Hyacinth Bucket (pronouced Bouquet) Was Right

[launderess]

See, we who have a manina for things done "just so", aren't quite so mad after all:

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[petek]

Whew thank goodness they show a Hoover and not a Dyson

 

[maytagbear]

Maybe so,

but do keep Elizabeth away from Richard. I think he's sweet on her!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[brettsomers]

white stockings and those pumps... no maam! at least the Hoover is tastefull.

 

[launderess]

Actually think the both the shoes and hose are shades of white. It may be the glare from the green Hoover causing the shoes to seem a different colour.

White stockings/hose are quite common with ladies in the UK, especially those of a certian age. Nude or sheer is best left to young girls or tarts like Rose! *LOL*

L.

 

[toggleswitch]

It's better than what?

oh my stars.

 

[abcomatic]

What would Sherdon say? Daisy could do with a go around with that machine too.
Sorry, have to go, it's my sister Violet on the phone, she's the one with a sauna, a Mercedes and room for a pony. Do mind the beaker Elizabeth. Gary

 

[hoover1060]

Rose was the model for that picture

No doubt Mr. Helliwell got her that job...
the sensible pumps were Hyacinth's idea no doubt

 

[neptuneguy27]

Better than ......

"Richard I am not comfortable with this level of intimacy. I demand that you remove yourself from my person immeadiately."

 

[foraloysius]

I wonder how one can call Rose a tart, especially since her decision to go back to being a virgin!! LOL

 

[toggleswitch]

ROFL x 2

 

[sudsmaster]

I think the general message of the series "Keeping Up Appearances" was that Hyacinth was rarely right, and even when she was, she usually wound up making an utter fool of herself.

 

[foraloysius]

And ofcourse her thinking that she was always right and others were making fools of themselves!

 

[launderess]

IIRC the general "message", if there is one for KUA, is social pretension and how pretending to be someone that one is not always comes to a bad (if not funny) end.

Hyacinth isn't "right" as much as she is bossy when it comes to asserting that one is not as so much inferior, but that she is superiour. In Hyacinth's mind she quality and therefore one should obviously bow to her wishes since she knows all.

Comedy about social pretension has a stable in Britian, indeed most other parts of the world, down through the years. My other favourite show with a Bossy-Boots, is "Good Life" or IIRC it was called "Good Neighoors" in the States. Margo Ledbetter could give Hyacinth Bucket a run for her money any day.

 

[sudsmaster]

I think Hyacinth's issues go far beyond mere social pretension. Indeed, if social pretension were her main objective, she certainly doesn't aim very high. For example, she never claims to be nobility, or assume this or that title, other than insisting on a pseudo-French pronunciation of her husband's rather prosaic last name ("Bucket" pronounced as "Bouquet").

Perhaps that is Hyacinth's biggest problem. Most pretenders and charlatans know that social pretence works best if one pretends to be much higher in society than their real status. The bigger lie is more believable than the little one, you see. Instead, just about everyone sees through Hyacinth's airs immediately, but humor her out of a higher level of compassion. Those who usually fail to recognize Hyacinth's pretention are usually upper crust people who are truly disinterested in her real station in life. But usually even they eventually figure out she's more trouble than she's worth.

It seems that pretending to be nobility is a more common comic theme in American literature (as in some of Mark Twain's works), where it is considered quite amusing, but it is a much more controversial and charged subject in royal Britain. Perhaps that's because in the final analysis being a duke or earl in America counts for virtually nothing, whereas such titles in Britain will gain one social status if not economic advantage. It's more serious business in old Blighty, and perhaps the nobility feel a bit threatened by the whole subject, knowing as they do that at the core they are no better than the average man on the street.

 

[launderess]

By pretending her last name is pronouced "Bouquet" instead of Bucket, Hyacinth is pretending to at least landed gentry.

There are many, many family names in Britian, mostly belonging to the landed gentry, nobilty and other great families that are not pronouced the way they are spelled. This is why the show is such a hit in GB. Not saying one has to be British to understand the nuance, but it does help.

And yes, many of the aforementioned names are French in orign, which goes to another bit of social pretension. Many old familes can trace their lines back to when the Normans (French) occupied parts of what is now Britian. Those familes form much of what is known as the "landed gentry" and even some peers. So by insisting her name is French, Hyacinth is trying to establish a connection (at least socially), to those families.

Hyacinth's pretension is funny because not truly coming from such a background, the woman has no idea how things are done. Rather, she does things as she thinks those she is trying to emulate.

There was, well until Labour governments took over, a British society where everyone knew their place, and "bounders" were looked upon with distain by all. Although this supposedly has changed, to an extent it hasn't totally gone away. Hyacinth's constant name dropping, mentioning of her wealthy sister (and her possessions) would NEVER be done by those truly born to the manor, that is what makes her so funny. It also give her away every time in front of true society. They know at once she is "not one of us", and humor her only because it is impolite to be rude. Everyone else either is dragooned into service, or just cannot get a word in edgewise to shut the woman up.

L.

 

[sudsmaster]

Again, Hyacinth is all the more pitiful for her incremental posturing. Were she really to reach, she'd be calling herself Duchess or Princess or something like that. In America, people would just think her eccentric and/or obnoxious. In Britain, she'd be viewed with great disfavor - if not legal consequences - by pretending to be nobility.

BTW, the Normans didn't just occupy parts of Britain. They conquered it, and put on the throne a series of French kings. That's how so many words of French origin have become part of English. If I recall correctly, some 50% of our vocabulary is of French origin. Of course, the pronunciation is quite different from modern French.

Landed gentry? In America, that would mean the vast middle class with homes in the suburbs, I suppose. Richard does own a home, albeit a small one, so I suppose he could be considered landed. And in American, everyone is considered a gentleman or a lady, until proven otherwise (which is all too often).

 

[sudsmaster]

I can't quite think of a parallel to "Keeping Up Appearances" in American TV. I suppose, though, Hyacinth Bucket falls into the grand tradition of scheming women and men who are trying to to be somebody they are not. "I Love Lucy" featured Lucy constantly trying to bust into her husband's show business, with very comic results. George Costanze on "Seinfeld" pretends to be an architect in order to gain some fleeting advantage, and in a classic episode he pretends to have a "house in the Hamptons" in order to one-up his once prospective in-laws. "Third Rock From the Sun" featured an entire family from another planet pretending to be human. We can laugh at their antics because their reaching is so foolish it makes us more secure in our own identities.

The American versions of this kind of pretence tend to be broader and perhaps a bit more obvious than Hyacinth's delicate tap dance between middle class and upper middle class. I attribute the greater subtlety of Hyacinth's striving to the fact that the British would not find her posturing to a much greater status as humorous, but as offensive or even criminal. In America we are not subject to such noble distinctions, and hence our humor can be cast over a wider spectrum of possibilities.

 

[launderess]

Hyacinth nor anyone else can get away with calling themselves a peer unles they are. Aside from one or two very old titles, all peerages are granted via Letters Patent, which make it very easy to trace if one is the real thing or not.

So, yes you are correct. Hyacinth could have "duchess" as nickname, but to use that style legally say on her checks would land her in hot water.

Landed Gentry in GB are not peers nor knights, but rather familes that by virtue of their land holdings (usually centered in what was called a "manor" house), pretty much ran things in their local areas. Squire Hamilton-PPhelps-FForbes admistered justice for the Crown, amoung his other duties.
If one a has ever seen the old BBC sitcom "To The Manor Born", with Miss. Keith you get the idea.