"moist"

[Ron Butters]

the origin would seem to be largely irrelevant, given that the olfactory association seems to be pretty much universal among those who use the term. 4 what its worth, my own memory is that I first heard the term applied to women as a homosexual subculture usage, strongly pejorative and scornful.

Sent from my Droid Charge on Verizon 4GLTE

------Original Message------
From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Date: Monday, November 7, 2011 6:45:54 AM GMT-0500
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "moist"

Well, Civil War rookies were widely known as "fresh fish," not because
of any  moisture but because they were brand-new and stupid.

The prison use is almost as old.

As a term for women it is considerably more recent. How certain are we
of the latterly alleged origin of that usage?

JL

On Mon, Nov 7, 2011 at 2:01 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: "moist"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Sun, Nov 6, 2011 at 9:01 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>> Pejoratively, women are "fish"
>
> As are newcomers to prison, whether male or female. as more likely to
> become victims victims of intrasexual prison rape than
> more-experienced inmates.
>
> --
> -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
>



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