lady what?

[calimac]

A lot of recent news I don't have much to say on. I'm sorry that Christine McVie died, and shouldn't have been as surprised as I was to learn that she was 79. Fleetwood Mac was very popular when I was at university, and I got to recognize a few of their songs, though they never made a big impact on me.

Nor can I make much useful commentary on the late Queen's lady-in-waiting who kept pressing a black guest as to where in Africa she was really from, even after the guest explained that she was a born and bred Londoner. I could sort of understand if it had been asking where her ancestors were from, though even that would be rather tasteless, as it still bears the assumption you're not real: but also because, unless one has a special interest in Africa (don't laugh, some do), such deep background goes far beyond polite conversational inquiry.

But what puzzled me in the news articles is that the lady-in-waiting was sometimes called Lady Susan Hussey, or Lady Susan for short, and sometimes Lady Hussey. Which is it? You can't be both, not at the same time. But even the British news sources, which really ought to be capable of getting this straight, treated them as interchangeable.

It turns out, if Wikipedia is to be trusted (which it isn't, not entirely), that she's the daughter of an earl, so she would have started out as Lady Susan. Then her husband was given a life peerage, so that made her Lady Hussey. Oh god. But no longer "Lady Susan" after that point, is that clear? What she's been since her husband died, I'm not sure. If he'd had a hereditary peerage passed on to the next generation, she'd be the Dowager Lady Hussey, but in the absence of that I'm not sure what she is if anything. Not working at the Palace any more, that's for damn sure.

Comments

[cmcmck]

Given the colour of my face, she wouldn't have asked me where my ancestors are from which is the real problem with that episode and as you know, the answer might have been quite complex.

She also touched Ngozi Fulani's hair as if she were some sort of doll which I find utterly nauseating!

[wild_patience]

OMG, she touched her hair? That's a huge no-no. I guess queens can get away with stuff.

[cmcmck]

So it seems.

That really made me feel sick.

Being of the long hired persuasion, I've experienced this myself.

[wild_patience]

You remember my former co-worker Ercan? For someone who was Not From Here, he was amazingly rude when speaking on the phone to people like IT support. He was originally from Cypress, raised in Britain, and had a British accent. He would ask guys with an Indian accent where they were "really from" and what their "real name" was.

My understanding is that in some of these call centers in other countries, the workers are assigned more American-sounding names like Bob whether they like it or not. Ercan was the stereotypical Ph.D. without a clue about how to be a decent human being.

[voidampersand]

Fleetwood Mac had three great eras. The original blues band with Peter Green. Then with Christine McVie on board as a musician and one of the songwriters, moving towards pop. Then the American version where they added Buckingham and Nicks and became superstars. "Black Magic Woman" is a Peter Green song. "Homeward Bound" is by Christine McVie. I like all three versions of the band. Everyone knows about the third version. A few know about Peter Green. But the middle version when they were forming their sound but before they became popular was great too.

[calimac]

The popular era I referred to is of course what you call the third version. I was a little surprised when I first learned that the band had had a long history already. And if I'd been more attracted to their then-current work I might have investigated that history.