# Definition and origin of "pearl-clutching"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 21, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definition-and-origin-of-pearl-clutching/300417 "2005-04-21T14:26:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definition-and-origin-of-pearl-clutching/300417/1 "2005-04-21T14:26:46Z")
SDMB archives and Google haven’t shed much light, so I’d like to ask the masses if you could explain what **“pearl-clutching”** means? From context I’m guessing it’s similar to “bluenose” or “puritanical.” Any help with definition and origin would be appreciated. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definition-and-origin-of-pearl-clutching/300417/2 "2005-04-21T14:30:22Z")
I apologize for not having a definitive answer, but I always just assumed it had to do with the stereotypical image of an uptight, puritanical woman clutching at her pearls when ruffled or morally mortified. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definition-and-origin-of-pearl-clutching/300417/3 "2005-04-21T14:42:14Z")
There is an expression or two that refer to one’s virginity as a pearl. This is just another wild guess. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definition-and-origin-of-pearl-clutching/300417/4 "2005-04-21T15:05:02Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > I apologize for not having a definitive answer, but I always just assumed it had to do with the stereotypical image of an uptight, puritanical woman clutching at her pearls when ruffled or morally mortified. I agree with this answer. It’s the first mental image that came to me when I read the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definition-and-origin-of-pearl-clutching/300417/5 "2005-04-21T15:32:39Z")
The expression refers specifically to a _pearl necklace_, which is seen as the type of ornamentation worn by a woman who is old-fashioned, staid, prissy, conservative, or just plain [unfashionable](http://photos1.blogger.com/img/7/1314/1024/marge.jpg). Think of the frumpy dress of someone like Dana Carvey’s [Church Lady character](http://us.ent4.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/tv_pix/nbc/saturday_night_live_episode_photos/_group_photos/ana_gasteyer33.jpg), who doesn’t happen to wear pearls, but does have the unfashionable hairstyle, eyeglasses, and neck-to-ankle drab, shapeless outfit. Such women are supposedly easily shocked or mortified by “vulgar” displays of lewdness or intimacy and in their anxiety, they might clutch at or fiddle with their pearl necklaces. That’s the image being invoked. > [@](#): > > There is an expression or two that refer to one’s virginity as a pearl. This is just another wild guess. That’s not what’s being referenced. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definition-and-origin-of-pearl-clutching/300417/6 "2005-04-21T15:57:45Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > The expression refers specifically to a _pearl necklace_, which is seen as the type of ornamentation worn by a woman who is old-fashioned, staid, prissy, conservative, or just plain [unfashionable](http://photos1.blogger.com/img/7/1314/1024/marge.jpg). Well, _really!_ [Simultaneously clutches pearls and glares through lorgnette] ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definition-and-origin-of-pearl-clutching/300417/7 "2005-04-21T16:01:12Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > The expression refers specifically to a _pearl necklace_, which is seen as the type of ornamentation worn by a woman who is old-fashioned, staid, prissy, conservative, or just plain [unfashionable](http://photos1.blogger.com/img/7/1314/1024/marge.jpg). Think of the frumpy dress of someone like Dana Carvey’s [Church Lady character](http://us.ent4.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/tv_pix/nbc/saturday_night_live_episode_photos/_group_photos/ana_gasteyer33.jpg), who doesn’t happen to wear pearls, but does have the unfashionable hairstyle, eyeglasses, and neck-to-ankle drab, shapeless outfit. Do you have a cite for this, or are you going on contextual use? ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definition-and-origin-of-pearl-clutching/300417/8 "2005-04-21T16:06:40Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Well, _really!_ > > [Simultaneously clutches pearls and glares through lorgnette] Hoardes of indignant dowagers are going to descend on **ascenray** glaring through their lorgnettes and saying "Well, _really!_. Then **ascenray** will be beaten about the head with strands of one, three and five pearls. I am glad I am not **ascenray**! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definition-and-origin-of-pearl-clutching/300417/9 "2005-04-21T16:37:39Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > Hoardes of indignant dowagers are going to descend on **ascenray**. . . " . . . I vill show the vorld that I can be its mistress. I shall perfect my own rice of pipple—a rice of indignant dowagers vhich vill _conquer the vorld!_" ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definition-and-origin-of-pearl-clutching/300417/10 "2005-04-28T20:13:00Z")
To “clutch your pearls” means to be alarmed or suddenly dismayed – to “get excited” as in “Don’t get excited.” The definition I read for it referenced it as being “from the prima donna’s clutching her pearls when she hits a wrong note.” ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definition-and-origin-of-pearl-clutching/300417/11 "2012-01-21T03:42:58Z")
This thread was referenced in _Slate_! > **[How Did “Pearl Clutching” Become a Feminist Blog Cliché?](https://slate.com/human-interest/2012/01/pearl-clutching-how-the-phrase-became-a-feminist-blog-cliche.html)** > > Unless you’re former First Lady Barbara Bush, pearls may not be in style. But accusing people of clutching them is. Powers &8^]