John's Blog

As a slang expression "good night nurse" isn't one that I use much. But for some reason in a moment of boredom I got to wondering where the heck this came from. Apparently many people credit this back to a picture from the silent film era that starred Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. But since there were others before that one I have to think that there is more to the story. It appears to have been a phrase that was made popular during WW I. Now I can sleep better with that resolved.

Although those portrayed in fiction usually are shown as favorable role models, all too often we prefer our nurses naughty, but I've never run into any of them. There are those who argue that the "naughty nurse" stereotype indicates men are threatened by strong women and this is a way to reduce them to objects, but this seems like hogwash. As Freud said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."