Another kind of buddy

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Jun 15, 2007, at 8:45 AM, Jon Lighter wrote:

> My mother frequently used "boyfriend" to refer to a man's male
> friends, just as she used "girlfriend" to refer to a woman's female
> friends.
>
>   This later struck me as odd,

i don't recall having heard this use of "boyfriend".  "girlfriend"
for a woman's female best friend, all the time, mostly from women
from working-class backgrounds (where "girlfriend" is the female-
female counterpart of male-male "(best) buddy").

> but I've seen a fair number of printed exx., esp. from ca1915-1930:
>
>   1919 A. C. Witwer _Alex the Great_  [Boston: Small, Maynard &
> Co.] 14: "I never heard tell of such carryin' on!" "Wait till you
> been here a little longer," I says, "I ain't carryin' on, me and
> some boy friends of mine is tryin' to kill a dull afternoon."

this, and your later examples, have "boy friend" written as two
words.  it's not clear whether any particular instance was accented
as a transparent modifier-head construction (with primary accent on
"friend(s)") or as a noun-noun compound (with primary accent on
"boy"), as in current "boyfriend".

arnold

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