I’ve seen this usage in a few books I’ve read. The writer will mention a lady by her name, say, “Beulah Pennypacker.” Later on in the story he will speak of “La Pennypacker.”
I note that “La” is the feminine article in Spanish and maybe French, which may or may not relate to the usage of this term.
Is this some extremely formal and/or extremely archaic way of referring to women? Is it used in polite society today (and I, being a middle-class schmoe from central Illinois would never have occasion to hear its use)? Is it only used in reference to unmarried women?
Please fill me in on this colorful way of addressing someone. I can’t wait to see the looks I get the next time I use this in conversation!
Romance languages use articles before concept terms where in English we would not. For example, the French talk about l’amour and l’argent, not just amour and argent. With people, it has to do with force of personality. The more outsize the personality, the more the persona resembles an abstraction, a concept, a force of nature.
Well, I grew up speaking french, and I’ve never heard it used in that language. It may be one of those things that gets used in English, drawn from a completely different usage in French.
Now, La Dame Pennypacker is an overly formal way of intruducing “The Lady Pennypacker”.
In Spanish, you use the article “la” o “el” to introduce a person. Thus, instead of saying “Señor Smith es inteligente / Señora Smith es inteligente” you would say "El señor Smith es inteligente / La señora Smith es inteligente " (Mr. Smith is intelligent / Mrs. Smith is intelligent).
Regarding french, here’s my WAG:
–If you refer to a person directly by his/her name, you don’t use the article:
Madame Chirac est belle. (Mrs. Chirac is beautiful).
–If you refer to a person identifying his/her by using a descriptive quality instead of their name, then you would use the corresponding article (le/la):
La femme de Jacques Chirac est belle. (Jacques Chirac’s wife is beautiful).
This WAG would seem to be reinforced by these literary examples:
“Madame Bovary” rather than “La Madame Bovary”. (Gustave Flauvert) (sp?).
“La dame aux Camelies” instead of “Dame aux Camelies” (Alexandre Dumas fils).
Just for the record, I have actually no idea whether Madame Chirac is beautiful or not. Judging by the looks on her husband, I would tend to imagine she is not.
I’ve seen it used to refer sarcastically to an opera star or actress who speaks of herself as the absolute greatest, demands near-worship and insists that everyone cater to her every whim just because of her talent. Maybe it’s short for “the great”, meant sarcastically.
This is a distinctly old-fashioned sort of thing. To call a woman “La ___” is to say that they are a prima donna who makes too many demands. If you use it, you’ll either not be understood at all or you’ll be slapped by the woman for the insult.
Well, to be fair, that is not necessarily so. For instance, in Nicaragua (where I was born), most people refer to a female using the article “la” preceding the name. This is common practice in colloquial speach, and in no way is considered pejorative.
Oddly enough, the article is only used to refer to women, not men. Thus, you would be correct to say (in Nicaragua):
“La María is mi amiga” (Mary is my friend), but it would be incorrect (and very odd indeed), if you were to say:
“El Carlos es mi amigo.” The correct form would be “Carlos es mi amigo” (Carlos is my friend).
To be fair, I’m pretty sure this is a particularly nicaraguan usage. I’ve lived most of my life in Costa Rica and such slang is completely non existant (I, myself, only use it among family members, and would indeed get very odd looks if I were to employ it in conversation with a native Costarican).
In fact, in my contact with spanish speakers original from other countries, I have never found evidence of this usage, which would seem to confirm its uniqueness to Nicaragua.
My 2 shares of Enron, anyway.
Minor correction:
Since I’m posting again to this thread, I’ll like to correct a typo made on a previous post. I wrote:
[WAVES JEDI HAND]
Assume I wrote "If you refer to a person identifying HIM/her…
> For instance, in Nicaragua (where I was born), most people
> refer to a female using the article “la” preceding the name.
Perhaps that’s true in Nicaraguan Spanish, but in English the only cases where I’ve heard someone referred to as “La ___” are cases where the implication was that the woman was a prima donna. And I think this expression is distinctly old-fashioned in English. It sounds like something a '50’s gossip columnist would use to refer to an actress that the columnist didn’t like.
To HeyHomie (OPoster): I’m intrigued by this question! Can you give examples of specific books? Were you reading in the author’s original language, or an English translation? If the latter, it might be the specific translator’s convention ? Example, I think I remember seeing “La Merteuil” for “Lady Merteuil” in English translations of “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”, but I would be interested to know the specifics that sparked your question!
I think you are on the right track. Sounds likely that when “prima donna” was assimilated by the English language, it came with the article included: “la prima donna.” Eventually, as it gained wider acceptance, it changed to “prima donna,” losing the article to better reflect the way English works.
For reasons unknown, the more presumptuous-sounding Italian form remained in use (albeit in a less ubiquitous way), but only to emphasize the prima donna quality of a particularly snobbish lady.
I imagine this “Pennypacker” lady must have been quite a primadonna to be called “La Pennypacker."
It’s used in the Nero Wolfe books. Nero’s legman, Archie Goodwin, has a more-or-less exclusive relationship with a rich society babe named Lily Rowan. Archie will often refer to her as “La Rowan.” He doesn’t seem to use it perjoratively (is that a word?).
In the book I’m reading now, The Missing Chapter (by Stout’s successor, Robert Goldsborough), Archie has just finished interviewing a young woman by the name of… uh… we’ll call her Eunice Horseapple. She doesn’t seem to be particularly demanding or self-important in the interview. Nonetheless, when Archie refers to her again, he calls her “La Horseapple.”
