In "The Importance of Being Earnest"

Question

In the middle of a conversation between Jack and his girlfriend Gwendolen,

"Jack is a notorious domesticity for John! And I pity any woman who is married to a man called John."
I really don't understand this sentence or the hidden meaning in terms of the names Jack and John.
What is the relationship between John and Jack?
Are there any hidden meanings related to John and Jack?

Thank you very much!

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]In the middle of a conversation between Jack and his girlfriend Gwendolen, "Jack is a notorious domesticity for John! And I pity any woman who is married to a man called John."... What is the relationship between John and Jack?[/nq]
Jack is simply a common nickname for John, as Bob is for Robert. For example, the real name of the actor Jack Nicholson is John Nicholson.
[nq:1]Are there any hidden meanings related to John and Jack?[/nq]
I don't think there are any that relate to this bit of dialogue; it's just that Gwendolen has peculiar ideas about names. John is a very common, ordinary name, and she not only doesn't like that, she extends her feeling to people with that name.

Mark Brader "Great things are not done by those Toronto who sit down and count the cost (Email Removed) of every thought and act." Daniel Gooch

My text in this article is in the public domain.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]In the middle of a conversation between Jack and his girlfriend Gwendolen, "Jack is a notorious domesticity for John! And ... the relationship between John and Jack? Are there any hidden meanings related to John and Jack? Thank you very much![/nq]
I don't know why the character speaking would say "I pity any woman who is married to a man called John" but "Jack" is a nickname for "John." That is, some people named "John" will be referred to as "Jack" by their family and friends. An example is the American president John F. Kennedy, known to his family and friends as "Jack."
According to an article about nicknames at
www.geocities.com/edgarbook/names/other/nicknames.html

"Jack" is one of a number of nicknames once formed by adding the diminutive "-kin" to a name. "Jack" is from "Jakin," from "Jenkin," which itself was a combination of "John" (or whatever form "John" had at that time) and "-kin." Another nickname which traces back to this use of "-kin" is "Hank" for "Henry," as it says at that site: "Han-Kin, or Hen-kin, or Henry-kin."

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]In the middle of a conversation between Jack and his ... meanings related to John and Jack? Thank you very much![/nq]
[nq:1]I don't know why the character speaking would say "I pity any woman who is married to a man called John" but "Jack" is a nickname for "John." [/nq]
Oh, come on! It's meant to be funny . Oscar Wilde's characters are full of eccentricities: it's just another excuse for amusing dialogue, and a way of setting up a preposterous happy ending in which it turns out that his name isn't John at all.

"A notorious domesticity" is just a funny way of saying "a well-known familiar form, of a kind I don't like": don't imitate it. There is no hidden meaning relating to "John" and "Jack" in this case, though both words do have other uses.

Mike.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]who[/nq]
[nq:2]I don't know why the character speaking would say "I ... called John" but "Jack" is a nickname for "John." [/nq]
[nq:1]Oh, come on! It's meant to be funny . Oscar Wilde's characters are full of eccentricities: it's just another ... no hidden meaning relating to "John" and "Jack" in this case, though both words do have other uses. Mike.[/nq]
Just as the Brighton Line, a handbag and The Army List have other uses.
Cheers, Sage (a former Ernest)

In "The Importance of Being Earnest"

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