peel me a grape

English

Etymology

First recorded use by Mae West in the 1933 film I'm no Angel: "Beulah, (yes ma'am) peel me a grape."

Phrase

peel me a grape

1. A request to be pampered or to have one's whims indulged.
   • 2006, Whitney Balliett -, American Singers: Twenty-Seven Portraits in Song, →ISBN, page 242:

     His early, brilliant "Peel Me a Grape," which has long been one of Blossom Dearie's anthems, laughs at social ennui in the seventies and eighties in the way that Cole Porter laughed at it in the thirties: Peel me a grape, crush me some ice, Skin me a peach, save the fuzz for my pillow, Start me a smoke, talk to me nice, You gotta wine me and dine me, Don't try and fool me, bejewel me, Either amuse me or lose me, I'm gettin' hungry -- peel me a grape.

   • 2009, Ronald B. Allen, Beverly Allen, Liberated Traditionalism: Men and Women in Balance, →ISBN, page 91:

     Can't you hear Adam say to her, “Peel me a grape, Lilith.” And her response: “Peel it yourself! And while you are at it, where's dinner?”

   • 2011, Maggie Graham, Me and My Animals, →ISBN, page 80:

     Half an hour later when dad and I ventured into the lounge, mum glaring at us with a face like thunder, Kim was lying contentedly next to Armalade in front of the fire, a real con merchant if ever there was one, basking in all the attention. Talk about peel me a grape!

   • 2011, Michael R. Häack, Passport: A Novel of Adventure and Intrigue, →ISBN, page 414:

     “Daaaahlings I say, please refill my glass and peel me a grape.” She grinned and mugged it up for us gathered proletariat.

Usage notes

Often used as a sarcastic retort to a trivial request.