One old sense of the word stranger means “a lone tea leaf floating in a cup of tea.” A longtime superstition holds that such a lone leaf means a stranger will soon show up at the door. In Britain, a host may offer to pour a cup of tea with the question Shall I be mother?, recalling the way children having a tea party may offer to serve. Meryl Streep delivers this line while playing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Stranger: Shall I Play Mother?”
I came across an intriguing use of the word stranger.
I did not know that stranger could apply to a tea leaf floating in your cup of tea.
I had heard that, but it has been a really long time.
No, a really long.
I think I learned that from like, was it a Dorothy L. Sayers novel or something?
I think there was somebody getting a reading in some mystery novel when I was much younger.
Oh, that’s so wonderful.
I don’t know.
That’s great.
I don’t know.
Of course, then I went and read a whole lot about tea and superstitions involving tea.
And the phrase, shall I be mother?
Do you know this one?
No.
This is a saying that apparently the British say when they’re offering to pour tea.
Shall I be mother?
So is this from when you played house as kids?
Yes, apparently so.
Put out the child’s tea set and shall I be mother?
Yes.
I mean, there are different superstitions involving that.
Nice.
But I ended up on YouTube looking at a clip from The Iron Lady with Meryl Streep.
And she’s sort of dressing down an American diplomat.
And then she stands up and says, shall I be mother?
And the diplomat is looking at her like, what?
What are you saying, lady?
She says, tea.
Uncouth Americans.
They understand nothing.
Shall I be mother?
