poor

   A word which is frequently used in vocative expressions that express sympathy for the listener, or regret for something that has befallen him. The sympathy may be genuine, but it is often ironic. Absolute Beginners, by Colin MacInnes, has friendly use of ‘you poor old bastard’ and ‘you poor old prehistoric monster’. The Bell, by Iris Murdoch, has ‘poor child’, ‘poor thing’, and ‘poor’ + first name used genuinely. Brothers in Law, by Henry Cecil, has a friendly use of ‘poor fellow’. The Business of Loving. by Godfrey Smith, uses ‘poor old’ + nickname. The Country Girls, by Edna O’Brien, has ‘poor you’ and ‘poor’ + first name. Dover One, by Joyce Porter, has ‘you poor things’; An Error of judgement, by Pamela Hansford Johnson, has ‘my poor baby priest’ and ‘my poor dear’, as well as ‘poor old’ + first name. Girl with Green Eyes, by Edna O’Brien, has ‘you poor little lonely bud’ and ‘you poor little pigeon’ used as intimacies, together with ‘you poor man’ used in a friendly way.

   Georgy Girl, by Margaret Forster, has a decidedly unfriendly instance of ‘poor little boy’ being used to a man. The Hiding Place, by Robert Shaw, has ‘you poor German idiots’ used insultingly. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, has unfriendly use of ‘my poor misguided boy’ and ‘my poor misguided child’. ‘You poor bastard’ in The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, by John le Carré, is friendly in spite of its form. You poor little innocent’ in A Travelling Woman, by John Wain, is unfriendly. ‘Poor, poor’ + first name occurs in The Pumpkin Eater, by Penelope Mortimer. Kate and Emma, by Monica Dickens, has a similar ‘my poor, poor’ + first name. The old joke has it that when the wife is ‘dear Mary’, the husband often ends up as ‘poor John’.