APAD: We are a grandmother

Meaning:

   `We have become a grandmother' was UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's

   statement to the press in 1989, on the birth of her first grandchild, Mark

   Thatcher's son Michael.

 

Background:

   The use of the `royal we' (the `pluralis majestatis' or `majestic plural')

   had previously been restricted, as one might expect, to royalty; for example,

   Queen Victoria's celebrated `we are not amused`. Its use by a mere prime

   minister and Thatcher's imperious personal manner were the source of

   considerable disdain at the time. Thatcher's apparent conceit led to her

   being described as `a legend in her own imagination' and to some linguistic

   jokes at her expense:

 

     - Why is Margaret Thatcher like a pound coin?

     - Because she is thick, brassy and thinks she's a sovereign.

 

   Another quip came in the explanation from an aide as to why she had the

   nickname of `Daggers' Thatcher. An interviewer asked, `Is that because she

   has a reputation for stabbing colleagues in the back?' `No, its because she's

   three stops past Barking.' [Dagenham is three stops past Barking on the

   London Underground]

 

- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]

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`Barking' here should be the British way of saying `completely mad.'

 

Chinese monarchs called themselves 朕, 寡人, or 哀家. Everyone else was a

NuCai and, if addressing themselves using a royal epithet, a pretender to the

throne. Thatcher should be thankful she didn't work under such sovereigns: she

wouldn't be able to get away with just a few jibes.