Subj : Drawing room
To   : alexander koryagin
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Fri Nov 10 2017 21:28:20

Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Carol Shenkenberger:

 ak>  But what about a "woman cave"?


          In 1929 Virginia Woolf wrote a book called A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN, which 
doesn't seem to have captured the popular imagination to the extent John Gray's 
"Mars & Venus" series did later.

          This thread began with your question about the term "drawing room"... 
a good question AFAIC because various people interpret it in various ways.  But 
whether e.g. we're alluding to the Czar of Russia & the Queen of England, or to 
John & Jane Doe who reside in more modest digs, the same rule of thumb applies: 
human beings of both genders need some sort of private space.  If a bathroom or 
an outhouse with a lock on the door is the only space available they may indeed 
seek it as a refuge when they want to be alone for awhile.  In situations where 
mixed company is involved, however, things often break down along gender lines. 
It was usual when I was growing up for the adult females to stay in the kitchen 
& wash the dinner dishes while the adult males took over the living room.  That 
is another way of obtaining privacy when space is limited.  But one may not get 
a lot more choice in the matter even now than Victorian ladies with servants to 
handle the wreckage did when the guys took over the dining room & the gals were 
banished to the drawing room.  As adults, Dallas & I have often found that when 
we make friends with somebody & invite them to dinner their spouse doesn't have 
any interest in the conversational topics which brought the rest of us together
.... meaning I'm forced to talk cooking & sewing or he's forced to talk football 
because there will be no such visits in future if the Other Half is bored.  :-Q




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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