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After five years, I reopened the topic of moving this to "That's what she said." The majority of the page talks about that's what she said rather than said the actress to the bishop and it's popular context. As I have seen, there's only one sentence that describes the history behind this and there are almost little to no quotes of said the actress to the bishop. UrbanDictionary has victored over us in website trafficking (they get 40,000 more views monthly)!
DoctorSpeed (
talk)
21:32, 27 November 2017 (UTC)reply
Which part of the subject accounts for more of the article's current content has no bearing on what the title of the article should be. I'm not impressed with the "support" arguments in the previous proposal, either. It's just a lot of anecdotal claims, which are even more meaningless in this case than usual because, as the article itself notes, the two expressions are used regionally.--
Martin IIIa (
talk)
01:51, 1 June 2018 (UTC)reply
@
Martin IIIa: Also, I've been seeing that you have a tendency to be a hothead and love to be disrespectful to others, especially on your talk page. I suggest you watch it, before someone decides to take further action towards your behavior. To reiterate— do not bring that behavior to my talk page. Thank you.
DoctorSpeed (
talk)
19:47, 28 July 2018 (UTC)reply
Oppose This was always a
British English phrase, and while less common now it is still used in a tongue in cheek manner. Americans have a different sense of humour and TWSS means nothing at all to me. Each page can link to the other.
78.16.70.89 (
talk)
07:18, 14 August 2019 (UTC)reply
As usual, another one of those pages where somebody with a British bias decides to make even something that is universally popular like ‘That’s why she she said’ into something that is British. I thought Big 4 in tennis was bad but this is insanity.
StaySafe2020 (
talk)
12:33, 27 November 2020 (UTC)reply
Deletion
This article should NOT be deleted. This is a very common British expression indicating the 'double entendre'.
I also disagree. As an English person, I never once in my entire childhood heard "Said the actress to the bishop". For comparison "That's what she said" was so common in my school and area it was so overused it was almost unbearable. "That's what she said" is definitely more common even in Britain, and "Said the actress to the bishop" is used only in Britain. Google trends probably doesn't count as any kind of source, but just to illustrate my point take a look:
https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=that%27s%20what%20she%20said,%20said%20the%20actress%20to%20the%20bishop Urban dictionary also has almost 200 times as many thumbs up for "That's what she said" than "Said the actress to the bishop". It's completely ridiculous that Wikipedia has a page for "Said the actress to the bishop" and "That's what she said" is merely redirected here when it is far more common.
Anon12356 (
talk) 02:51, 22 October 2012 (UTC)
I've never heard "That's what she said" being used, but the reference to the actress and bishop is well known here in Scotland. I think it's a regional thing. — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
149.5.89.190 (
talk)
09:26, 6 October 2016 (UTC)reply
I think this should be stressed much more. "Thats what she said" is a very popular American joke. "said the actress to the bishop" doesnt really make much sense to someone who lives in America and has never heard the British version. --
Blake (
talk)
17:21, 22 April 2009 (UTC)reply
However, perhaps to your surprise, "that's what she said" probably doesn't really make much sense to someone who doesn't live in America, which is probably a larger number than those who does. Is there really a great need to stress on this any more than now? Just a single sentence stating as such should be adequate.
218.103.142.61 (
talk)
14:06, 2 July 2009 (UTC)reply
doesn't really make much sense? it might not "ring a bell" of familiarity, but if somebody threw a "that's what she said" into a conversation with you, it would make a great deal of sense, to you. "said the actress..." is the more obscure, in the sense of "making sense", one of those too clever by half sorts of things
68.174.97.122 (
talk)
14:01, 10 September 2012 (UTC)reply
On TV, "thats what she said" usually seems to be spoken by someone other than the joketeller. But "as the actress said to the bishop" is said by the joketeller themself. So they are not directly equivalent.
Eregli bob (
talk)
08:38, 29 July 2010 (UTC)reply
Can someone supply the context for this quote (probably an English movie ca 1940): "My dear, I believe you are flaming, as the actress said to the bishop."
Not in that form but as 'as the bishop said to the actress' (sometimes adding 'while stirring her tea with her left hand' -I've no idea why) it's still used on a regular basis in the UK in my experience.
Mikenorton (
talk)
22:16, 8 January 2011 (UTC)reply
I have heard "Said the actress to the bishop" used in Australia. Also used in Australia is/was "I'll look that up in my
Funk & Wagnalls." Now that I think of it, I don't think I've actually heard these used much lately, but certainly heard them in the 1980s/1990s.
Format (
talk)
22:43, 8 January 2011 (UTC)reply
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.A summary of the conclusions reached follows.
The result of this discussion was no consensus to move. Which form is more common apparently varies greatly by country, and there no evidence seems to have been presented to objectively judge the most common usage worldwide. Those in favour of two separate articles can of course consider starting a deletion review for
that's what she said.
