We Are Not Amused – Victorian Views on Pronunciation as Told in the Pages of Punch

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Comment made after Salisbury lost power to Gladstone in 1892, quoted in Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion by Helen Rappaport (2003), p. 331. We are not amused' is a quotation, attributed to Queen Victoria. What's the origin of the phrase 'We are not amused'?

Esher, Viscount, ed. (1912), The Girlhood of Queen Victoria: A Selection from Her Majesty's Diaries Between the Years 1832 and 1840, London: John MurrayYou can use “ we are not amused” in several social and professional situations. At home, a parent could say it to their child when scolding them for bad behavior. Parents may say it between them if they show up late after work when the couple had plans.

In July 1900, Victoria's second son, Alfred ("Affie"), died. "Oh, God! My poor darling Affie gone too", she wrote in her journal. "It is a horrible year, nothing but sadness & horrors of one kind & another." [199] Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1831). "picture". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1832. Fisher, Son & Co. Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1831). "poetical illustration". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1832. Fisher, Son & Co. In early 1855, the government of Lord Aberdeen, who had replaced Derby, fell amidst recriminations over the poor management of British troops in the Crimean War. Victoria approached both Derby and Russell to form a ministry, but neither had sufficient support, and Victoria was forced to appoint Palmerston as prime minister. [100] The names of the little one will be, Philippe Eugène Ferdinand Marie Clement Baudoin (baldwin, a name of the old counts of Flanders) Leopold George. My aunt who is his godmother wished he should be called Philippe, honour of his grandfather, and as Philippe le bon, who was one of the most powerful princes of this country. I gave him the name with pleasure. Eugene is her own name, Ferdinand that of Chartres, Marie is the name of the queen and of princess Marie, Clement of princess Clémentine, Leopold your aunt wished and George honour of St. George of England and of George the IV. Holland doesn't claim to have been present at the dinner and is good enough to describe the account as a 'tale', that is, her account has the same standing as "a man in the pub told me".Morgan, Henry James, ed. (1903). Types of Canadian Women and of Women who are or have been Connected with Canada. Toronto: Williams Briggs. p. 1. For instance, if someone were to say an inappropriate adult joke at a kid’s birthday party, the other adults would probably be more inclined to say, “ we are not amused,” than laugh at the joke. The phrase shows a strong sentiment of discontent in the other persons or persons. Example Usage

On 23 September 1896, Victoria surpassed her grandfather GeorgeIII as the longest-reigning monarch in British history. The Queen requested that any special celebrations be delayed until 1897, to coincide with her Diamond Jubilee, [192] which was made a festival of the British Empire at the suggestion of the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain. [193] The prime ministers of all the self-governing Dominions were invited to London for the festivities. [194] One reason for including the prime ministers of the Dominions and excluding foreign heads of state was to avoid having to invite Victoria's grandson WilhelmII of Germany, who, it was feared, might cause trouble at the event. [195] The anecdote reads: "Sitting low down the table, he [Helps] described the members of the household as chatting and laughing, when the Queen—looking grimly at them—remarked, ‘We are not amused!’ which must have had a cooling effect." Connell, Brian (1962), Regina v. Palmerston: The Correspondence between Queen Victoria and her Foreign and Prime Minister, 1837–1865, London: Evans Brothers Family of Queen Victoria, spanning the reigns of her grandfather, George III, to her grandson, George V Assassin's Creed Syndicate London Stories - Queen Victoria Memories". Prima Games. 30 October 2015 . Retrieved 24 August 2016.In 1972 Charles Strouse wrote a musical, I and Albert, [22] which was presented in the West End at the Piccadilly Theatre on 6 November 1972. The musical was not a success and did not transfer as planned to Broadway. It remains notable chiefly as Sarah Brightman's stage debut. Victoria’s other significant contribution to the quotation books was “I will be good,” said as a young girl when told where she stood in the line of royal succession. Snappy, eh? The Straight Dope research department is glad Victoria alphabetically comes immediately before Gore Vidal, who, upon being asked what might have happened if Khrushchev and not Kennedy had been assassinated in 1963, said, “With history one can never be certain, but I think I can safely say that Aristotle Onassis would not have married Mrs. Khrushchev.” Were Victoria alive today, even she would have been amused. Dyson, Hope; Tennyson, Charles, eds. (1969), Dear and Honoured Lady: The Correspondence between Queen Victoria and Alfred Tennyson, London: Macmillan She had made the monarchy welcome everywhere, as the representative of the public life of the nation in its non-political aspects. All through her reign, but most of all during its last twenty years, she had appealed to the common human heart of plain people, as a woman who was herself decidedly a "plain person," more apt than the clever, the cultured or the aristocratic of soul to sympathise with the elementary joys and sorrows of her subjects. When she said that she was grieved by some public or private calamity, people knew that her sorrow was sincere, and of the same nature as their own. There was nothing superfine about Queen Victoria in her widowhood. None the less, she made the world recognise in her the symbol of all that was mighty and lasting in the life of England and of the races associated with England in Empire. Because she thus combined the very human and the very high, sentiment about her person became, at the end, akin to the religious. And for an Empire which desired to hold together in brotherhood, but refused to be federated into a single parliamentary Constitution, the only possible unit, in symbolism or in law, was found at last to be the historic Crown of Britain. Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1836). "poetical illustration". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837. Fisher, Son & Co. Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1836). "picture". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837. Fisher, Son & Co.