gentleman

[Geoff Nathan]

> At 10:34 PM -0400 10/10/07, James Harbeck wrote:
>> Well, given that many children eventually learn that "please" means
>> their parent is upset or impatient, I think the similar use of
>> similarly polite "gentleman" to express something deprecatory is not
>> as surprising as it might be. I've certainly heard "gentlemen with
>> deep suntans" a few times, for instance, and I'm sure you can guess
>> what that meant; I have heard various politeness forms used with
>> negative connotations quite a few times, though I admit I was not
>> diligent enough to keep track of what percentage of the time.
>
> And it would be only fair, given the long history of demeaning or
> pejorative uses of "lady", as documented in the feminist linguistics
> literature.
I have certainly heard the word 'gentleman' used ironically by police
officers and others to mean someone really bad--my sense is that they
are well aware of the ironic use they are making of it.

Geoff

--
Geoffrey S. Nathan
Computing and Information Technology and Department of English
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI, 48202
geoffnathan at wayne.edu
C&IT Phone (313) 577-1259
English Phone (313) 577-8621

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