Previous
Genre
Definition of Idiom
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the words in the phrase. For... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on... read full definition
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Chirpy:
Lawrence uses an early-20th-century British idiom to outline Clifford Chatterley’s character and describe how he seems to others upon returning to England after World War One:
He remained strange and bright and cheerful, almost, one might say, chirpy, with his ruddy, healthy-looking face, and his pale blue, challenging bright eyes.
Related Themes:
Chapter 14
Explanation and Analysis—No Balls:
As he explains his perception of Clifford to Connie, Mellors uses the idiom "no balls" to describe Lord Chatterley’s perceived lack of manliness. This leads to a funny exchange filled with situational irony. When Connie asks him to explain the “balls” comment, Mellors says:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“You say a man’s got no brain, when he’s a fool: and no heart, when he’s mean; and no stomach when he’s a funker. And when he’s got none of that spunky wild bit of a man in him, you say he’s got no balls. When he’s a sort of tame.”
She pondered this.
“And is Clifford tame?” she asked.
“Tame, and nasty with it: like most such fellows, when you come up against ’em.”
Related Themes:
Chapter 15
Explanation and Analysis—A Mingy Lot:
As they discuss the British middle classes, Mellors employs several rude idioms to express his personal distaste for them to Connie:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“No! They were a mingy lot. “He laughed suddenly. “the Colonel used to say: Lad, the English middle classes have to chew every mouthful thirty times because their guts are so narrow, a bit as big as a pea would give them a stoppage. They’re the mingiest set of ladylike snipe ever invented: full of conceit of themselves, frightened even if their bootlaces aren’t correct, rotten as high game, and always in the right. That’s what finishes me up. Kow-tow, kow-tow, arse-licking till their tongues is tough: yet they’re always in the right. Prigs on top of everything. Prigs! A generation of ladylike prigs with half a ball each—”
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Globe-fulness:
Mellors admires Connie's body during their final night together, wistfully narrating his impressions of it in Black Country dialect filled with idiom and metaphor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He stroked her tail with his hand, long and subtly taking in the curves and the globe-fullness.
“Tha’s got such a nice tail on thee, “he said, in the throaty caressive dialect. “Tha’s got the nicest arse of anybody. It’s the nicest, nicest woman’s arse as is! An’ ivery bit of it is woman, woman sure as nuts. Tha’rt not one o’ them button-arsed lasses as should be lads, are ter! Tha’s got a real soft sloping bottom on thee, as a man loves in 'is guts. It’s a bottom as could hold the world up, it is!”
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Lady Jane:
As they start to dress and to discuss Constance’s upcoming journey with Hilda, Mellors speaks to Constance’s vulva as if it were a person separate from herself:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Look at Jane!" he said. “In all her blossoms! Who’ll put blossoms on you next year, Jinny? Me, or somebody else? ‘Good-bye, my bluebell, farewell to you!’ I hate that song, it’s early war days." He then sat down, and was pulling on his stockings. She still stood unmoving. He laid his hand on the slope of her buttocks. “Pretty little Lady Jane!" he said. “Perhaps in Venice you’ll find a man who’ll put jasmine in your maidenhair, and a pomegranate flower in your navel. Poor little lady Jane!”
Related Themes:
Chapter 16
Explanation and Analysis—Arse-Forrads:
In this passage, Oliver Mellors reprimands Hilda for assuming he's stupid, employing a local idiom. Hilda has just accused him of exaggerating his accent and his use of dialect, and he angrily tells her that:
Unlock with LitCharts A+— Eh, I don’t wear me breeches arse-forrards.
Related Themes:
