dirty words in dictionaries revisted

Wilson Gray wilson.gray at RCN.COM
Fri Dec 17 16:57:05 UTC 2004


Of course. Now I see what you mean. In fact, FWIW, even as recently as
the time of my own childhood, the form used was "(to) peepee" and not
simply "(to) pee."

-Wilson Gray

On Dec 17, 2004, at 11:27 AM, Baker, John wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Re: dirty words in dictionaries revisted
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
>         No, I mean that they would have gotten the pun, even though
> "pee" did not yet mean urinate.
>
> John Baker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Wilson Gray
> Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 11:23 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: dirty words in dictionaries revisted
>
>
> On Dec 17, 2004, at 11:08 AM, Baker, John wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: dirty words in dict              ionaries revisted
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>> --------
>>
>>         Might "P's" have been understood by an Elizabethan audience as
>> simply "piss," and not "pees"?
>>
>> John Baker
>>
>
> In other words, such an audience wouldn't have gotten the pun?
>
> -Wilson Gray
>



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