Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Good reasons for generous tipping

Yes, that is Hugh Laurie (House) as Wooster
Dulocracy: a government dominated by privileged slaves or servants.

So what would it be like for those with the money power to be under the legal power of those they employ or own? How would that come about? Did it start out as something very different that evolved into this? Was it a way to keep the rulers from letting power go to their heads? Why didn't the employers just fire the servants? (But of course, the servants would be in charge of the laws that determined when they could be fired!)

(I have no idea if one ever existed. It was coined around 1650, probably by disgruntled aristocrats whose servants were trying to keep them in line. Much like Jeeves. ;-)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That must be Stephen Fry next to him?

Joyce Fetteroll said...

Apparently so! I'm not sure why his name is familiar. He's Mycroft in the new Holmes series and host of QI which I've heard of but we can't get that in the US and neither would be enough to make him sound familiar to me I wouldn't think.