Part of the fun of Gilbert and Sullivan is enjoying Gilbert's, rich, playful and obscure language from time to time. Here are a few terms you probably haven’t heard before.
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Quarter-day |
The days when rents were due, 4 times a year. |
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Dr. Watts |
Isaac Watts who wrote some of the greatest English hymns, such as “Oh God Our Help in Ages Past.” |
| Trow | Hope, believe. Also E. Price’s first name. |
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Sillery |
A high-class champagne |
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Triolet |
A verse of 8 lines with two rhymes- 1,4, & 7 and 2 & 8 |
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Heigholet |
A little sigh (Gilbert made this one up) |
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Helicon |
A Greek mountain range, referring the Greek authors below |
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Anacreon, Ovid, Juvenal, Aristophanes |
Greek authors noted for erotic works. A sly dig since Psyche then recommends they get them Bowdlerized |
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Bowdlerized |
Cleansed of any offensive passages (Thomas Bowdler did this to Shakespeare in 1818) |
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Spring guns |
Fixed guns set to fire when a trip-wire is triggered |
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Set the Thames on fire |
Do something exciting |
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Trepan |
Capture in a trap |
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Sunbeams from cucumbers |
A task from Gulliver’s travels, that Gulliver was said to have spent 8 years on. |
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Sizars |
Students who received the lodging in exchange for serving duties |
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Tufts |
Tassels worn on the caps of peer’s sons at Oxford |
| Toilet club |
A gentlemen’s barber |
| Etui |
A needle case |
| Are men/stuck in her throat |
A burlesque of Macbeth, where Macbeth says “I had most need of blessing and ‘Amen’ stuck in my throat.” |
| Chit |
A youngster, usually a girl |
| Asphodel |
Lillies |
| Paynim |
Pagans or heathen- originally applied to the Saracens |
| Pop-in-jays |
An old name for a parrot |
| Hurdy-gurds |
Barrel organs and their players |
| Brassets |
Armor for the upper arms (brassards) |
| Cuirass |
Chest armor |
| “I quite forget their name” |
The leg pieces are called greaves |
| Virago |
A man-like or heroic woman |
| Termagant |
A quarrelsome women |