Ladies who lunch is a phrase to describe slim, well-off, old-monied, well-dressed women who meet for social luncheons, usually during the working week. Typically, the women involved are married and non-working. Normally the lunch is in a high-class restaurant, but could also take place in a department store during a shopping trip. Sometimes the lunch takes place under the pretext of raising money for charity. Often times, the women simply gossip about trivial and frivolous things.
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The phrase "ladies who lunch" was popularized by a song of the same name in Stephen Sondheim's Company. The character Joanne, a cynical, middle-aged woman, makes a drunken toast to "The Ladies Who Lunch." Her song offers a harsh crticism of rich women who waste their time with frivolous things like luncheons and parties. At the end of the song, Joanne realizes that she is one of the "ladies who lunch." She spends her time criticizing the lives of other women, but she never does anything to improve her own life.
The song has given the phrase "ladies who lunch" a somewhat negative connotation. Joanne's condemnation of women "clutching a copy of LIFE, just to keep in touch"[1] does not paint these women in a generous light. Ladies who lunch are often seen as lacking substance.
“Ladies Who Lunch” was the title of a sketch on the Season 36 premiere of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Amy Poehler. In the sketch, four upper-class women, played by Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, Vanessa Bayer, and Abby Elliott, eat lunch at a fictional restaurant, Chez Henri. Wiig’s character, Sylvia is constantly upstaged by Poehler’s character, Trish. Bayer’s character and Elliott’s character fawn over Trish’s tiny hats. Sylvia gets jealous and also attempts to wear small hats, but Trish pulls crazy stunts, and is always able to upstage Sylvia. At the end, Trish pulls the biggest stunt of all and fakes her own death, winning the approval and amusement of her friends and causing Sylvia to realize that she cannot best Trish. [2]
The title alludes to the frivolity of the lives of socialites. The women only seem to care about the next trend in fashion, and little about their actual friends.
The ABC television series Desperate Housewives featured an episode entitled "The Ladies Who Lunch". The show traditionally names episodes after songs by Stephen Sondheim. It was originally aired as Episode 16 on March 27, 2005.
"The Ladies Who Lunch: A Middle Aged Women's Guide to Modern Morality," a novel written by international etiquette consultant Ruth L. Kern[3], tells the story of a group of glamorous middle-aged women in the upper echelons of society. The women care about little other than the latests fashions and the society page of the newspaper. They remain connected through their "Ladies Who Lunch" group, which meets regularly to discuss recent gossip. [4]