Tarts and Clerics

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., Catherine Keegan <keegan at m...> wrote:
> OK.  I have a question for those folks across the Atlantic - I 
watched 
> "Bridget Jonses's Diary" and also "British Men Behaving Badly" and 
they 
> both refer to "tarts and clerics" or something very similar.  
What's up 
> with that?  (ducks)  Is this like the US weirdness where the 
bathrooms were 
> labeled "inboards" and "outboards" or "pointer and setters"?

It's the juxtoposition of two kinds of people who are supposed to be 
poles apart (but who in reality often aren't) which is used to 
humourous effect in British comedy.  It is really "Tarts and Vicars" -
 and people do actually (or did, anyway) hold such parties when 
people would dress as one or the other.

Catherine