APAD: mutton dressed as lamb

Meaning:

    A put-down aimed at an ageing woman who is dressed or made up of someone

    much younger.

 

Background:

   The term `mutton dressed as lamb' is first found in print in the journal of

   social gossip that Mrs Frances Calvert compiled in 1811. Extracts from the

   journal were published in 1911 as An Irish Beauty of the Regency:

 

     Some one the other day asked the Prince of Wales at the Ancient Music

     whether he did not think some girl pretty. `Girl!' answered he, `Girls are

     not to my taste. I don't like lamb; but mutton dressed like lamb!'.

 

   It was slightly preceded by an earlier version, in which woman were said to

   be dressed `lamb-fashion'. An example of that appeared in the anonymous 1810

   novel Splendid Follies:

 

     Ewe mutton without garnish is a tough bite, to be sure; but methinks she's

     dished herself off to day, lamb-fashion.

 

   The `dressing' of food was previously the term for the preparation of the

   item for cooking. The implication in `dressed as lamb' is that the woman had

   prepared herself for a romantic encounter. `Mutton dressed as lamb' was

   originally a disparaging description of a woman aiming to deceive men into

   believing she was younger than she really was - it being an economic

   necessity for a woman to marry while still of childbearing age.

 

   Its current usage, while still disparaging, is of a woman who is apparently

   deluded and thinks herself attractive in clothes usually worn by much those

   much younger - the motivation having changed from notions of marriageability

   to those of self-esteem.

 

- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]

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Decades ago and where I grew up, village folks, especially women above certain

age, seemed particularly concious of being seen as mutton dressed as lamb.

Trying a garment, a birthday gift from their grown-up kids, for example, the

elderly would ask, in coy disapproval, "Isn't it too young for me?" They needed

to be reassured a million times before venturing out in their new clothes.

 

But time's changed and I have migrated. I live in an age and a place where a

woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. When dames dress up, the idea

that they need anyone's consent is absurd and offensive, and it might not be men

that they are trying to impress.

where a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle:

Are you sure such place, at all, exists ? :)

Hahaha, aFunny1 & may still b true :-). But personally know

little about it (never did makeup nor lamb dressing ;-))

I thought so. At least the US after the truth was discovered

in the 70s.

Why not. I would if I were a girl, just to please myself:-)

that’s a nice joke. :-))))

But I’m already pleased & busyEnough w/o nonsense stuff ;-))

Thank you. They invented a song later and clinched it.

I'd encourage you to try getting upset about sth. There's

got to be sth., if you look hard enough :-)

Yes Bro, thanks but no thanks;-))

creepy, mutton is meat not livestock, isn't it?

Yes and 'veal' could turn one into a misanthrope.

“How can I make my boobs look bigger?” Wife asked husband

The husband is tired of this kind continuous nonsense. He became irritated "You want them bigger? I tell you what: use a roll of toilet paper. Rub your boobs. It will get bigger ". The wife is not convinced "How? How does it work?" The husband said "it worked on your a$$, didn't it?"

the husband was admitted to emergency room that evening.

The guy's not respecting self and deserves anything.