Citations:philopena

Noun

• 1869–1870, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1870, →OCLC:

  "I can't help it if the boys send me philopena presents, as they do to the other girls." "There was nothing about philopenas in the note."

• 1897, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “[Pudd’nhead Wilson] Chapter”, in The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson: And the Comedy Those Extraordinary Twins, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 151:

  The chairman was still standing at the front, the twins at his side. The extraordinarily close resemblance of the brothers to each other suggested a witticism to Tom Driscoll, and just as the chairman began a speech he skipped forward and said with an air of tipsy confidence to the audience: "Boys, I move that he keeps still and lets this human philopena snip you out a speech."

• 1900, Frank R. Stockton, “The Philopena” in The Novels and Stories of Frank R. Stockon: Vol. III - Stories. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1900, p. 203 and ff.:

  There were once a Prince and a Princess who, when quite young, ate a philopena together. They agreed that the one who, at any hour after sunrise the next day, should accept any thing from the other—the giver at the same time saying "Philopena!"—should be the loser, and that the loser should marry the other.

• 1976 (reprint of 1940, and quoting first decade of 20th century), quoted in David Lewis Cohn, The Good Old Days: A history of American morals and manners as seen through the Sears Roebuck catalog. Sinclair Lewis, intro. Arno Press, New York, p. 202:

  Another and highly reprehensible way of extorting a gift is to have what is called a philopena with a gentleman. This very silly joke is when a young lady, in cracking almonds, chances to find two kernels in one shell; she shares them with a beau; and whichever calls out "philopena" on their next meeting, is entitled to receive a present from the other; and she is to remind him of it till he remembers to comply. . . . There is a great want of delicacy and self-respect in philopenaism, and no lady who has a proper sense of her dignity as a lady will engage in anything of the sort.

• 1996, Thomas Mann, John E. Woods, trans. The Magic Mountain. Vintage Books, New York, p. 598:

  Indeed, one has the impression you have made a bet with Madame, a philopena, by the terms of which you are never to address her directly. You never say "you" to her, never use the pronoun, formal or informal.

  • This translates the following passage from: 1924. Thomas Mann. Der Zauberberg (here taken from the 1991 Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag edition (Frankfurt am Main), p. 832).

    Man hat, soweit Sie in Frage kommen, den Eindruck, als handelte es sich um eine Wette, als hätten Sie ein Vielliebchen mit Madame gegessen und dürften sich laut Abmachung nicht der Anredeform gegen sie bedienen. Sie vermeiden es folgerecht und ohen Ausnahme, sie anzureden. Sie sagen night »Sie« zu ihr.

• 1998, Marcel Proust. C.K. Scott Moncrieff & Terence Kilmartin, trans. In Search of Lost Time, Vol. II: Within a Budding Grove. D.J. Enright, ed. Modern Library, New York, pp. 268-269:

  But at the same time, to these animated dresses the complication of their trimmings, none of which had any practical utility or served any visible purpose, added something detached, pensive, secret, in harmony with the melancholy which Mme Swann still retained, at least in the shadows under her eyes and the drooping arches of her hands. Beneath the profusion of sapphire charms, enamelled four-leaf clovers, silver medals, gold medallions, turquoise amulets, ruby chains and topaz chestnuts there would be on the dress itself some design carried out in colour which pursued across the surface of an inserted panel a preconceived existence of its own, some row of little satin buttons which buttoned nothing and could not be unbuttoned, a strip of braid that sought to please the eye with the minuteness, the discretion of a delicate reminder; and these, as well as the jewels, gave the impression—having otherwise no possible justification—of disclosing a secret intention, being a pledge of affection, keeping a secret, ministering to a superstition, commemorating a recovery from sickness, a granted wish, a love affair or a philopena.

  • This is a translation of the following passage from: 1919. Marcel Proust. À la recherche du temps perdu: À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (Tome IV), Deuxième partie, p. 28.

    Mais en même temps, à ces robes si vives la complication des « garnitures » sans utilité pratique, sans raison d'être visible, ajoutait quelque chose de désintéressé, de pensif, de secret, qui s'accordait à la mélancolie que Mme Swann gardait toujours au moins dans la cernure de ses yeux et les phalanges de ses mains. Sous la profusion des porte-bonheur en saphir, des trèfles à quatre feuilles d'émail, des médailles d'argent, des médaillons d'or, des amulettes de turquoise, des chaînettes de rubis, des châtaignes de topaze, il y avait dans la robe elle-même tel dessin colorié poursuivant sur un empiècement rapporté son existence antérieure, telle rangée de petits boutons de satin qui ne boutonnaient rien et ne pouvaient pas se déboutonner, une soutache cherchant à faire plaisir avec la minutie, la discrétion d'un rappel délicat, lesquels, tout autant que les bijoux, avaient l'air — n'ayant sans cela aucune justification possible — de déceler une intention, d'être un gage de tendresse, de retenir une confidence, de répondre à une superstition, de garder le souvenir d'une guérison, d'un vœu, d'un amour ou d'une philippine.