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| Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess of Grantham, a force not to be reckoned with |
In season two, episode 4 or 5 (depending on the release),
there is a conversation of a potential widow claiming a “widow’s dole from a
grateful nation”. Dole is the equivalent
of welfare. To live “on the dole” is to live
off of welfare or to be unemployed. In
the 2002 film Possession, Gweneth
Paltrow’s character describes Aaron Eckhart’s character, who is working on a
fellowship with a college in London, by stating that he is “on the dole”. This elicits a chuckle out of those listening
and from anyone who has worked in the university system.
Naturally, the incomparable Maggie Smith as the Dowager
Countess of Grantham (such a formidable title), sets it all right on the issue
of ‘dole’ in Downton Abbey. Now you know.
