# What does "clipping diamonds" mean? (Brideshead Revisited)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-clipping-diamonds-mean-brideshead-revisited/996338>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 19, 2024, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-clipping-diamonds-mean-brideshead-revisited/996338 "2024-01-19T15:07:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-clipping-diamonds-mean-brideshead-revisited/996338/1 "2024-01-19T15:07:26Z")

</div>

[possible spoiler for a 1945 novel]

In _Brideshead Revisited_, one of the characters becomes spiritually convicted of their own sin. This person [says](https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/waughe-bridesheadrevisited1945/waughe-bridesheadrevisited1945-00-h.html):

> “_Living in sin_, with sin, by sin, for sin, every hour, every day, year in, year out. Waking up with sin in the morning, seeing the curtains drawn on sin, bathing it, dressing it, **clipping diamonds to it** , feeding it, showing it round, giving it a good time, putting it to sleep at night with a tablet of Dial if it’s fretful.”

I get the thrust of the passage. But what on earth’s “clipping diamonds”?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-clipping-diamonds-mean-brideshead-revisited/996338/2 "2024-01-19T15:14:16Z")

</div>

Adorning it with diamonds.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-clipping-diamonds-mean-brideshead-revisited/996338/3 "2024-01-19T15:20:35Z")

</div>

Oh, duh. Thank you. All I could think of was cutting little diamond shapes out of a piece of paper with scissors, like clipping a recipe or a news item.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-clipping-diamonds-mean-brideshead-revisited/996338/4 "2024-01-19T17:11:27Z")

</div>

Diamond clip brooches were particularly fashionable accessories in 1920s and 1930s.

[The History of Dress Clips - AC Silver](https://www.acsilver.co.uk/shop/pc/The-History-of-Dress-Clips-d417.htm)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-clipping-diamonds-mean-brideshead-revisited/996338/5 "2024-01-19T22:20:45Z")

</div>

Could also refer to clip on earrings.