Sunday, February 17, 2013

Wodehouse-ism for "dumb blonde"

"Though shaky on the I. Q., physically she was a pipterino of the first water." [from How Right You Are, Jeeves]

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Actually not a "dumb blonde" but an exceptionally beautiful girl. Wodehouse uses the same phrase ("a pipterino of the first water") to describe Daphne Dolores Morehead, a brainy female author who is certainly not lacking in the I.Q. department, in chapter 17 of Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit. The Oxford English Dictionary (full version) has no entry for pipterino, definitely a Wodehouse-ism.

Anonymous said...

"pip" is late 1940's hep cat slang for a lively arousing person. Pipterino is just kind of extension of that I assume