Short shot #27: to queen-wave

Chris Ambidge writes to tell me about an early Xmas present he got from a friend:

It’s a 20cm tall mannikin of The Queen: with usual hairdo, peach coloured dress & coat, sensible shoes, smile, white gloves, handbag & (of course) pearls. But wait — there’s much more. Her handbag is a solar cell, so put her someplace bright & it works — to cause her up-held hand to queen-wave.

Ah, the back-formed verb to queen-wave, based on the synthetic compound queen-waving ‘waving (one’s hand) like the Queen’. An entertaining survey of years of Queen-waving (from the Onion News Network) can be seen here.

2 Responses to “Short shot #27: to queen-wave”

  1. John Lawler Says:

    That’s delightful, but you know, it’s a hard thing to find on the Web. Searches for “queen-waving” solar cell and many other possibilities just peter out. So how about a proper name to find these with — say, manufacturer or official name on the box; I know somebody who’d adore one for Xmas.

  2. Not mentioning « Arnold Zwicky's Blog Says:

    […] a political point, here’s my friend Chris Ambidge, appearing as the Queen (complete with the queen wave) at Toronto Pride this […]

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