booty call

[Lynne Murphy]

Here are some other examples of 'booty call' (courtesy of Google).  The key
elements seem to be that it's someone who's 'on-call' for sex without romantic commitment--so tends to be a standing order (who one has sex with between romantic interests).  My question is: is this the meaning that was involved in the African-American slang usages (in the cited film and song, e.g.), or has their been a semantic shift due to use on Sex and the City or
some such...

Lynne

Article on college slang from Wash Post:
http://www.geocities.com/minjokhan/abdurRashid/BeFortified.html


http://www.salon.com/sex/feature/2002/01/23/poly/
He just wants sex, plain and simple: a one-night stand following
a fortuitous bar encounter, a booty-call arrangement that lasts longer but
doesn't go emotionally deeper.

http://www.salon.com/sex/col/vitz/2000/11/21/comedian/index1.html
He tells the sub-10s that he will have "booty-call-type sex," but not
a relationship, with them.
The longer I talk to Rubin, the more confused I get. He doesn't like most of
these women, and they usually reject him. Is the sex that much better? He
answers with a "you've-got-to-be-kidding" laugh. "You know how hard it is to
have sex with these women? I rarely succeed at that level ... I succeed at the lower-level booty call kind of sex more, the woman who's not hot but is
OK for just fooling around."

http://www.maximonline.com/world_o_sex/articles/article_3820.html
Be Her Booty Call
Who hasn?t dreamed of being the on-call sex toy of a beautiful woman?
Christina Valhouli shows you everything you need to know to be that guy.
...
A girl looking for a booty call is usually a) recently dumped, b) serially single, or c) between boyfriends. When it?s late at night and one of these gals picks up the phone (and she wants her fingers to do more than just the
walking), who?s she going to want on the receiving end? A woman?s number one draft pick for a booty call is her ex-boyfriend. Why? ?You want someone who knows the lay of the land,? says Mashe, 25. A booty call is business?this isn?t the time to experiment with a Tommy Lee?inspired trapeze. We want satisfaction.


Dr M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
Acting Director, MA in Applied Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

phone +44-(0)1273-678844
fax   +44-(0)1273-671320