I’m still surprised when outdated spinster references show up in prominent newspapers. Today I emailed Mike Hale [1], from the New York Times, asking him to clarify this, from his review of Joan River’s new television show, “How’d You Get So Rich?
Ms. Rivers, long one of the smartest, funniest and nastiest people on television, officially enters her dotage with this six-episode series…On “How’d You Get So Rich?” she’s the slightly out-of-it spinster aunt, trailing self-made millionaires…through their highly manicured homes and asking how much the carpets cost.
(Spinster aunt emphasis is mine) Dotage or not, I don’t get what Joan Rivers–a public figure with an enormous fan base, who has been married twice, with a child, a grandchild and a business empire–has to do with a spinster aunt. What does that term mean today, anyway?
Please help me understand. What was Mike Hale thinking?