Word: mitfordly
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Britain's bodkin-tongued, America-baiting Nancy (Love in a Cold Climate) Mitford,* 52, was induced to refight the Revolutionary War by the New York Herald Tribune's Paris Postscripter Art Buchwald. Asked what American she dislikes most, gentle Nancy, whose foot has never touched U.S. soil, replied: "Abraham Lincoln. I detest Abraham Lincoln. When I read the book The Day Lincoln Was Shot, I was so afraid he would go to the wrong theater. What was the name of that beautiful man who shot him?" "John Wilkes Booth." "Yes, I liked him very much!" Does Nancy like...
...late, Nazi-minded sister, Unity Freeman-Mitford, was once acclaimed by Adolf Hitler as the "perfect Nordic beauty...
Enjoyed the story on Nancy Mitford. Precieuse few are U these days...
...Work for Money. When Author Mitford (the Hon. Mrs. Peter Rodd) heard of Ross's paper, she dashed off an essay for Encounter elaborating his theme (her chief U distinction: "The purpose of the aristocrat is most emphatically not to work for money"). To this, Novelist Evelyn Waugh added a non-U note of his own: "All nannies and many governesses, when pouring out tea, put the milk in first." In the Spectator, the journalist "Strix" (Peter Fleming) pointed out that in U-speech there is "a relish for incongruity." Hence, a dull party can be a disaster, while...
...voices did not go unopposed. In the Sunday Observer, Novelist Philip Toynbee came out strongly in favor of such non-U words as greens for vegetables, wealthy for rich, sweet for pudding, and wire for telegram. Graham Greene complained that by Nancy Mitford's exacting standard, Henry James would have to be considered non-U because he once began a letter "Dear Margot Asquith" instead of "Dear Mrs. Asquith." Another reader pointed out that Shakespeare's Richard II was addicted to using the non-U mirror. Sniffed Novelist Mitford: "It is probable that Richard II, like many monarchs...