prunes and prisms

Intentionally formal and/or prudish speech or action. The phrase originated in Charles Dickens' novel Little Dorrit as an example of proper speech. When you talk to your grandmother, stick to prunes and prisms so that you don't offend her. If you want to become a proper lady, practice saying "prunes and prisms"!

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Cyneburga	-	Anglo-Saxon (Latinized)
Louise	loo-EEZ (French, English), loo-EE-se (Danish)	French, English, Danish, Swedish, Dutch
Manuel	mah-NWEL (Spanish), man-oo-EL (Portuguese), MAHN-oo-el (German)	Spanish, Portuguese, German, English, Italian, French, Romanian, Late Greek (Latinized)
AljaŽ	-	Slovene
Eugen	OI-gen (German)	German, Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Croatian
Hyun	hyun	Korean