pussy," adj. = weak; effeminate; cowardly; unmanly; soft or easy eno

[Jonathan Lighter]

We call our cats "puddies" also. Tweety Bird influence. Not in OED.

JL

Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Fred Shapiro
Subject: Re: pussy," adj. = weak; effeminate; cowardly; unmanly; soft or
easy eno
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On Wed, 17 Aug 2005, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> Actually, the overtly sexual "pussy" is solidly attested from the late
> 19th C. Your cite does show just how pervasive it had become by 1960.
> (When was the last time you heard a non-child refer to a "kitty" as a
> "pussy" ?)

My wife frequently addresses our two cats as "puddies." It may be that
she is consciously or subconsciously avoiding the double-entenderish
"pussies."

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
Access and Lecturer in Legal Research Yale University Press,
Yale Law School forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu http://quotationdictionary.com
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