Heard on the Today show: "whuppin'"

Charles Doyle cdoyle at UGA.EDU
Tue Oct 28 15:22:11 UTC 2008


It means that, for men (even heterosexual men), the company of other men is preferred--or is to be preferred--to the company of women. The conterpart saying is "Sisters before misters" or, more commonly, "Chicks before dicks."

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:06:44 -0400
>From: Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject: Re: Heard on the Today show: "whuppin'"
>
>Veering off, what does the proverb mean?
>
>Mark Mandel
>
>
>On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 11:04 AM, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
>
>> Yes, definitely a lexified "nonstandard" pronunciation (cf. "heist," etc.).  The pronunciation more strictly represented by the spelling "whipping"--and perhaps the speling itself--would be inappropriate in certain situations.
>>
>> By analogy: The proverb "Bros before hos" (sp?) cannot reasonably be written (much less pronounced) as "Brothers before whores"--by anybody!
>>
>> --Charlie

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