A busybody, meddler, nosey parker, or marplot is someone who meddles in the affairs of others.
An early study of the type was made by the ancient Greek philosopher Theophrastus in his typology, Characters, "In the proffered services of the busybody there is much of the affectation of kind-heartedness, and little efficient aid."[1][2][3][4]
Susanna Centlivre wrote a successful play, The Busie Body, which was first performed in 1709 and has been revived repeatedly since. It is a farce in which Marplot interferes in the romantic affairs of his friends and, despite being well-meaning, frustrates them. The characterisation of Marplot as a busybody whose "chief pleasure is knowing everybody's business" was so popular that he appeared as the title character in a sequel, Marplot. The name is a pun — mar / plot — and passed into the language as an eponym or personification of this type.[5][6]
- ^ Theophrastus translated by Isaac Taylor (1831), The Characters of Theophrastus
- ^ Jeannine K. Brown (2006), "Just a Busybody? A Look at the Greco-Roman Topos of Meddling for Defining Hebrew in 1 Peter 4:15", Journal of Biblical Literature, 125 (3): 549–568, doi:10.2307/27638379, JSTOR 27638379
- ^ Jeannine K. Brown (2007), Scripture as Communication, Baker Publishing, p. 202, ISBN 9781585583133
- ^ Leo Groarke (2000), Ancient Thoughts on Peacekeepers and Other Busybodies, Rodopi, pp. 127–140, ISBN 9789042015524
- ^ John O'Brien (2001), "Busy Bodies: The plots of Susanna Centlivre", Eighteenth-Century Genre and Culture, University of Delaware Press, pp. 165–189
- ^ Alan Hager (2009), Encyclopedia of British Writers, Infobase, p. 51, ISBN 9781438108698