phrases - What does "Wine! Because you never got a pony" mean?


The term Wine! Because you never got a pony appeared in a meme on my social media. My first reaction was to question if there was a spelling mistake, i.e.



Whine! Because you never got a pony



would mean that someone should complain due to the lack of a pony.


But what does the original phrase mean? Is it simply a misspelling?



Answer



This is more of a question about culture than about language. There is a certain stereotype in Anglo-American culture of children, and particularly girls, having a particular affection or fondness for horses. Some explanations are covered in brief in an episode of All Things Considered, in a Kitchen Sisters segment called Why Do Girls Love Horses, Unicorns And Dolphins?.


Regardless of the level of truth in the stereotype, there does exist a genre of stories of horse-loving girls like the Woodbury Pony Club series and frequent references in popular culture, like the season 3 episode of The Simpsons, "Lisa's Pony." The reality is that although these novels make horse ownership seem accessible, it is realistic only for the very privileged (this is, in fact, the plot driver in the Simpsons episode). The vast majority of children who beg for a pony will never have one of their own— it is, indeed, the kind of childhood fantasy that most will laugh at as adults.


Wine! Because you never got a pony suggests that the one substitutes or compensates for the other. In other words, you were denied a pony as a child, but you can drink wine as an adult— to enjoy it, but also to rue your unreachable childhood dream, and therein lies the humor.


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