_Dittybopper_

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:01 AM -0500 1/23/10, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
>
>I also have documentary proof, from _Life_ magazine, that young women have
>been calling young men "sluts" since at least the 1980s.  Sounds very weird,
>but I hear it a lot on TV.
>
>JL

In an early edition of Pam Munro's _UCLA Slang Dictionary_ from the
90s _slut_ has a sex-neutral entry, something like 'a promiscuous
person'; _skank_ is glossed as 'a female slut'.

LH

>On Sat, Jan 23, 2010 at 1:17 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>  Subject:      Re: _Dittybopper_
>>
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  The UD-er probably heard somebody my age use the term and pulled a
>>  meaning for It out of his ass. What's in HDAS is, IME, absolutely
>>  correct.
>>
>>  FWIW, I first heard _skeezer_ used by Dave Chappelle. I could tell
>>  from context that the word had some kind of derogatory meaning, but it
>>  was by no means clear as to wherein the derogation lay: whether in
>>  physicality or in morality. But then, it's clear from the language of
>>  the youngest member of my family - a twenty-year-old under the
>>  impression that, e.g. the word "pimp" didn't exist till she was in
>>  middle school - that thangs ain't necessarily what they used to be.
>>  _Skeezer_ may not be the same as "slut" in *my* lexicon, but who knows
>>  how those who post to the UD have lexicalized "slut"? It was strictly
>>  a literary term, when *I* was twenty. Probably 99.44% of the boyz in
>>  the 'hood were totally unaware of the word's existence.
>>
>>  "Skank" was an everyday term, back in the day, but it meant something
>>  like "poor, lives in the projects; possibly ugly." We boojie studs
>>  applied the term only to girls of the lower class. "Skag" had almost
>>  the same meaning, except that a skank *had* to be physically
>>  unprepossessing in order to be referred to as a skag.
>>
>>  Just heard a character in the original version of The Office refer to
>>  himself as a "cockney bitch." Wonder what he meant.
>>
>>  Speaking of English English, how common is "I reckon NP" as opposed to
>>  "I fancy NP"? Back in the '70's, a friend from Ipswich used to use the
>>  former, translating it directly into AmE as "I like NP," when asked
>>  the meaning of the phrase.
>>
>>  -Wilson
>>
>>  On Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 11:45 PM, Jonathan Lighter
>>  <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>  > Subject:      Re: _Dittybopper_
>>  >
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  >
>>  > Wilson, you got me trumped. I believe I had a single cite for the sense
>>  you
>>  > describe, possibly referring to the early 1960s. I doubt that the context
>>  > was the ASA, but can't say for sure.
>>  >
>>  > Probably I collected it after Vol. 1 appeared in 1994.
>>  >
>>  > Thanks for the informative note.
>>  >
>>  > Believe it or not: Urban Dictionary.com has "diddy bopper" as a syn. of
>>  > "skeezer; slut," etc. and that's it.
>>  >
>>  > JL
>>  >
>>  > On Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 11:14 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>>  >
>>  >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  >> -----------------------
>>  >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  >> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>  >> Subject:      _Dittybopper_
>>  >>
>>  >>
>>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>>  > ------
>>  >>
>>  >> This word, which is in HDAS with all of the other meanings that I know
>>  >> of, has another, long-obsolete meaning. In the old Army Security
>>  >> Agency, eliminated from the Army's "TO&E" in 1965, a "diddy- /
>  > >> dittybopper" was someone who dealt hands-on with some form of
>>  >> telegraphy: telegrapher, telegraphic-intercept operator, transcriber
>>  >> of intercepted telegraphic commo. My WAG is that this is based on the
>>  >> _dit-dah_ of telegraphy, with no connection to "diddy- / dittybopper"
>>  >> in any of its other meanings.
>>  >>
>>  >> Although I've never seen this use in the print medium, it's easily
>>  >> found on the Web on any ASA-alumni site. The old Agency had a kind of
>>  >> college-frat feel to it. Hence, there are several alumni sites. Since
>>  >> I was involved in voice intelligence and not signal intelligence, I
>>  >> first came across the word in this use on alumni sites. Hence, not
>>  >> even a WAG as to how old it is.
>>  >>
>>  >> -Wilson
>>  >> =96=96=96
>>  >> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"=96=96a strange complaint
>>  t=
>>  > o
>>  >> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>  >> =96Mark Twain
>>  >>
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>>  >
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > --=20
>>  > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>>  truth."
>>  >
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>>  >
>>
>>
>>
>>  --
>>  -Wilson
>>  ---
>>  All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"--a strange complaint to
>>  come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>   -Mark Twain
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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