Another kind of buddy

[Wilson Gray]

I agree with what Jon says. Interestingly enough, my mother has used
the term-of-direct-address "buddy" in threatening - "Don't make me
have to come get you, buddy, or I'll beat you till I can't see you!"
or insulting speech - "Who are you supposed to be, buddy?! Mr. [Jay]
Gould or somebody?!" - for millenia. Or maybe it only feels like
millenia.

-Wilson

On 6/13/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Another kind of buddy
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Re ordinary "buddy."  It's still widely used in Tennessee in the vocative by friendly blue-collar types, esp. those over forty.  But only if you're not really buddies. To address someone as "buddy" if you're already buddies would be unusual.
>
>   And the more you did it, the more "unusual" it would be.
>
>   JL
>
> Darla Wells <dlw3208 at LOUISIANA.EDU> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Darla Wells
> Subject: Re: Another kind of buddy
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Now that you mention it, the person who taught me the expression was in the
> military at the same time I was in the late 70's. I had not heard it in basic
> maybe because I was in the last all female platoon to graduate at Fort
> McClellan and our drill sergeants were too busy whining because they couldn't
> hit the recruits any more to teach us anything useful like that.
>
> With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince. With science, you can turn a
> frog into a Ph.D and you still have the frog you started with. (Terry Pratchett)
>
> ---------- Original Message -----------
> From: "Landau, James"
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 08:35:59 -0400
> Subject: Re: Another kind of buddy
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: "Landau, James"
> > Subject: Re: Another kind of buddy
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > In Basic Training in 1969, at Fort Knox, Kentucky, I heard the following
> > definition of "buddy system": "your buddy gets a pass, goes to town,
> > gets two blow jobs, and gives you one." So it's earlier than the
> > 80's and not restricted to California.
> >
> > When CB radio became the fad around 1974, a stereotyped usage (e.g. C.
> > W. McCall's "Convoy" record) was to call someone (generally a male
> > someone) "good buddy". By about 1980 a CB-er told me "good buddy"
> > was not to be used because it now meant a gay boyfriend.
> >
> > As for "fuck buddy" being a gay male usage, that makes sense. The word
> > "buddy" is usually (though not always) applied to a man's male
> > friend or helper, e.g. the "buddy system" in swimming. (However,
> > one can imagine a girl's swimming class using the buddy system.)
> >
> > Therefore for a woman to refer to a male lover as a "fuck buddy" is
> > odd, since women do not generally refer to male friends as
> > "buddies". Equally odd for a man (or for that matter a woman) to
> > refer to a female lover as a "fuck buddy". Hence the presence of
> > the word "buddy" implies a male-to-male relationship, with the f-
> > word specifying it is a sexual relationship.
> >
> > OT: is anyone familiar with the term "best bud"?
> >
> > - Jim Landau
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Darla Wells [mailto:dlw3208 at LOUISIANA.EDU]
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 11:43 AM
> > Subject: Re: Another kind of buddy
> >
> > When I was a beginning truck driver, I was told not to be saying that
> > someone was my buddy. When I asked why, I was told that the
> > definition of buddy is "someone who will go get a blow job and bring
> > you back one." I have no idea where he got that one, but I heard it
> > a few times. This was in Southern California in the 80's. I wonder
> > if that comes from a similar place as "fuck buddy." Darla
> >
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