"prostitude" = giggolo

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 10:16 AM, Amy West wrote:
>
> Spotted this in a wire story in the Boston Globe on Saturday:
>
>
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/03/27/first_legal_gigolo_leaves_nev_brothel/
>
> Brothel owner Jim Davis said yesterday that the Shady Lady Ranch had
> parted ways with the "prostitude'' who worked under the name Markus.
>
> Why the new for a new coinage? And is it just me, or do others think
> that this blend should be "prostidude"?

Indeed. I've now posted about this on Language Log (with a hat tip to Amy):

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2212


--Ben Zimmer

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