FW: "Pusties" ("Pasticiotti," a Utica, NY delicacy)--reply from Reinhold Aman

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

  Reinhold ("Rey") Aman responded  with two e-mails to my  recent query about "pusties," and with his permission I present excerpts below.

Gerald Cohen
P.S. Btw, anyone giving a class which touches on words/expressions should at least mention Aman's work and his publication Maledicta.  I do so in my etymology class--presenting the Maledicta article which suggests that Mozart's erratic behavior might have been due to Tourette's Syndrome--and the class is always very interested.

________________________________

From: Reinhold (Rey) Aman [mailto:aman at sonic.net]
Sent: Fri 7/7/2006 4:13 AM
To: Cohen, Gerald Leonard
Subject: Re: "Pusties" ("Pasticiotti," a Utica, NY delicacy)

"Cohen, Gerald Leonard" wrote:

> I'm astounded to read that there's a food called "pusty," esp. the
> quote below:  "We especially loved the vanilla filled pusties, with
> the delicately scented filling poised in texture between custard and
> pastry cream."  Maybe this is all a coincidence, but IIRC, "pusty" is
> a Greek term and refers to the female member of a male homosexual pair.

Hi, Jerry,

The Greek term for the passive partner is _poustis_ ['pustIs] "POOS-tis."

> I think the English equivalent is "catcher."

And "bottom."
You'll find "poustis" in Maledicta  2 (1978), p. 33, line 8.  It's in Steve
Demakopoulos's article, "The Greek Gays Have a Word for It."

Also, on the Website below, you'll see "poustis," and
if you click on the speaker icon on the right, you'll hear it pronounced:

    http://www.takisnet.org/Greek/

In the article "Pederasty in the Islamic world" in Wikipedia, I found
this: "Pusht," a borrowing from Persian meaning "back" or "anus,"
survives in modern Greek as "poustis," a term of invective used of
passive homosexuals...."

> About 15 years ago Reinhold Aman's extraordinary journal _Maledicta_
> (hey, Rey, will there be another issue?)

    The gist of Rey's reply is: not likely. He would need more orders from  scholars/lexicographers/educated laymen.  Scholarly reaction has been very favorable, but the number of subscribers has not been sufficient to get him past the break-even point financially.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      > contained an article on Greek sexual terminology, and "pusty"
> appeared there.

Not "pusty" but "poustis" (singular).


 ~~~ Rey ~~~
Reinhold Aman
M A L E D I C T A
P.O. Box 14123
Santa Rosa, CA 95402

P.S.
Have I mentioned the "F*CK" film already?
Jesse and I are in this 2006 documentary.
See "Interviews" and "Trailer" at:
    http://www.fourletterfilm.com/ [854K]

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org