Sex ed and language

[Wilson Gray]

I read George's "_8th_ grade" as "_5th_ grade" (I've misplaced my good
glasses and have been using an old pair that I found in a some
drawer). Interestingly, the list of words that I didn't know in the
relevant grade is the some. Of course, slang change between 1950 and
20-whenever is to be expected. By the 8th grade, I certainly knew a
complete set of slang terms for all of those body-parts and bodily
fluids, just very few of the terms in George's list.

-Wilson

On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 2:23 PM, Ann Burlingham <ann at burlinghambooks.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ann Burlingham <ann at BURLINGHAMBOOKS.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Sex ed and language
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 12:54 PM, George Thompson
> <george.thompson at nyu.edu> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: Sex ed and language
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Did 8th grade students really used ALL of these words?
>
> I remember similar exercises in classes (not 8th grade, though), and
> was surprised that they listed so few. Especially for "penis".
>
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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

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