I’ve come across this expression a few times, mostly in Pratchett books : a woman who “does”. Not does something, just does.
I assume it’s some Cockneyism or popular slang, but what does it mean ? Google is of no help whatsoever, as should be expected with such a broad search.
She does housework, for pay, in other people’s households – especially cleaning, but possibly also cooking, etc.
ETA: It’s not cockney, or even particularly colloquial, but it may be a bit old-fashioned.
Well, that was fast. Thanks !
It’s not limited to the UK, either; it’s an expression in use in my Mid-Western family.
–Cliffy
If someone is going to do for you, it’s much better to have Mrs. Miggins than Mad Harold.
I don’t know, I’ve always suspected Mrs Miggins of stealing the silverware. The worst that Mad Harold does is re-arrange the furniture, so you get beds in the dining room and the dining table in the conservatory. I don’t mind sleeping in the dining room and eating dinner in the conservatory: it makes an interesting change.
Yep, in the context you describe, it means she does housework.
In the Midwestern dialect that Cliffy and I are both conversant in, it means doing any kind of favor of giving help. Site Bob Dylan’s song Forever Young, “may you always do for others, and lets others do for you”.
Unless she done em all in.
I don’t recall reading this in Pratchett. (Which I usually read with attention for the hidden jokes.) Do you remember an example?
I’m currently re-re-re reading Making Money. At one point (which prompted the thread), the Patrician is waiting on Moist von Lipwig in the Post Office, passing time by giving a hand to the people in the department that tries to deliver mail the address of which isn’t clear or, as usual in Ankh Morpork, insane. One of the letters is addressed to “Mrs. Something wot does, Dolly Sisters”
ETA : IIRC, there’s also an example in Feet of Clay, but I can’t be arsed to check right now. Bugger it for a game of soljers ! 
Well, always remember that good girls don’t.
Is this the same Mrs. Miggins who sells those suspicious looking sausages often mistaken for a horse’s thingy?
Nope, it’s the one from the song “Whoops Mrs. Miggins, You’re Sitting On My Artichokes”.
There was a massively popular radio show in the late '30s/'40s on the BBC called “It’s That Man Again” (a reference to Hitler); “ITMA” featured a rotating series of regular characters who basically were the excuse for various catchphrases.
Mrs. Mopp was the host’s (Tommy Handley) charwoman, who always entered with “Can I do you now, sir?” There then followed a long string of malaprops.
Well into the 1960s, you could hear folks using the catchprases in the UK in everyday life. The show probably rivalled Monty Python for the number of catchprases popularised.
Comely Brazilian model Lola Bezerra (photo maybe NSFW notwithstanding that her breasts are obscured by technology) has apparently made a ‘qualitative switch’ from footballers to tennis players. Quoted in The Observer yesterday, Lola speaks:
Recently I did Juan Martín Del Potro. He was rather tall which made matters a little awkward, and I had to pay for my own taxi afterwards, but he was still more dignified than footballers. I am decided. From now, I will only do tennis players.
Unless ‘fuck’ in Portuguese translates to ‘do’ in English, this is probably a translation error. Furthermore, while I am here, I have to say that Del Potro should have paid for the taxi.