Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
keepers and kept
English answer:
women who support themselves and women supported by someone else
Added to glossary by
Lydia De Jorge
May 4, 2020 19:57
4 yrs ago
45 viewers *
English term
Ukraine
UKR t9n and l10n in style
Native in: Russian 
, Ukrainian 
Works in: German to Ukrainian, English to Ukrainian, German to Russian
keepers and kept
English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
Dear colleagues,
I'm a bit embarrassed by a word play in the book I read now (This Immortal by R. Zelazny, if that matters). This is the description of a party attended by the protagonist:
"The ladies wore, or didn't, whatever they pleased, usually bright or accompanied by pastel simicoloring* (unless they were Staff, in which case they were neatly packed into short-skirted Dress Blacks...), which makes it somewhat easier to tell some of the KEEPERS FROM THE KEPT."
* A neologism for makeup.
This is scifi, it takes place in future, but neither "keepers" nor "kept" have anything to do with the fictional world (they are not some plot-related notions), this should be just a more or less mundane pun concerning the ladies' attire (which I do not get). I thought it has something to do with "kept women", but I'm not sure. Is there something obvious I miss not being a native speaker, or is it really a difficult-to-understand pun?
Thanks in advance.
I'm a bit embarrassed by a word play in the book I read now (This Immortal by R. Zelazny, if that matters). This is the description of a party attended by the protagonist:
"The ladies wore, or didn't, whatever they pleased, usually bright or accompanied by pastel simicoloring* (unless they were Staff, in which case they were neatly packed into short-skirted Dress Blacks...), which makes it somewhat easier to tell some of the KEEPERS FROM THE KEPT."
* A neologism for makeup.
This is scifi, it takes place in future, but neither "keepers" nor "kept" have anything to do with the fictional world (they are not some plot-related notions), this should be just a more or less mundane pun concerning the ladies' attire (which I do not get). I thought it has something to do with "kept women", but I'm not sure. Is there something obvious I miss not being a native speaker, or is it really a difficult-to-understand pun?
Thanks in advance.
Change log
May 8, 2020 16:25: Lydia De Jorge Created KOG entry
Responses
+1
1 hr
Lydia De Jorge
United States
United States
Native in English
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English
Specializes in field
United States
Don't just say it, say it right!
Native in: Spanish , English
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English, English, and 1 more.
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women who support themselves and women supported by someone else
You are correct in assuming it has to do with 'kept women'. Those who support themselves (independent ones) can probably afford fewer luxuries than those that have someone to support (keep) them. Thus their attire would distinguish one from the other.
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Note added at 3 days 20 hrs (2020-05-08 16:25:24 GMT) Post-grading
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Glad I could help. I'm a keeper... ;)
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Note added at 3 days 20 hrs (2020-05-08 16:25:24 GMT) Post-grading
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Glad I could help. I'm a keeper... ;)
2 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "I'm not sure that your interpretation of "keepers" is correct, but I see your point and thank you for your help."
14 mins
staff and guests
On a very simple level, the staff are "keepers" because they keep the guests supplied with food, drink etc., they look after them.
And the guests are "kept" because they are kept happy by the staff.
That is how I understand it, but there may be more to it!
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Note added at 33 mins (2020-05-04 20:30:41 GMT)
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OK, well the same sense of "keepers" and "kept" still applies. Public servants provide services to the rest of the population. But this explains why it says "SOME OF the keepers from the kept": without the uniforms, it would have been difficult to identify the public servants in some cases.
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Note added at 34 mins (2020-05-04 20:32:10 GMT)
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Of course, depending on the nature of the regime, these public servants may have more power than the people they "serve".
And the guests are "kept" because they are kept happy by the staff.
That is how I understand it, but there may be more to it!
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Note added at 33 mins (2020-05-04 20:30:41 GMT)
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OK, well the same sense of "keepers" and "kept" still applies. Public servants provide services to the rest of the population. But this explains why it says "SOME OF the keepers from the kept": without the uniforms, it would have been difficult to identify the public servants in some cases.
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Note added at 34 mins (2020-05-04 20:32:10 GMT)
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Of course, depending on the nature of the regime, these public servants may have more power than the people they "serve".
Note from asker:
| Thanks! I should have mentioned it in the question (sorry about this): Staff means that they are public servants (who must wear a black uniform), not waiters etc. (they were guests, too, but there were both uniformed guests and the guests who "wore... whatever they pleased") |
| Seems legit, but is it in line with the sentence structure? I thought that the part about the Staff may be omitted (being in brackets): "The ladies wore, or didn't, whatever they pleased, usually bright or accompanied by pastel simicoloring, which makes it somewhat easier to tell some of the keepers from the kept". The page in question, just in case: https://www.rapidshare.com.cn/YlE3z0H |
Discussion
Hmm, it just came to my mind that I missed another important detail. The Earth women in that book are often sexually exploited, it's one of the keynotes of this novel ("exploited your countrymen, turned your world into a brothel"). So perhaps just "madams and prostitutes"? If we do suppose that the opposition is between different sorts of women in more or less different attire (not between the uniformed Staff and non-uniformed non-Staff of both sexes), does it make sense?