Trophy wife
Trophy wife is an expression used to describe a wife, usually young and attractive, who is regarded as a status symbol for the husband, who is often older and affluent.
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[edit] History
The term's etymological origins are disputed. One claim is that trophy wife originally appeared in a 1950 issue of The Economist magazine[citation needed], referring to the historical practice of warriors capturing the most beautiful women during battle to bring home as wives.[1] William Safire claimed that the term trophy wife was coined by Julie Connelly, a senior editor of Fortune magazine, in a cover story in the issue of Aug. 28, 1989[2] and immediately entered common usage.[citation needed] Many sources claim the term was coined earlier (for example, the Online Etymology Dictionary cites 1984[3]) but easy online access to William Safire's article about the term has led many (such as Oxford English Dictionary) to believe that August 28, 1989 was its first use.[4]
A trophy wife is a woman who a man marries for the purpose of increasing his status. The main characteristics are that she is beautiful, desirable and an object of admiration. She is a status symbol (hence ‘trophy’) in much the same way as an expensive sports car, a pricey wristwatch or a luxury apartment.
Comedian Steven Wright once quipped, "A friend of mine has a trophy wife. But from the looks of her, it wasn't first place".[5]
The marriage of former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith to oil billionaire J. Howard Marshall was widely followed by the US mass media as an extreme example of this concept.[6] At the time of their marriage, he was 89 years old and she was 26.[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Notes
- ^ Linker, Harry. "Buying into the Hype: Trophy Antiques and Collectibles." 07 May 2010.<http://www.worthpoint.com/blog-entry/buying-hype-trophy-antiques-collectibles>.
- ^ Safire, William (1 May 1994). "ON LANGUAGE; Trophy Wife". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06E6DA1031F932A35756C0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all.
- ^ Harper, Douglas. "trophy". Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=trophy.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary Addition Series 1997 http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50258704/50258704se14?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=trophy+wife&first=1&max_to_show=10&hilite=50258704se14
- ^ So Many Comics, so Little Time: A 'Laughs' Roundup." Chicago Tribune.19 June 2011.http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-06-19/entertainment/ct-ent-0620-laughs-second-roundup-20110619_1_comics-chicago-theatre-canadians/2
- ^ Roy, Amit. "Padma walks out, but some 'trophy wives' have stayed the course", The Telegraph, India (4 July 2007).
- ^ Barone, Michael. "More Than Anna Nicole Smith's Husband: The Oil-Soaked Life of J. Howard Marshall." 02 Mar. 2009.http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/barone/2009/03/02/more-than-anna-nicole-smiths-husband-the-oil-soaked-life-of-j-howard-marshall
[edit] External links
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Look up trophy wife in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- Alpha males forsake the trophy wife, article in the Sunday Times, stating that "Academics say they have found the first evidence that successful British males increasingly prefer a spouse with a high-powered job to one who stays at home with the children."
- http://www.t3.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/motorola-aura-mobile-phone-review T3 magazine in a review of the Motorola luxury "Aura" mobile phone model: "We think it’s best to think of the AURA as the trophy-wife of the phone world, it’s great to look at and bring to social occasions, but that’s about it."
