"boy friend/ boyfriend" [WAS a new kind of "guy"]

Mark Mandel thnidu at GMAIL.COM
Mon Jun 18 02:32:16 UTC 2007


On 6/15/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>   1911 Winston Stokes, Charles Lamb & Mary Lamb_All Shakespeare's Tales_ (
> N.Y.: Stokes) 302: Troilus and Cressida... Achilles lay idly in his tent,
> listening to his boy friend Patroclus. [Not what you think, you filthy
> rotter!]


That aside makes a good case for a common sexual-attraction use of "boy
friend" in 1911.

m a m

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list