Where does the term "nosey parker ' come from?

Answer 1

Matthew Parker, the reforming cleric, was born on August 6, 1504 and his name lives on in the city in more than just the world famous phrase.

Parker holds a central place in the political and ecclesiastical history of England. He was educated at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge before being ordained in 1527. He was twice chancellor of Cambridge University.

He became chaplain to Anne Boleyn in 1535 and Henry VIII in 1538. During this time he taught and counselled the young Elizabeth and when she ascended the throne Parker was called back and installed as Archbishop of Canterbury at the age of 55.

There were many difficult jobs to be undertaken in the new reformed Church of England. Parker had the unenviable task of having to mediate between the Catholics and the extreme Protestants to find a middle way for the Church of England.

Between 1563 and 1568 he produced the new official version of the Bible — the “Bishops’ Bible” which was the authorised version until the King James Bible in 1611.

There are a variety of theories as to why he got his famous nickname. Some think it was because he developed a reputation for being nosey because the job involved checking that people were going to church.

Another theory goes that it is due to Parker’s obsession with finding the roots of the Christian Church in England. He was granted a warrant by the Privy Council to locate and preserve the many religious documents that had been scattered following the dissolution of the monasteries.

Armed with this warrant he sent out many detailed inquiries to manor houses, churches and local officials. But his searching upset many people and earned him the reputation of being a bit of a busybody.

But there is also a more local explanation. During Kett’s Rebellion Parker went to speak to the rebel leader Robert Kett and his band of men at their camp on Mousehold Heath. They weren’t too impressed however. For his pains: “the people began to threaten the preacher with arrows and javelins, and some were shot at him, which put him in great fear”.

Parker did the sensible thing — he pushed off home to praise God for his great deliverance. The rebels voiced their displeasure by saying after his bid to poke it into other people’s business he was lucky to escape with his nose.

Others have a more simple explanation for the household name — it was partly because he had a very big nose!

and...

The term Nosey Parker isn’t recorded until 1907. The term nosey for someone inquisitive, figuratively always sticking their nose into other people’s affairs, is a little older, dating back to the 1880s. Before that, anyone called nosey was just somebody with a big nose, like the Duke of Wellington, nicknamed Old Nosey.

An alternative suggestion, put forward by Eric Partridge in his Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, was that the saying dates from the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851. Large numbers of people attended the Exhibition, so there would have been lots of opportunities for peeping Toms and eavesdroppers in the grounds. The word parker has since medieval times been used for an official in charge of a park, a park-keeper. The term was used informally for the royal park-keepers who supervised Hyde Park at the time of the Great Exhibition. So the saying might conceivably have been applied to a nosey park-keeper.

Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, suggests that the phrase nosey Parker was originally nose-poker. A poker, used in the sense of somebody who pokes into another’s affairs, has a long history, well pre-dating the nineteenth century appearance of nosey Parker. It’s possible that nose-poker became modified with the second element being converted into a proper name.

Answer 2

The term nosey Parker isn’t recorded until 1907. The term nosey for someone inquisitive, figuratively always sticking their nose into other people’s affairs, is a little older, but even that only dates back to the 1880s. Before then, anyone called nosey was just somebody with a big nose, like the Duke of Wellington, who had the nickname Old Nosey.

Answer 3

I really have no positive idea, but if we assume `nosey` comes from the idea that a person who has a large nose can `smell out` things because the nose is longer and sticks out. Taking the word `parker` in a modern sense, associated with parking or staying in one place. Then a nosey parker is someone who stays in one place and `sniffs` out happenings!..... Not of course the original meaning, more a 21st. century one!.....
Happy Christmas!

Answer 4

Mind ya own business nosey.

Answer 5

This was based on a real person called Parker - because of his nosiness.
Sorry, don't remember any further details

Answer 6

nosey-parker n : a person who meddles in the affairs of others [syn: busybody, nosy-parker]

Answer 7

Look it up in Wikipedia. The explanation is too long to do here

Answer 8

my street,swear to god everytime some one makes a noise she is at that window

Answer 9

it came from the phrase,busybody