Trophy wife
Trophy wife is an expression used to describe a wife, usually young and attractive, who is regarded as a status symbol for the husband, who is often older and affluent.
History
The term's etymological origins are disputed. One claim is that trophy wife originally appeared in a 1950 issue of The Economist magazine, referring to the historical practice of warriors capturing the most beautiful women during battle to bring home as wives. William Safire claimed that the term trophy wife was coined by Julie Connelly, a senior editor of Fortune magazine, in a cover story in the issue of Aug. 28, 1989 and immediately entered common usage. Many sources claim the term was coined earlier (for example, the Online Etymology Dictionary cites 1984 but easy online access to William Safire's article about the term has led many (such as Oxford English Dictionary) to believe that August 28, 1989 was its first use.
A trophy wife is a woman with her own career who a man marries for the purpose of increasing his status. The main characteristics are that she is beautiful, desirable and an object of admiration. She is a status symbol (hence ‘trophy’) in much the same way as an expensive sports car, a pricey wristwatch or a luxury apartment.
Comedian Stephen Wright once quipped, "A friend of mine has a trophy wife. But from the looks of her, it wasn't first place". [Note 1]
The marriage of former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith to oil billionaire J. Howard Marshall was widely followed by the US mass media as an extreme example of this concept. At the time of their marriage, he was 89 years old and she was 26.
See also
Notes
- ↑ My father said, "Second place is just best of losers"
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