Did Queen Elizabeth really say "kick some ass"?

[jayjaybear]

There's a Facebook meme going around claiming that the following quote can be attributed to Queen Elizabeth II:

The world is not the most pleasant place. Eventually, your parents leave you and nobody is going to go out of their way to protect you unconditionally. You need to learn to stand up for yourself and what you believe and sometimes, pardon my language, kick some ass."

I find myself very o.6 about that. First of all, the departure of the usually very image-conscious queen into that kind of colloquialism. Second of all, is that even something someone of the queen's level of British society would SAY?

I searched online and all I get returned are quote compilation sites that probably lifted it from Facebook in the first place.

[Richard W]

Well, she certainly wouldn't have said "kick some ass"... she might be more likely to have said "kick some arse".

But that's still an American colloquialism, and the whole thing sounds absolutely nothing like anything that the Queen would ever say. When is she meant to have said it? During one of the Queen's Speeches at Christmas? State opening of Parliament? The Queen doesn't do public speaking, as a rule...

[jayjaybear]

Originally Posted by Richard W

When is she meant to have said it?

No idea. The meme is one of those contextless quotes superimposed on a photo of the supposed source. The photo in this case is of the elderly queen rather than the young queen but it could have been supposed to have been from any stage of her life, I guess.

[llewtrah]

It sounds more like something "Queen Elizabeth 10th" (on Dr Who) might say!

[Embra]

Or Elizabeth I. Was it not she, after all, who said, "I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman. But I have the heart and stomach of a concrete elephant"?

[Spud Sabre]

Originally Posted by Richard W

But that's still an American colloquialism, and the whole thing sounds absolutely nothing like anything that the Queen would ever say. When is she meant to have said it? During one of the Queen's Speeches at Christmas? State opening of Parliament? The Queen doesn't do public speaking, as a rule...

Not to mention, wouldn't the media have picked up on "Queen Elizabeth swears Americanly during speech"?

[musicgeek]

Then again, the Queen Mother was supposedly an Ali G fan, so who knows?

(Me, I'd go with 'prod some serious buttock.' )

[Richard W]

It's not just the "kick your ass" bit though. Why would the Queen ever say any of the rest of it either? I can't imagine people saying "Ah yes, the Queen, she knows what she's talking about there..." And as I said, apart from a couple of fairly formal situations in which it would be well known if she'd ever said that just because it would have been really odd, the Queen doesn't do public speeches.

It's as though somebody had a random quote, needed "attribution" and deliberately tried to think of the least likely person to say it, as a joke of some sort. Maybe the original context would have made it clearer (whatever that was - I'm sure it had been lost by the time people started posting it on Facebook or in quote lists). Unless it was just a troll.

[Moku]

nobody is going to go out of their way to protect you unconditionally

Hmm, for lots of us that might be true: for those who command an entire country's worth of armed forces? Not so much.

[barbrainey]

About a decade ago, a history-related newsletter I once received quoted Sir Winston Churchill saying that if he ever met modern artist Pablo Picasso, "I would kick him in the a--." However, the newsletter never pin pointed when or where Churchill supposedly made that remark. Therefore, it too is most likely a fabrication.

Barb Rainey