overeasy Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 If I've heard this once, I heard it many dozens of times in 30's and 40's movies. It is usually the male lead responding to his co-star as she acts well, odd. He will hold her hands and say, "My dear, you're trembling!" My question is, is this code for something? I've lived a long life and I have never felt a woman "tremble." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 Then you're doing something wrong. Seriously, though, I think it was just an old-fashioned way of looking at women as overly nervous, easily-frightened creatures that needed the support of a strong man to feel safe and secure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debra Johnson Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 The phrase that really gets me is while watching these old, classic movies is how loosely they threw around "make love". I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant then in the literal sense that is is today. A few I recall: Mildred Pierce: "Wally, I love how you make love to me" Leave Her To Heaven: "You knew she was married yet you still made love to her didn't you" The Best of Everything: "Is this how the young boys make love now a days" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedracer5 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 Then you're doing something wrong. Seriously, though, I think it was just an old-fashioned way of looking at women as overly nervous, easily-frightened creatures that needed the support of a strong man to feel safe and secure. I agree. Just like in the old movies and shows, it was a common solution to give your wife a tranquilizer if you thought she was acting "hysterical," even if she had a legit reason to be upset or worried about something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewhite2000 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 Debra, you're absolutely right, on screen and in song, to make love once simply meant "to woo" or "to be romantic toward". Here are people debating when and why the meaning changed on the straight dope message boards: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-402457.html Here's grammarphobia talking about the more old-fashioned meaning: http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/12/making-love.html And here's some debate about when and why the meaning changed on alphadictionary.com: http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=322 No one really seems to have a definitive answer about when an why the meaning changed, but it did. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 If I've heard this once, I heard it many dozens of times in 30's and 40's movies. It is usually the male lead responding to his co-star as she acts well, odd. He will hold her hands and say, "My dear, you're trembling!" My question is, is this code for something? I've lived a long life and I have never felt a woman "tremble." No code for anything. It depends on the situation. For instance, the woman could be trembling from the cold. Or trembling in fear..And maybe, depending on WHO is holding her hand, and what she THINKS of him, she could be trembling in either desire or revulsion. Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyCronin Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 The phrase that really gets me is while watching these old, classic movies is how loosely they threw around "make love". I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant then in the literal sense that is is today. A few I recall: Mildred Pierce: "Wally, I love how you make love to me" Leave Her To Heaven: "You knew she was married yet you still made love to her didn't you" The Best of Everything: "Is this how the young boys make love now a days" The one that always makes me chuckle is in "Separate Tables". Gladys Cooper and Cathleen Nesbitt walk in on Rod Taylor and Audrey Dalton, the latter pair sitting on a couch. He quickly puts a handkerchief away in his pocket and Cooper whispers loudly to Nesbitt "It's obvious they were making love." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feego Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 Debra, you're absolutely right, on screen and in song, to make love once simply meant "to woo" or "to be romantic toward". Here are people debating when and why the meaning changed on the straight dope message boards: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-402457.html Here's grammarphobia talking about the more old-fashioned meaning: http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/12/making-love.html And here's some debate about when and why the meaning changed on alphadictionary.com: http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=322 No one really seems to have a definitive answer about when an why the meaning changed, but it did. Thanks for those links! I myself have often wondered exactly when the change in meaning of "making love" occurred. So often I have heard it uttered in a classic film and thought, well now surely they don't mean that! Because nobody did that in those days. My favorite utterance of that phrase is in Rebecca, when Olivier says something to Joan Fontaine along the lines of, "I should be making violent love to you!" I've tried to figure out exactly what he meant by that (Kissing her bruskly? Stroking her hair with a stern hand?). In the end, I just settle on the current meaning because it's more fun that way! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scsu1975 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 I've lived a long life and I have never felt a woman "tremble." It happens all the time if you live along the San Andreas fault. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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