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

[Jonathan Lighter]

I've unearthed an overlooked stash of cites that take "pussy," n = coward, weakling, etc., back to 1942, but (except for Toomer) the adj. is still mired in the late '60s, where I assume it will be staying for a while.

JL

Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Laurence Horn
Subject: Re: pussy," adj. = weak; effeminate; cowardly; unmanly; soft or
easy eno
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>In that case, then, the "+ female" term would be the default
>designation. Unusual.

I think it goes with many folks' sense that all cats are "she" unless
proven "he". As far as animals go, though, a bunch of them have the
female designation as unmarked/default: goose (vs. gander), duck
(vs. drake) as well as "cow".

L

>
>The same would be true of "kitty-cat." No it wouldn't.
>
>
>JL
>
>Laurence Horn wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Laurence Horn
>Subject: Re: pussy," adj. = weak; effeminate; cowardly; unmanly; soft or
>easy eno
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>At 11:09 AM -0700 8/17/05, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>Not that the subject comes up frequently, but I've known more than
>>one person who insisted that "pussy-cat" refers only to female cats,
>>being the complementary term to "tomcat."
>>
>>Nuance not in OED.
>>
>
>I would think at most it's a privative opposition, in that if you
>didn't know the sex it could still be a pussy-cat, or if there was a
>house full of kitties of assorted sexes they could be described as a
>bunch of pussy-cats, but once you knew of a given one that it was
>male it would be a tom-cat. So it's a bit like "cow" vs. "bull" or,
>in the other direction, like "lion" vs. "lioness".
>
>LH
>
>>Laurence Horn wrote:
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender: American Dialect Society
>>Poster: Laurence Horn
>>Subject: Re: pussy," adj. = weak; effeminate; cowardly; unmanly; soft or
>>easy eno
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>At 12:52 PM -0400 8/17/05, Alice Faber wrote:
>>>Fred Shapiro wrote:
>>>>On Wed, 17 Aug 2005, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Actually, the overtly sexual "pussy" is solidly attested from the late
>>>>>19th C.
>>
>>Farmer & Henley (in their volume V, 1902) include under PUSS, sense 3:
>>(venery) The female pudendum; see MONOSYLLABLE [for hundreds of
>>synonyms]: also PUSSY and PUSSY-CAT.; Fr., CHAT; ANGORA.
>>
>>Interestingly, "pussy-cat" is often used now precisely to
>>short-circuit the taboo homonymy noted below.
>>(What a nice pussy#(cat) you have!)
>>
>>>>>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."
>>>>
>>>
>>>Maybe it's just a relic of whatever cartoon that was with "I tought I
>>>taw a putty tat".
>>>
>>>--
>>
>>Tweety, re Sylvester
>>
>>Larry
>>
>>
>>
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