Ameliorated words of offensive origin

[Alice Faber]

Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>I'm working on a short and pressingly-deadlined essay and need to
>come up with examples of words that are viewed as innocuous today
>(or at least not _that_ bad) but whose origins are offensive in some
>way. One example might be "scumbag," which is generally thought to
>be less offensive by people who don't realize it's a word for a
>condom; another might be "schmuck," which is perhaps less offensive
>if you don't know it's Yiddish for 'penis'.

Remember the Alfonse D'Amato putz-gate hoo-hah a few years ago? That
might be a nice hook, since there was a lot of meta-discussion of
what "putz" REALLY means and whether people should be offended.
--
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Alice Faber                                             faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                                  tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
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