Himbette?

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:01 PM -0400 7/25/01, Douglas Bigham wrote:
>Okay, so I was reading through Entertainment Weekly and came across this
>(sidebar, p. 55, issue #606 with Madonna on the cover):
>
>"...dream dates with himbos and himbettes..."
>
>I have NEVER heard this and a quick (scatter-shot) search came up with
>nothing.  Anyone else seen this?  As "himbo" was originally (I thought) a
>male answer for "bimbo", this is one nasty back-form. (IMHO).

and at 9:43 PM -0400 7/25/01, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>I suppose a bimbette is a young or immature bimbo.
>
>I suppose a himbo is a male bimbo.
>
>I suppose a himbette is a young or immature male bimbo.
>
I take a himbette rather to be 'a female himbo', and hence, by substituting in,
'a [female [male bimbo]]'.  Whether or not this reduces to 'bimbo'
I'll have to leave to the subtle intuitions of the editors of
Entertainment Weekly.  Perhaps it's just another case of the Triumph
of the Unmarked Male.

larry