Po-faced Libby Brooks
This is one of those words I have to force myself to stop using, as it’s a real Anglicism and just confuses people in the States. When asked to define it, I do so cheerfully. Maybe I should just print out copies of this Guardian piece and start passing them out as a perfect example. In it, Libby Brooks complains that Knocked Up, the smash hit comedy of the summer, does not take a serious look at the wonderful option of abortion.
I am in favor of every person’s right to keep the state out of his or her body - and that includes women and abortion (though, admittedly, things get trickier as the unborn baby reaches the stage at which he or she could survive outside the womb). But even if I were in favor of infanticide where convenient for the mother, I would still find that piece po-faced.
If I didn’t know better, I’d suspect that Libby Brooks was attempting to send up the traditional Guardian op-ed. Her seriousness is almost as amusing as Knocked Up - but not quite.
Filed under: Life
I would be sorry to see you give up the use of po faced as there is really no exactly right equivalent. And it turns up enough in novels that we’re getting the sense of it on this side of the Atlantic.