"playboy" [Was: article on the name "America"]

[Jonathan Lighter]

The pre-1920 "playboy" seems to have been primarily fun-loving (rather than
"pleasure-seeking") and irresponsible, given (perhaps) to drinking,
fighting, sporting, and whoring. The term seems to have carried some slight
opprobrium.

In contrast, the modern "playboy" is usu. well-to-do and socializes
successfully with
many women (who are not predominantly prostitutes).

The condition about prostitutes is significant.  As I read it, a young man
in the 19th C. who consorted regularly with prostitutes and was generally
irresponsible, but was also seeking a wife, would very clearly be a
"playboy."  Since the mid 20th C., however, the playboy doesn't want a wife.
As OED suggests, he is also paradigmatically well-to-do. (Cue the Jordan
Playboy.)  However, if his "sexual promiscuity" is chiefly with prostitutes,
he is not a "playboy."  A playboy easily gets social dates with numerous
women. He's still a "playboy" even if he's not having sex with them, and
"playboy" usu. carries little or no opprobrium.

"Sexual promiscuity" has never been a defining characteristic.  Moreover,
today's "playboy" need not be generally irresponsible at all. Many
successful business executives and dedicated athletes are "playboys."

JL


"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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