Liliputin in German -1649

Die Gardinenpredigten sind nicht der Stoff, aus dem die Traeume sind ... "
Madame Kaudel



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Gardinenpredigt

Im ehelichen Zusammenhang ist davon die Rede, dass einem Mann eine Gardinenpredigt gehalten wird. Gemeint ist damit die Zurechtweisung des Mannes durch die gestrenge Frau in einem der Oeffentlichkeit nicht zugaenglichen Bereich. Die Ehebetten waren frueher mit Gardinen oder mit Bettvorhaengen der Sicht entzogen – und der Bereich, in dem die Frau den angetrunkenen oder verspaetet heimgekehrten Mann anherrschen durfte, ohne dass dieser das Gesicht verlor. Fuer die hinter den Vorhaengen stattfindende Strafrede gebrauchte schon Sebastian Brant im Narrenschiff (1494) den Begriff Predigt: „Die ander kyflet an dem Bett: / Der eeman selten fryd do hett / Musz hoeren predig ouch gar oft, / So manch barfuszer lyt vnd schloft.“ Das erstmals 1743 belegte Wort Gardinenpredigt bezieht sich heutzutage nicht laenger nur auf den Ehemann, sondern auch auf andere, die eine Zurechtweisung noetig haben.

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Gardinenpredigt {f}

[ugs.]curtain-lecture
telling-off [coll.]


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What would be the modern equivalent for “a curtain lecture”?

I chanced on this expression while reading a book by David Crystal. In a chapter dedicated to words that have disappeared from the English language, he mentions this gem in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary:


A curtain-lecture was "a reproof given by a wife to her husband in bed".

I had imagined the phrase referred to the drawing of the bedroom curtains at night. However, World Wide Words tells me that it derived from the four poster bed with its canopy and curtains.

Is there a more modern day <an ink illustration dated 1637 depicting a wife talking to her husband while they are in a four poster bed.> equivalent of this phrase? Because speaking as a once married woman, I confess I used to choose bedtime to have these "in-depth discussions" with my ex (and even today with my current boyfriend).

Failing that, I'd also appreciate any amusing and witty neologisms. Thanks very!

Image: A Curtaine Lecture by Thomas Heywood. London, 1637. The text says the following


When wives preach, tis not in the Husbands power to have their lectures end within an hower. If Hee with patience stay till shee have donn. Shee’l not conclude till twyce the glass Hee runn.

idioms phrase-requests early-modern-english


It is general but henpecking is related.

I'm sure that mild reprimand turns into henpecking :) [present company excepted]. Curtain lecture is mentioned as scolding or nagging in bed also. So it has negative aspects in it. WorldWideWords says that it is not completely disappeared but I never heard of it also. How about "bedtime nagging"?

I'm sure you're not like that :) But the Johnson definition did call it a reproof, so negativity is certainly in view here. –
 

Likely the term fell out of favor because the activity did. There's little or no social inhibition about criticizing your male partner (or female partner for that matter) in front of the rest of the family any more, so a special term for doing so in that one particular place isn't really needed. 

Don't you just love the "alarm clock" on the bedside table?
While it isn't usually restricted to reproofs, Pillow Talk is a more current term for discussions in bed between a husband and wife.

 suppose home truths would be somewhere near the mark, though not restricted to husband and wife, or to the bedroom.

A home truth is an unpleasant fact about yourself that someone tells you without any attempt to moderate or excuse it: she was so annoyed when he finally came back that she decided to tell him a few home truths.


Ah! I'm sure there were many "home truths" shared in those "curtain lectures"! lol!


Probably the expression, 'don't wash your dirty laundry in public  which refers to the fact that couples should argue about their personal problems privately, in the intimacy of their home.

•People, especially couples, who argue in front of others or involve others in their personal problems and crises, are said to be washing their dirty laundry in public; making public things that are best left private. (In American English, 'don't air your dirty laundry in public' is used.)


First thing coming to mind was a "bedroom brawl" but I think that's already used to describe what sometimes follows "curtain lectures," so how about a "boudoir dressing-down"?
 

I was going for hidden/in private with gloved, not soft, but it's true, a gloved finger is still visible to all so "mittened" would have been better, but that still doesn't get us back to the bedroom! Oh well, I tried! – 

Oh, have another try though!

I'd add this as a comment at the top, but don't have the 50 rep needed for that, so here goes: "a boudoir dressing-down"... seems like "dressing-down" would be appropriate, even if there's something better than "boudoir." – Papa Poule Oct 21 '14 at 17:31

Thanks so much for your encouragement! Fun question! Here's one final neologistic phrase containing its very own neologistic word (a double neologism? or just me getting silly?) for your list: "A nightgown dressdown"(one word, no hyphen, like 'smackdown'). – Papa Poule Oct 21 '14 at 21:19