sired numerous children with other women, but not with his wife.

And she complained that he was practically impotent.

And she even had a little saying in French, which was Bonaparte et bon a rien, which means Bonaparte is good for nothing.

The rumor went around that she was the problem and that she was, how should we put this, rumored to be very fond of the pleasures of the bedroom.

That she was voracious in the sack, so to speak.

The idea was that he couldn’t keep up with her in the bedroom and that he would say she would ask for, you know, a bedroom encounter.

And he would reply, not today, Josephine, pas ce soit, Josephine, or not tonight, Josephine.

This is completely apocryphal.

There was no truth in it.

We don’t think he ever said exactly that.

There’s no record of it because the story doesn’t really appear until the early 1900s, you know, more than 100 years later.

But that’s where it comes from, this idea that the emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, was rejecting the amorous advances of his wife.

That was the expression that he would say, not today, Josephine.

And so you would hear this repeated, and it was turned into a musical number by Florey Ford in 1915.

And although it originally did have that bedroom activities connotation, of course, after a while, it was like your father used it.

Just a funny way to refuse anyone anything, no matter what they were asking for.

So do people still say that, or is that just one of those bygone expressions, you know, like nine yards and all that stuff that has sort of like passed on, you know, I don’t know, history?

I don’t think it’s that common, Lou, but you’ve certainly helped to popularize your dad’s phrase today. Or remind people of it anyway.

Yeah, talking about turning down somebody insatiable.

Yeah, well, let’s hope it turns out well for whoever chooses to use it.

Yeah, but these days there’s nothing amorous or romantic or bedroom about it. It’s just a funny way to refuse people. Well, very, very nice. He had a lot of phrases he passed down. You know, he’s kind of an interesting guy, but I learned a lot from my bad.

Well, thank you for sharing those memories with us today, Lou.

Thank you very much. Okay. Take care, Lou.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Thanks, Lou. Bye-bye.

Well, what’s the word or phrase that your parent used, and you wonder if maybe anybody else in the world says it? Give us a call, 877-929-9673, or send it to us in email. The address is words@waywordradio.org.