"suave"

[Matthew Gordon]

I'd suggest the pejoration of 'suave' was aided by Gerardo, the rico, suave,
one-hit wonder:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx64_N4AA04
For me, this is the kind of character, along with Christopher Walken's _The
Continental_ from Saturday Night Live, that 'suave' brings to mind.


On 4/30/08 8:59 AM, "Charles Doyle" <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:

> From the mystery novel _The Lost Van Gogh_, by A. J. Zerries (2006):  "The
> French dealer was everything 'suave' used to stand for, before a line of
> knockoff shampoos irreversibly debased the word" (p. 144).
>
> I'd never noticed or considered the purported debasing of "suave." I wonder if
> it has really happened. How common is it that the use of a word as a brand
> name affects the word's connotations?
>
> --Charlie
> _____________________________________________________________
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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