Think of England

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Lirmak

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Is "Lie back and think of England" an idiom? Do Americans use it? I have heard that the origin of this phrase is not sex but giving birth. Is it correct?
 
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5jj

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No.

The urban myth is that, in the days before sex education was regarded as desirable/essential, the advice from the mother of a bride on the night before the wedding was something like "Your future husband is, unfortunately, male. So, despite the fact that he is a wonderful, respectable, British gentleman, and that he truly loves you, he still sometimes feels disgusting urges. When that happens, ease the pain by closing your eyes and thinking of every patriotic Englishwoman's first thought - our wonderful country".

It was assumed, until some time in the 1950s/1960s, that sexual intercourse was necessary to produce the next generation, but was (disgustingly) pleasant for men and rather sordid for women.

Even in the swinging sixties, many mothers were unable to talk about the facts of life with their daughters. A friend (female) of mine got married in 1968. Her mother, at the appropriate time, had told her how to deal with the monthly 'curse' that afflicts women, but had never spoken about sex. On the night before my friend's wedding, her mother, very embarrassed, said "I suppose, with modern education and what not, you know what's going to happen to you tomorrow night?" My friend, who did indeed know, and had enjoyed anticipating her wedding night, blushingly told her mother that she had the general idea. Relieved that she did not have to spell out the sordid details, the mother said, "Right, you know that then. All I'll say is that if you don't want a baby yet, get up and go to the toilet as soon as you can after he's had his way. A quick pee normally sorts it."

Sadly, I suspect that this sort of thing is still going on, though 'Lie back and think of England' would impress few new brides today.
 

Lirmak

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Thank you for your reply. However I have found this
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...y-think-England-hubby-Wayne-play-Ukraine.html
It has nothing to do with sex.
I also would like to confess that I have come to this forum to hear the feedback and promote my own website with 'video idioms'. You probably realized it and deleted all. BTW everything was free of charge and ad-free.
But I am also an English Language maniac and I will stay here even though my initial goal was promotion. I know now that I can get a lot of interesting information from experts and native speakers. I live in Siberia and I am sure you feel that I am not native English speaker. The question about "Think of England" being an idiom is really interesing for me because my video collection is vast. It contains such 'jewels' as 'front burner' and 'back burner' but are they idioms? I am not a professional linguist to tell the difference but these words are being used at least by CNN anchors. That is why I called my website idiophrases. BTW does it sound weird to the ear of the native speaker? I really need a lot of advice from the wise people. For 15 years I have done tremendous work cutting out words and sentences. Here's what I have done for Russians - the-english-patient.com
It's also free and there is not a single ad in it.
 
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