Whiz

[Dennis Preston]

What! Wilson surely you go back to "powder my nose" (if not
"straighten the seams on my stockings").

dInIs

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Whiz
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>I once heard a woman say, "take a dump." It sounded gross.
>Fortunately, I've not had the displeasure of hearing a woman use any
>of the other forms. That may seem a little prissy, but, once upon a
>time, even hearing a woman say, "I have to go to the bathroom,"
>grossed me out. The only proper usage for women for me, at one time,
>was, "Excuse me."
>
>-Wilson
>
>
>On 9/26/07, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Re: Whiz
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  OK, a person (at least a male; do the same expressions commonly
>>refer to female activities of the corresponding sort?) can "take a
>>X"; X can be "whiz" or "leak" or "piss" or "pee" or "shit" or
>>"dump" or "dooky" or possibly other eliminations of a nether
>>sort--but NOT *"turd" or *"urine."
>>
>>  The object of "take" designates an action (an act of X-ing), not
>>just the substance deposited. Even though the permissible X's are
>>clearly nouns (preceded by the definite article), the allowable X
>>words can, in other environments, function as verbs, whereas "turd"
>>and "urine" can't.
>>
>>  There must be exceptions or outright contradictions to this little
>>hypothesis!
>>
>>  And then there are upper-body eliminations: We can't *"take a
>>spit" or *"take a vomit." In our expressions, "take" seems to imply
>>premeditation, deliberation, perhaps even a certain formality.
>>
>>  --Charlie
>>  _____________________________________________________________
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  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 American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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