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

[Wilson Gray]

We also call our cats "puddies" or "puddie tats." In my case, I
extracted the term from Tweetie Bird's catchphrase, "I tawt I taw a
puddie tat!"

Back in the spring of 1955, I was taking a class on?/in? botany from
from a sweet little old maiden lady, Dr. Nagel. One morning, she began
her lecture with an anecdote concerning pussy willow, saying that, as
she was walking to campus, she hadfound the most beautiful and
delightful, big, furry pussies and had brought ome to to the class to
show us. She went on and on with this "big, furry pussies" rap. We all
gritted our teeth and stared into our laps, fearing that, if anyone
caught anyone else's eye, it would lead to a total loss of control of
everyone in the class. For a month or so after that, anyone meeting
someone else from that class would say "big, furry pussy" and they
both would dissolve into the laughter that had been suppressed in the
classroom.

-Wilson Gray

On 8/17/05, Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: pussy," adj. = weak; effeminate; cowardly; unmanly; soft or
>               easy         eno
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 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
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>