Taboo replacements

[Max W Wheeler]

On Wed, 12 May 1999, Rick Mc Callister wrote:

> That is true but "athletic supporters" are still called "jock straps" in
> America

[snip]

> [ Moderator's comment:
>   I think the two writers are actually saying the same thing:  Were the word
>   "jock" still in (common) use in the meaning "penis", it would not have been
>   extended to the meaning "athlete" no matter what an athletic supporter was
>   called.
>   --rma ]

Athletic supports are called jock straps in British English too, but
until this correspondence I had no idea why (which sort of supports
rma's point).

Max
___________________________________________________________________________
Max W. Wheeler <maxw at cogs.susx.ac.uk>
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1273 678975; fax: +44 (0)1273 671320
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