Jafeluv (
talk)
20:23, 6 August 2012 (UTC)reply
I think "That's what she said" is a lot more common than "Said the actress to the bishop". I am british, and I had never even heard of "Said the actress to the bishop" (the socalled british counterpart) until I was redirected here when I clicked on a link for TWSS.
Harry Blue5 (
talk)
15:48, 15 April 2011 (UTC)reply
Support That's what she said is obviously way more common. I have heard "That's what she said" quite often in daily life yet I have never ever heard anyone said "Said the actress to the bishop" in my entire life! I'm an American. Redirect works just fine but yea we should follow the rule! Whichever title is "most" common should be the title of the article. "Said the actress to the bishop" could be redirect to "That's what she said". Redirect will work just fine, won't it? Plus "Said the actress to the bishop" has a tone of degrading Christian since it is involving a bishop in it! A bishop is an important position in Christianity! For all of the reasons above it is best to move this page to "That's what she said".
Pendragon5 (
talk)
21:40, 24 April 2012 (UTC)reply
Why do you say "That's what she said is obviously way more common."? Is your statement based on your experience and opinion, or is it based on fact?
Pdfpdf (
talk)
15:14, 4 July 2012 (UTC)reply
As for "degrading Christians", to quote the article, "The term may have been used as far back as Edwardian times" ...
Pdfpdf (
talk)
15:14, 4 July 2012 (UTC)reply
Support. for all the reasons above, i think this is a no-brainer. the article should be reversed, with That's What She Said as top-billing, then referencing the historic/British analogue.
184.57.8.102 (
talk)
01:36, 16 May 2012 (UTC)reply
Comment. My preference would be to split the pages. They are far apart enough in usage that the most logical way to cover them would be to have two separate articles. However,
Wikipedia is not a dictionary, so both the articles would need to be well-sourced, show the history of the phrases, and generally cover things above and beyond a mere definition. Does anyone want to do the research to find out whether this would be possible? We would need to find several high-quality sources. — Mr. Stradivarius(
have a chat)01:38, 30 June 2012 (UTC)reply
Oppose - I'm Australian and I've never heard the phrase "That's what she said". Until 10 minutes ago, I wouldn't have known what it was referring to. (As I have watched Wayne's World more than once, this suggests that I have completely missed the significance of the expression more than once.) On the other hand, "said the actress to the bishop" has a long history of use in Commonwealth countries, and is still in frequent use in Australia in the second decade of the 21st century - I've even experienced an Indian gentleman say it to me, so presumably it's in use there, and there are a lot more Indians than Americans and British combined. I don't know, nor do I care, if one phrase is supposedly "way more common" than the other - that seems irrelevant. What is clear to me from this discussion is that different sub-cultures use different expressions, and may not have heard of others. So what? The question is about having one article, and what its name should be. Like some of the gentlemen above, it would appear to me that the two expressions, although similar, are not identical, and that there is a case for separate articles that cross reference each other. Therefore I oppose the proposal.
Pdfpdf (
talk)
14:55, 4 July 2012 (UTC)reply
Oppose per Mr. Stradivarius. There may be a case for a
WP:DRV to get the TWSS article resurrected, if there is sufficient encylopaedic content to justify it. But we can't just stick it in a slot that's already occupied (as the actress etc).
Formerip (
talk)
17:31, 4 July 2012 (UTC)reply
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Removed material, 15 March
"As the Actress Said to the Bishop - Star-studded stories from stage and screen is the title of a book published in 1989, written by English character actor and comedian
Derek Nimmo. "
This is similar to the use of the word "pause" in some American cultures, though I guess that's not a Wellerism. Worth mentioning, or too different? -
KaJunl (
talk) 12:06, 21 January 2018 (UTC)
KaJunl (
talk)
12:06, 21 January 2018 (UTC)reply
That's what she said
I have no real problem worn the article title, but the whole article is about "that's what she said," even in the history & variants section. This makes no sense and someone should at least do a rewrite to make the article about the right topic.
Another issue worth noting with combining these articles is they're not used the same - the British term seems like it's said by the original speaker, while the American term is said by someone else - that's almost the whole point, being called out on a vulgar meaning behind something you said innocuous. -
KaJunl (
talk) 12:16, 21 January 2018 (UTC)
KaJunl (
talk)
12:16, 21 January 2018 (UTC)reply
Elderly Australian here. FWIW, the formulation “said the actress to the bishop” sounds very stilted to me. I’ve always said, “as the bishop said to the actress”, although it seems from the article that this might be the wrong way round. I was just chatting with a woman friend in her 50s who says she “started using it when she went to uni[versity]”, which I guess would be 30-40 years ago. Presumably young Australians were using it then. Few if any young Australians would use or understand it now. 01:43, 21 May 2022 (UTC) TC — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
1.147.74.206 (
talk)