Melioration

[Jonathan Lighter]

An earlier example that springs to mind is to "get off," which in mainstream usage changed from "experience orgasm" to "enjoy oneself (often perversely)."  This happened around 1970.

JL

Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Melioration
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The phrases. "get some boodie" and "give up some boodie" now appear to
be to be treated as ordinary slang instead of as the obscenities that
they've always been heretofore.

In the roto-gravure (is this term still used? haven't heard it since
the '40's) of the local broadsheet, a local newly-wed mentions that her
husband wanted to "get some booty." On a local TV chat show, a woman
says that a guy took her over to his house because he thought she was
going to "give up some booty."

Well. language-change is inevitable.

-Wilson Gray


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