When I was in High School we had a teacher named Marvin Janzen, who himself was quite a piece of work, what with his austere black suits, skinny ties and polished black army boots and all. During a social studies class, after a particularly colorful tirade chastising us for our misdeeds, he strode up to his podium - lifted his fist in the air and thundered, "I rule this class with an iron fist and a velvet glove" . . . after a painfully long pause, he concluded . . . "today you've seen the glove!" Banging the podium with his fist he clicked his heels, turned around and returned to his desk. I have never forgotten that quote!
www.prairieboy.com
© 2010 Stephen J. Rendall - All rights reserved.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
IRON AND VELVET
When I was in High School we had a teacher named Marvin Janzen, who himself was quite a piece of work, what with his austere black suits, skinny ties and polished black army boots and all. During a social studies class, after a particularly colorful tirade chastising us for our misdeeds, he strode up to his podium - lifted his fist in the air and thundered, "I rule this class with an iron fist and a velvet glove" . . . after a painfully long pause, he concluded . . . "today you've seen the glove!" Banging the podium with his fist he clicked his heels, turned around and returned to his desk. I have never forgotten that quote!
www.prairieboy.com
© 2010 Stephen J. Rendall - All rights reserved.
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Egads I would have jumped in my chair and asked to be excused as I just made colorful shorts
ReplyDeleteI looked it up--you got my curiosity going. It wasn't actually a bad thing--assuming 'whoever' in this quote knew what they were talking about. They wrote:
ReplyDelete"The idiom you’re looking for is “an iron fist in a velvet glove”, sometimes contracted as simply “iron fist, velvet glove”.
It’s used to signify hidden strength and depth of commitment behind an amiable façade, politeness backed by unflinching determination, pleasantness that doesn’t imply weakness, that sort of thing. The image works by way of the contrast between a soft velvet glove acting as the outward appearance of the hard fist of iron within.
Note that it doesn’t usually have negative connotations - the phrase doesn’t necessarily suggest maliciousness or deceit, rather politeness and pleasantness that is nonetheless backed by strength and determination. (As opposed to overt, direct assertiveness or aggression.)"
Interesting, eh?
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/en-ca/obituaries/abbotsford-bc/marvin-janzen-7775842
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