From Wikipedia
SWMBO comes from She: A History of Adventure, a novel by H. Rider Haggard
The title is short for "She Who Must Be Obeyed", a translation of the Arabic honorific used for Ayesha by the Amahagger, a tribe whom she has enslaved. (The phrase acquired additional significance in British popular culture as the name by which John Mortimer's character Horace Rumpole refers to his wife.)
SWMBO subsequently rose to worldwide fame on the Honest John website.
The last line has yet to be added!
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was it not used by Rumpole ? I think that that is where I first came across it. As opposed to Arfur Daily's 'Er Indoors.
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The Rider Haggard origin seems correct. To put a little more detail on why an "honorific" was used in the novel and not a name, here is an outline of the background:
During the height of the Victorian era, Henry Rider Haggard wrote a series of thrilling adventures set in Africa, then known as the dark continent. One of these was entitled King Soloman's (sic) Mines. The story concerned the search for the lost tribe of King Soloman (sic) and their diamond mines. The leader of the tribe was the mysterious and ageless Ayesha. Her subjects were forbidden to call her by her real name. They could only call her “She.” She had the power of life and death over her subjects, therefore She was most often refered to as “She, who must be obeyed.”
I did once read the novel, many years ago!
The point is that "SWMBO" jocularly refers to a female "significant other" whose influence over the male is terrifying and absolute... At least, I assume it's jocular... :-)
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The Rider Haggard origin seems correct.
I agree especially by chance Rider Haggard was the subject of a BBC2 program 1120 last night and SWMBO was well covered.
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I can be a real pedant:-)
"One of these was entitled King Soloman's (sic) Mines. The story concerned the search for the lost tribe of King Soloman (sic) and their diamond mines. The leader of the tribe was the mysterious and ageless Ayesha. Her subjects were forbidden to call her by her real name. They could only call her "She." She had the power of life and death over her subjects, therefore She was most often refered to as "She, who must be obeyed." "
Well yes it was by Rider Haggard. But not in King Solomon's mines..Ayesha was in "SHE" .. based in Africa but reached through malaria infested swamps whilst King Solomon's Mines were reached after crossing a very high dessert and then mountains.
Pedantry rules ok:-)
SWMBO dislikes literary allusions which are incorrect.
madf
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