Meanings
alternative as the bishop said to the actress · alternative said the actress to the bishop · alternative said the bishop to the actress
- UKhumorousUsed to highlight a sexual ambiguity in an innocent remark.
Heavens, that's a big one – as the actress said to the bishop.
3 more examples
The important thing was where you do it, not what you do (as the actress said to the bishop)
1976, David Widgery, The Left in Britain"Oh, well," offered Andrews wryly, as she peeled a piece of fruit, "nothing like a hot banana — as the actress said to the bishop." She then apologized for the tacky sexual quip, explaining, "It just slipped out — as the actress said to the bishop."
1998, Timothy White, The Entertainers: portraits of stardom in the twentieth centuryHe has, as the actress said to the bishop, been an unconscionably long time coming,[…]
1999, Michael Sprinker, Ghostly demarcations: a symposium on Jacques Derrida's Spectres of Marx
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the occupation of actress was commonly associated with prostitute. The phrase plays on the contrasting natures of an actress or prostitute on one hand and a presumably (although possibly not actually) chaste bishop on the other.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
as the actress said to the bishop. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20the%20actress%20said%20to%20the%20bishop
“as the actress said to the bishop.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20the%20actress%20said%20to%20the%20bishop. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “as the actress said to the bishop,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20the%20actress%20said%20to%20the%20bishop.
Source: as the actress said to the bishop on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.