Lie back and think of England

For the article on the album by Oysterband, see Lie Back and Think of England (album).

"Lie back and think of England" is an English saying with roughly the same meaning as "grit one's teeth", i.e. put up with what is happening, though this comparison is complicated by the statement's seemingly sexual undertone. It was used both in England and among expatriates outside the country when conditions were difficult.^[1] It is given as encouragement to do something unpalatable.

Etymology

The origins of the phrase are not clear. According to one urban legend, "lie back and think of England" was an instruction given to brides or women in general in the Victorian Era regarding how to cope with the sexual demands of their husbands. While childbearing was considered a patriotic duty, women were not supposed to enjoy sexual intercourse, and brides in particular would have been ignorant of the facts thereabout. One version of this legend has it that Queen Victoria gave this instruction to her daughter on her wedding night. According to other, perhaps less reliable, urban legends,^[2] the phrase originated in the diary of Lady Alice Hillingdon (1857–1940) in 1912^[1]:

I am happy now that George calls on my bedchamber less frequently than of old. As it is, I now endure but two calls a week, and when I hear his steps outside my door I lie down on my bed, close my eyes, open my legs, and think of England.^[3]

See also

• Instruction and Advice for the Young Bride

References

1. ^ ^{a b} A Dictionary of Catch Phrases, Eric Partridge, Paul Beale, p. 75
2. ^ Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase & Fable (Sterling, 2002), ISBN 0304358711, p. 399.
3. ^ The Oxford English Dictionary cites Hillingdon's use of the phrase from Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy's Rise and Fall of the British Nanny (1972).