What is meant by Gently, Bentley? [closed]

I'm reading the book called Far & Away written by Andrew Solomon and i see there is a sentence like below.

Her sharpest reprimand was the occasional "Gently, Bentley!".

Any idea, what exact meaning, when exactly we can use it.

Solution 1:

See the BBC's The Joy of Slang, which explicitly defines the phrase as meaning to slow down:

My mother's frequent request to slow down, gently Bentley, is much later, from the perhaps equally forgotten Australian comedian, Dick Bentley, in the 1950s.

To be more specific, "Gently, Bentley" was a catchphrase of the post-WWII BBC radio show called Take It From Here, which starred the Australian comedians Dick Bentley and Joy Nichols, as well as Jimmy Edwards, who later had a series with that title. As such it entered the "pop culture" of British English.

Its use in the book seems to be an extension of the "reprimand" to slow down. The repeated sound -ently and the word gently perhaps lend weight to the idea that it's a mild, i.e., gentle reprimand. On the catchphrase see obituary for Dick Bentley in the The Independent.

Solution 2:

Not having enough context, I'll offer some random thoughts on the subject:

Searching the web for "Gently Bentley" brought me to a page on yahoo answers with a bit of SPAM and two interesting answers:

from the smooth gentle power of the old Bentley automobiles

and

It comes from a catchphrase from Australian radio comedian of the 30's Dick Bentley. He had a series 'Gently Bentley'.

As far as using the expression yourself, unless you were a fan of the referenced old brand of cars or the radio comedian, I don't think I would. Unless, of course, you are a big enough fan of Andrew Solomon's book that you are willing to label yourself in such a way.

What does it mean?

From the limited context you have given, one could only guess. Who said it and when in the book? But the reproach, at any rate, is entirely within the word, "gently".

As a reproach to someone, say M. A, you could say,

Gently, A.

You could also say, "Be gentle," to mean the same thing.

Or you could use the phrase, as is, as a humorous word of caution. However, especially since you ask about the context of use, there are people who would use it as an opportunity to tease, or even to presume to try to use it to put themselves above you in rank or control.

If you are thinking about using it and are not confident of being able to defend yourself against the egos of others, you may prefer to restrict your use of the phrase to your close and trusted friends. The SPAM on the yahoo page, if it's still there, might be useful reference about the ways it could be deliberately misinterpreted.