MILF (was Re: change from the bottom up)
Wilson Gray
hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Wed May 2 03:39:11 UTC 2007
I can't say whether it's current or not, other than in the sense that
people my age might use such speech. But, as you've no doubt noticed,
as people become more educated aand more mature, they stop using
slang, except for laughs. I'm a senior citizen whose closest children
friends are young ladies and gentlemen in their early forties who
eschew the use of slang in my presence out of respect for my age.
Besides, slang is probably the weirdest form of language. Cf., e.g.,
the current hip(-hop) phrase, "holler at." This phrase was in common
use when I was a youngster in the '40's and '50's. However, it was
used only by women of my mother's age, rendering it totally unhip.
That a term that probably dates back to black women's speech of the
'20's of the last century or even earlier should be "fresh" in the
speech of males in the first decade of the following century is not
something that anyone could have predicted.
Or consider the joking use of "Negro-dialect" forms like "I _gots_"
and "I _goes_" by Stephen Colbert. Of course, what with Stephen's
being from South Carolina, such usages may not necessarily be "Negro"
for him. And, of course, he doesn't see color, in the racial sense, in
any case.
-Wilson
On 4/30/07, Scot LaFaive <spiderrmonkey at hotmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Scot LaFaive <spiderrmonkey at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: MILF (was Re: change from the bottom up)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I can say "That test was a motherfucker," but "motherfucker" here means
> difficult, not interesting. Is the example you gave still "current" in the
> dialect? Just curious.
>
> Scot LaFaive
>
>
> >From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >Subject: Re: MILF (was Re: change from the bottom up)
> >Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:16:18 -0400
> >
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >Subject: Re: MILF (was Re: change from the bottom up)
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >Well, can you say something like, "[1]That shit was a most
> >motherfucker!" without having to compose it, i.e. automatically, and
> >without any doubt that your hearers will understand completely? If you
> >can, then "motherfucker" is an integral part of your speech, in the
> >sense that I mean. As The Meters once put it, "[2]That shit be fire!"
> >
> >[1]That was really interesting!
> >[2]That's (usually) attention-getting!
> >
> >-Wilson
> >
> >On 4/30/07, Scot LaFaive <spiderrmonkey at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> > > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster: Scot LaFaive <spiderrmonkey at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject: Re: MILF (was Re: change from the bottom up)
> > >
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > >BTW, has "motherfucker," while i was sleeping, become the integral part
> >of
> > > >white speeech that it is of black speech.
> > >
> > > I would think so. I've never thought of "motherfucker" as anything but
> > > native. Not sure what you mean by "integral."
> > >
> > > Scot LaFaive
> > >
> > >
> > > >From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > > >Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > >Subject: Re: MILF (was Re: change from the bottom up)
> > > >Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 16:30:44 -0400
> > > >
> > > >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > >-----------------------
> > > >Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > >Poster: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > > >Subject: Re: MILF (was Re: change from the bottom up)
> > >
> > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > >Well, she was known as "Stifler's Mom." BTW, has "motherfucker," while
> > > >i was sleeping, become the integral part of white speeech that it is
> > > >of black speech, such that it would serve as the basis for new slang?
> > > >
> > > >-Wilson
> > > >
> > > >On 4/30/07, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
> > > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > >-----------------------
> > > > > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > > Poster: "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> > > > > Subject: Re: MILF (was Re: change from the bottom up)
> > > > >
> > >
> > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > >
> > > > > American Pie, the 1999 movie that brought "milf" to a broad
> > > > > audience, used "mom," but most of the pre-American Pie cites on
> >Google
> > > > > Groups use "mother."
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > John Baker
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> >Behalf
> > > > > Of James Harbeck
> > > > > Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 9:15 PM
> > > > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > > > Subject: Re: MILF (was Re: change from the bottom up)
> > > > >
> > > > > >For me, I think I've heard MILF spoken out almost exclusively as
> >"mom"
> > > > > >not "mother."
> > > > >
> > > > > I find this interesting. It's not my experience -- rather the
> >opposite.
> > > > > And I had always assumed that it was a phrase modelled on the
> >venerable
> > > > > "motherfucker."
> > > > >
> > > > > A Google poll gets me 32,500 for full-phrase "mother i'd like to
> >fuck"
> > > > > and 11,700 for "mom i'd like to fuck"; {"mom i'd like to" MILF} gets
> > > > > 13,800, and {"mother i'd like to" MILF} gets 32,700, meaning that
> >there
> > > > > are more instances where the vulgarity is left out of the
> >explanation
> > > > > that use "mom" than that use "mother", but otherwise "mother" is
> >roughly
> > > > > triple "mom".
> > > > >
> > > > > James Harbeck.
> > > > >
> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > > >
> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >--
> > > >All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> > > >come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > > >-----
> > > > -Sam'l Clemens
> > > >------
> > > >The tongue has no bones, yet it breaks bones.
> > > >
> > > > Rumanian proverb
> > > >
> > > >------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________________________
> > > Get a FREE Web site, company branded e-mail and more from Microsoft
> >Office
> > > Live! http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/mcrssaub0050001411mrt/direct/01/
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> >--
> >All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> >come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >-----
> > -Sam'l Clemens
> >------
> >The tongue has no bones, yet it breaks bones.
> >
> > Rumanian proverb
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Interest Rates NEAR 39yr LOWS! $430,000 Mortgage for $1,299/mo - Calculate
> new payment
> http://www.lowermybills.com/lre/index.jsp?sourceid=lmb-9632-19132&moid=14888
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens
------
The tongue has no bones, yet it breaks bones.
Rumanian proverb
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list