First or ?
I do not know when the US started naming the wife of their President "First lady", BUT I certainly managed to guess the convention behind this naming.
While monarchies have a King, they also have a title for the King's wife, the "Queen". For countries like the US, where they always want to play things a little different from the Imperial system, they coined this 'President' for their highest authority. Then came the title for the wife of such.
Since don't-know-when other countries like Malaysia begin to mimic everything American, we also adapted the "First Lady" 'glamour' into our govt authority. and someone begin to glue that title to the wife of our Prime Minister. BUT they who did the 'propaganda' forgot about one thing. here we have monarchies, a KIng and Queen above them all. Therefore, in Malaysia, 'First' need not necessarily mean "1st", not like what they did in the US.
It is understandable that we try so hard to associate the Prime Minister's wife with this "First" title, because, we the rakyat are so VERY accustomed to the fact that "1st" is in fact NOT First.
Take note of most of the prize-awarding contests we have in Malaysia, while they have prices under titles like "1st", "2nd", "3rd", "consolation" and "special", we also have a title for the prize that sits atop, above all. That's the GRAND PRIZE.
So, NOW we know why, FIRST is actually NOT 1st.
I do not know when the US started naming the wife of their President "First lady", BUT I certainly managed to guess the convention behind this naming.
While monarchies have a King, they also have a title for the King's wife, the "Queen". For countries like the US, where they always want to play things a little different from the Imperial system, they coined this 'President' for their highest authority. Then came the title for the wife of such.
Since don't-know-when other countries like Malaysia begin to mimic everything American, we also adapted the "First Lady" 'glamour' into our govt authority. and someone begin to glue that title to the wife of our Prime Minister. BUT they who did the 'propaganda' forgot about one thing. here we have monarchies, a KIng and Queen above them all. Therefore, in Malaysia, 'First' need not necessarily mean "1st", not like what they did in the US.
It is understandable that we try so hard to associate the Prime Minister's wife with this "First" title, because, we the rakyat are so VERY accustomed to the fact that "1st" is in fact NOT First.
Take note of most of the prize-awarding contests we have in Malaysia, while they have prices under titles like "1st", "2nd", "3rd", "consolation" and "special", we also have a title for the prize that sits atop, above all. That's the GRAND PRIZE.
So, NOW we know why, FIRST is actually NOT 1st.
Well I understand from my immediate circle that we call her 1st lady not because we regard her status as the US president. No way hozay. It was meant as a sarcasm that she rules the government through her dumb @$$ husband.
ReplyDeleteMost people you know, being Malaysian and all wont use her name in public dialogue. So they insinuate to be her by saying first lady. We know, she is just a lucky @$$ wipe of the genuine first lady.
hahaha, Ali bro, you nailed it. no wonder the lucky @$$ also starts with a 'First' alphabet....
ReplyDeletefrom woody