fairy godmother

[thedaffodils]

Hi! I've watched some cartoons, and I have a little idea about "fairy godmother" from them. And I have a difintion about it from an online dictionary as below.

fairy godmother
Noun
a generous friend who appears unexpectedly and offers help in time of trouble

fairy godmother - definition of fairy godmother by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

But I am not very clear about it in English. Could someone please answer the questions about it for me?

Q1: The word of "godmother" gives me an image of a woman who is not young, at least she is middle-aged in my imagination. Gould "fairy godmother" refert to a very young woman, such as, a 16-year-old?

If a 16-year-old girl helped a 30-year-old, can the 30-year-old say, "Thank you, you are my fairy godmother."?

Q2: Is there a vis-a-vis term-"fairy godfather" which refers to a man? Or can I use "fairy godmother" to refer to a man? The denifition of the dictionary doesn't indicate the benefactor should be a female.


Many thanks!

[Barb_D]

As an idiom, it can apply to anyone who unexpectedly appears (as though by magic) to provide an answer to your problems. I suppose with a male, you could say "fairy godfather."

[thedaffodils]

Hi Barb_D,

You're a fairy godmother.

[Barb_D]

Just FYI, another idiom you might enjoy is "knight in shining amour."

That's someone else who comes "riding in to the rescue."

It can also be your ideal man, if you're a woman.

[thedaffodils]

Just FYI, another idiom you might enjoy is "knight in shining amour."
It can also be your ideal man, if you're a woman.

It's interesting to learn this. It reminds me of Prince Charming.

Thank you for teaching me this.