Some whispers went around last week that someone in your correspondent's circle is the son of a Lord.
I needed this explained to me. What, exactly, makes you a Lord? Does this make my acquaintance a Lord? Is it anything like being a Knight? Do you have a say in Parliament? And, for goodness' sake, since when have there still been things like Lords in the twenty-first century?
One friend (who is a subject of Her Majesty, though not English) tried to explain: "It's kind of like the Kennedy family in America."
I thought back. Sure, they're the most famous political family we have. But, no disrespect to the Kennedy family, but they're also famous for various assassinations and the occasional scandal on Martha's Vineyard. Plus, when John F. Kennedy was elected president, it was under much suspicion - he was the first Catholic in office, and many thought he would be answering to the Pope.
"No," I disagreed. "I don't think we would consider the Kennedys anything close to a Lord."
For lack of a better analogy, we let the subject drop, and to this day I'm still not entirely sure what a Lord is.
As I found out, however, they are definitely still alive and well in the United Kingdom. I booked myself a flight to Morocco last week, and as I was entering in my passenger information, a drop-down menu offered me a choice of honorifics - Doctor, Mister, Miss, Ms, Mrs . . . Lord . . . Lady?
As tempted as I was to fly as Lady Your Correspondent, something tells me this sort of joke would be strongly frowned upon, and I'm not crazy enough to try. After all, as the expression goes, I'm no Jack Kennedy.
I needed this explained to me. What, exactly, makes you a Lord? Does this make my acquaintance a Lord? Is it anything like being a Knight? Do you have a say in Parliament? And, for goodness' sake, since when have there still been things like Lords in the twenty-first century?
One friend (who is a subject of Her Majesty, though not English) tried to explain: "It's kind of like the Kennedy family in America."
I thought back. Sure, they're the most famous political family we have. But, no disrespect to the Kennedy family, but they're also famous for various assassinations and the occasional scandal on Martha's Vineyard. Plus, when John F. Kennedy was elected president, it was under much suspicion - he was the first Catholic in office, and many thought he would be answering to the Pope.
"No," I disagreed. "I don't think we would consider the Kennedys anything close to a Lord."
For lack of a better analogy, we let the subject drop, and to this day I'm still not entirely sure what a Lord is.
As I found out, however, they are definitely still alive and well in the United Kingdom. I booked myself a flight to Morocco last week, and as I was entering in my passenger information, a drop-down menu offered me a choice of honorifics - Doctor, Mister, Miss, Ms, Mrs . . . Lord . . . Lady?
As tempted as I was to fly as Lady Your Correspondent, something tells me this sort of joke would be strongly frowned upon, and I'm not crazy enough to try. After all, as the expression goes, I'm no Jack Kennedy.
Awesome!!!
ReplyDeletei wish everyone skips his line to put the lords on the back seat!!!1