Thinking man's crumpet
In British English, the term the thinking man's crumpet refers to a woman who is intelligent and good looking, particularly one who has a high profile in the broadcast media. It derives from the slang use of the term "crumpet" to refer to a woman who is regarded as an object of sexual desire.[1]
The first person to be called "the thinking man's crumpet" was Joan Bakewell, by humorist Frank Muir following her appearances in high-brow television discussion programmes such as BBC2's Late Night Line-Up.[2] Bakewell is still synonymous with the phrase, but it has subsequently been applied to other high-profile women such as Anne Gregg,[3] Joanna Lumley,[3] and Felicity Kendal,[3] and, more recently, Helen Mirren[4] and Gillian Anderson.[5] In a poll in the Radio Times in 2003, Nigella Lawson received the most votes to be the readers' "thinking man's crumpet",[6] with Carol Vorderman in second place.[7]
The phrase is occasionally reversed, to refer to "the thinking woman's crumpet", notably as the tagline of UK-based women's magazine Filament.
After the release of the 1997 film, Titanic, Kate Winslet was dubbed by one newspaper as "the sinking man's crumpet",[8][9] but this moniker was repeated by only one other British newspaper.
[edit] References
- ^ Crumpet, from World Wide Words.
- ^ An affair to remember, The Daily Telegraph, 5 October 2003.
- ^ a b c Obituary, The Independent, 9 September 2006.
- ^ Helen Mirren: A real drama queen, The Independent, 3 September 2006.
- ^ The X Files Uncovered, Fox Home Entertainment.
- ^ Press Release, BBC Worldwide, 22 September 2003.
- ^ Biography of Carol Vorderman from IMDb.
- ^ Sweet, Matthew (2001-02-14). "Kate Winslet: the sinking man's crumpet". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/cinema-kate-winslet-the-sinking-mans-crumpet-1140753.html. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
- ^ Mather, Victoria (1998-01-25). "Tom checks into his new starry home". Evening Standard. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/promotions/article-917730-tom-checks-into-his-new-starry-home.do. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
