male pattern baldness (was Re: Chick)

[Gregory {Greg} Downing]

At 03:13 PM 11/12/99 -0500, you wrote:
>I listened to a description of a male suffering from "male pattern
>baldness" the other day and wondered why the description did not say
>simply that he was "bald." (It was clear from the context that he was
>male.)
>
>Then I wondered: would fat women sound more attractive if we described
>then as suffering from, say, "female pattern fatness"?
>
>Bethany
>

(1) euphemism to soften the blow
                 +
(2) abstract, scientific multi-attributive
terminology ("attributive attributive abstract-noun"
is a very common -- dare I say it? -- pattern...),
in order to present the phenomenon as
more vague and more important-sounding


A very very common strategy in an era where people worry a lot about how
dictional choices might hurt their own or others' feelings, right?

Best, Greg D.


Greg Downing/NYU, at greg.downing at nyu.edu or gd2 at is2.nyu.edu