The best example I can think of is when a government minister misbehaves (eg is discovered naked in a brothel; writes a shopping list on the back of a confidential paper, and leave in in Tesco's; goes on a cruise and charges it to expenses. You get the idea). The first thing that happens is that he announces that he "has no intention of resigning". And then follows the real kiss of death; the Prime Minster says the minister "has his full support". What chilling words are those, for invariably, the minister resigns within (about) a week.
On the more domestic front, it is the kiss of death:
If I choose, for a (rare) dinner party, to make something that has to be "turned out" of a mould. "Leave until set, and then invert onto a plate", says the recipe, with Delia/Nigella insouciance. The reality: leave until it appears set, and then invert onto the floor (if I don't miss the plate, the thing invariably collapses).
If I splash out on something expensive. It always, always turns up in the sales a week later, at half the price.
If I really, really look forward to a special holiday. It will pour with rain. Always. Even (and especially) in the kind of place where one is told "but it NEVER rains here at this time of year!"
Of course, all these last could just be put down to sod's law (or what my father elegantly called "the law of undesirable conincidences"). But somehow "kiss of death" has more cache.
How true Frances, How true! If I was a minister caught with my knickers in a twist and the PM said you'll have my full support.. I would burst into tear and run for my life, because I'll know my career was over.
ReplyDeleteA great posting!
Maybe you should look at the glass and decide it's half full and say it's the kiss of life!! Then perhaps good things will follow - or maybe not....
ReplyDeleteOh how true, Frances! I always laugh when the PM says "so and so has my full support" - you know their days are numbered for sure! x
ReplyDeleteI can hardly keep up with your A-Z challenge postings Frances. All fascinating. I can't get the theme tune from Goldfinger out of my brain now - the bit that says 'the kiss of death for Mr Goldfinger'.
ReplyDeleteOh that 'buy something which then is reduced shortly after' really bugs me too! That's why I wait for the sales now.
ReplyDeletenever thought of using 'kiss of death' in that sense, but it seems to fit:)
ReplyDeleteNutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
Happy A-Zing!
By nature I'm the eternal optimist whose glass is always half full. However I've read this whilst I'm waiting for friends to turn up for dinner. He is a chef. All of a sudden I'm having feelings of anxiety.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Never cook anything that can't be scraped up off the kitchen worksurface when the cackhanded cook (me) has done her thing, and served as perfect.
ReplyDeleteAs for the rain threat, I'm hardly allowing myself even to acknowledge that we're going to Croatia in the summer (our first foreign holiday as a family barring family-visiting in France) lest the rain clouds begin to gather in anticipation...
Jarmara, you are wiser than most politicians!
ReplyDeleteGood thought, Pat!
Teresa, yes. They then go on to get a six figure advance for their memoirs, while proper writers like us.....sigh.
Maggie, I'm having problems keeping it up myself. Only 15 more to go...
Ah, but thats where sod's law kicks in, Rosemary. If you wait for the sales they will have sold out in your size. Always.
Thanks, Nutschell!
GB, you're a braver person than I am. Cooking for a chef? Shudder!
Alis, it'll be fine. It's just me, I'm sure. I should be paid to dance in the desert. It would fill all the oases in no time at all, and be wonderful publicity for my books (" great new novel by rain dancer". Can't you just see it?)
ReplyDeleteThis made me laugh - especially the bits about kitchen moulds (been there, done that) and the 'law of undesirable coincidences'!
ReplyDeleteI think I have your molded dish K of D! I'm trying to visit all the A-Z Challenge Blogs this month.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Biddy!
ReplyDeleteSharkbytes, you've set yourself more than an A to Z challenge in visiting them (us) all. Congratulations!
It is always the kiss of death literally when I ask my husband if a famous person is dead.
ReplyDeleteI'll say I'm not sure if so-and-so is still alive and my husband will say, "He won't be now."
And it's amazing how often the death of the unfortunate celebrity has actually followed. The one I remember was Joyce Grenfell. I was convinced she was no longer alive and two days later she wasn't. And I have no idea why I suddenly thought of her. Spooky.
Fabulous post, Frances.