“Driving Miss Daisy” is all too common a phrase. But if you have questions about it, you’ve come to just the place. In this article we will cover what it means and how it originated, including a summary of the plot of the film. We will cover how to use the phrase, with some handy whole sentence examples, and we’ll also discuss similar and synonymous phrases.
And without further ado, let’s get to it.
What is meant by the phrase “driving Miss Daisy”?
The phrase “driving Miss Daisy” refers to chauffeuring someone, and the phrase is used in particular to refer to chauffeuring difficult passengers. Want to know why this is so? Read on to find out.
What is the origin of the phrase “driving Miss Daisy”?
The phrase “driving Miss Daisy” comes directly from the film and the screenplay of the same name. The character Miss Daisy is peeved at having lost her independence of being able to drive herself around. Her irritation at being reduced to being a passenger couldn’t be more clear as her cantankerous nature sees her nitpicking the driving of her chauffeur Hoke, whose presence she resents.
This is why people use the phrase “driving Miss Daisy” to refer to chauffeuring difficult passengers, and having to have a lot of patience to deal with the passenger’s points of view about the driving.
A summary of the plot of the film Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy is a film adaptation of Alfred Uhry’s Pulitzer Prize–winning stage play of the same name. Released in 1989 and directed by Bruce Beresford, it stars Jessica Tandy as Miss Daisy Werthan, a wealthy Jewish widow in Atlanta, Georgia, and Morgan Freeman as Hoke Colburn, the Black chauffeur hired to drive her after she is deemed unsafe behind the wheel. The film is set in the American South, beginning in the late 1940s and stretching forward through the 1970s.
The film begins in 1948 with Daisy, a proud, fiercely independent, and somewhat cantankerous woman in her seventies, crashing her car into a neighbor’s yard. Though she insists she is perfectly capable of driving, her son Boolie (played by Dan Aykroyd), a pragmatic businessman, refuses to risk another accident. He hires Hoke Colburn to serve as her driver.
At first, Daisy bristles. She does not want a chauffeur; she does not want the appearance of ostentation; and, perhaps most of all, she does not want to relinquish control. Yet Hoke, played with a warmth and steady dignity by Freeman, proves patient, resourceful, and quietly resolute. He is not cowed by Daisy’s prickliness; instead, he simply waits her out.
Daisy resents the intrusion of Hoke’s presence, she nitpicks his driving, and maintains a rigid sense of superiority. But Hoke tolerates her barbed remarks and her testy refusals with equanimity, gradually allowing Daisy to see that his service does not make him subservient. Hoke remains a steady presence, his loyalty and patience never wavering.
It is a story with powerful character arcs, and it portrays ageing and losing independence, and it portrays race relations, tolerance and friendship.
The True Story
Driving Miss Daisy was based on a true story. The playwright based the two central characters of “Driving Miss Daisy” on his own grandmother, Lena Fox, and her chauffeur Will Coleman. After Fox experienced a driving accident and could no longer drive herself, Coleman chauffeured her from 1948 to 1973. In this time, Coleman became a part of the family, even occasionally looking after Uhry as a child and driving him to school. Fox’s relationship with Coleman evolved to her teaching him how to read, and he remained with the family even after her death.
How you can use the phrase “driving Miss Daisy”
There are two main ways you can use the phrase “driving Miss Daisy”. The first is to use it to refer to chauffeuring someone around in order to help them run errands, or simply to go back and forth to work, schooling, or other activities. Perhaps you have to chauffeur them because they aren’t old enough to drive, or because they don’t have, or no longer have a driving license.
For example, you might say something along the lines of: “I was driving Miss Daisy last weekend. I had to drive the mother in law around to run her weekly errands.”
The other main way to use the phrase “driving Miss Daisy” is to describe a passenger who kept criticising your driving. For example, you might say something along the lines of “I don’t want to be driving Miss Daisy. You keep quiet about my driving or you’ll be walking.”
Similar and synonymous phrases to “driving Miss Daisy”
There are a few phrases that might be described as similar or synonymous to “driving Miss Daisy”. For example, the phrase “backseat driver” can be used to refer to someone who rides as a passenger but has plenty of remarks to make about the driving as they critique the actions of the driver.
Similarly, recent years have also brought about the trending of the phrase “passenger princess”. This slang phrase is used to refer to someone who likes the luxury of being a passenger. You get to sit back and enjoy the ride, perhaps being in charge of passenger entertainment, choosing the next songs to be played during the ride, or choosing a good audiobook or podcast or two to listen to.
Final word
So, to sum up, the phrase “driving Miss Daisy” refers to the film of the same name, which was based on a true story. “Driving Miss Daisy” refers to chauffeuring someone around, and the phrase is used in particular to refer to chauffeuring difficult passengers. This is because, in the film, Miss Daisy did not like having to give up control of the driving to someone else. She was a very particular passenger with a cantankerous attitude, requiring her driver to develop a great deal of tolerance and patience.
