1661

n. a woman who is said to look 16 years old from the back but 61 years old from the front; an older woman who dresses in fashions meant for young women. Subjects: English, United Kingdom, Apparel, Appearance, & Fashion, Slang

Editorial Note: Said as “sixteen-sixty-one.” This term is used regularly by Christa D’Souza in the London Times, though it’s uncertain if she coined it.

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Citations: 2005 Christa D'Souza Times (London, United Kingdom) (Dec. 4) “1661;Is 45 really that old?” p. Style 5: The technical term for this—where you look pullable from behind, with your slashed mini, straggly Joss Stone hair and macrame ankle bracelet, but when swivelled around, look more like someone eligible to collect a pension—is 1661. (Get it? Sixteen from the back, 61 from the front.) Oh, dear. Perhaps that’s what I am: the ultimate 1661. Yet isn’t a certain amount of self-delusion necessary in order to cope with the horrible, galloping inevitability of old age? 2006 Mia Freedman Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia) (Feb. 12) “When mum is most definitely not the word”: I’ve always detested the expression “mutton dressed as lamb.” It’s misogynist, mean and women are not meat; even Sam Kekovich would concur with that. But there’s a new version of it that describes women who retain hairstyles or wardrobes suited to a different life stage—women such as Melanie Griffith and Faye Dunaway. The term is “1661”—a woman who looks 16 from behind, 61 from the front. 2006 [nettymania] Nettymania (United Kingdom) (Oct. 17) “1661 and the fourth bell”: Great i am now a 1661 and that is only a compliment from behind. 2007 [Euphrosene Labon] Delusions of Divinity? (United Kingdom) (Jan. 25): Carole Malone mentioned the 1661 syndrome—where men think you’re attractive from the back (16)…and then back off when they see your face (61). This issue is supposed to affect all women over the age of probably 35. *2007 Grumpy old woman (Barnstaple, Devon, United Kingdom) (Feb. 24): I’m a 1661 woman—sixteen from behind, sixty one from the front. 2007 Lisa Armstrong Times (London, England) (July 18) “Age-old dilemmas”: The 1661 syndrome—whereby a woman (and it almost always is a woman) looks like a bouncy-tressed, pert-bottomed teenager from behind and a grandmother from the front—has become a cultural joke.

Posted 20 Jul 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

This <<1661>> is cute and not too rough, I hope-:)… It rhymes in with what we Hungarians would say in a similar situation: <<lyceum from back, and museum in front>>. (The two words are real rhymes as pronounced in Hungarian - first vowels are long and both words have frontal accent). The saying is at least 40 years old, as we used it in high school in the sixties. I’m curious if a similar phrase exists in English.

by Zsolt Banhegyi 21 Jul 07, 0759 GMT

We call them “Kronenbourg women” 1661 is the date on the bottle when Kronenbourg was first brewed.
Dennis d5n @aol.com

by Dennis Maybury 22 Jul 07, 1201 GMT

Umm actually Kronenbourg has 1664 on the bottle ;)

by Brian James 29 Jul 07, 1225 GMT