Spinster focused on a single lost love, destined to go unmarried unless the lover returns. Tina Fey's portrayal of her character Liz Lemon, on the hit NBC series "30 Rock", exemplifies another classic spinster stereotype. Lemon, a 40-something single woman whose relationships never seem to work out, has unrealistically high expectations for a male partner: her dream husband is the archetypal "Astronaut Mike Dexter", and for much of the series her character is holding out on settling on a man until she can score an astronaut. Unpopped popcorn kernels have been dubbed "old maids" in popular slang, since like unmarried women
Spinster reappropriation from third-wave feminists. Recent examples include several blogs/videos, such as reclaimingthepejorative, a "Bitch Magazine" article, and the "Spinster House" YouTube channel. Many classic and modern films have depicted stereotypical spinster characters. For example: In both "The Taming of the Shrew" (early 1590s) and "Much Ado About Nothing" (late 1590s), William Shakespeare referred to a contemporary saying that it was the fate of women who died unmarried to lead apes into hell. By the time of the British Regency, "ape leader" had become a slang term for "old maid". It is often used in that context in Regency romances and