On Dec 25, 2005, at 15:01, CLIVE Rice wrote:
Taking the Mickey out of anyone is sort of "Bless Her/His Heart" Say anything you want as long as you bless hearts. Example, "Bless her heart, she's so fat she can't fit in the church pew!" or "Her green bean casserole tastes like it was made last week, bless her heart." Or, "Lord only knows, bless her heart, she can't carry a tune in a gallon bucket!" Since FH Clive is English, I am familiar with taking the mickey out of someone, so blessing hearts is a comparable expression in the South - maybe not North of the Potomac...
Then either I still don't understand what the function of "bless her heart" is, or else I don't understand what "taking the Mickey" means. I'd have said that "bless her heart" is, more or less, a "license" to make fun of or badmouth someone, behind their backs. We all know it's not a nice thing to do, so we give ourselves a "dispensation" by taking on the "blessing"
While "taking the Mickey" is making fun of someone to their face -- "pulling their leg", as Avital'd said.
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