When I was sick last week, I decided to watch the season finale of “Downteon Abbey.” What a pleasant experience. I was in charge of The Buttons and I was able to pause, back up, and replay as often as I wanted. I caught nuances that I am sure I usually miss in any episode. In doing so, I caught some vocabulary that was common to the time period. In context, it all made pretty good sense, but I made note and looked them up.
Here we go!
Hobson’s choice
a choice of taking what is available or nothing at all.
ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: named after Thomas Hobson (1554–1631), a livery stable owner in Cambridge, England, who gave the customer the “choice” of the horse nearest the door or none at all.
bored to sobs
no definition needed, self-explanatory
tweeny
(pl. tweenies) archaic, informal
a maid who assisted two other members of a domestic staff.
ORIGIN late 19th cent.: from between-maid, a servant assisting two others.
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