vivacious

[Jonathan Lighter]

In the late '70s I was told that "vivacious" was sexist and should not be
used.

JL

On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 10:14 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: vivacious
>
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>
> Me, too. I'm not sure sure what vivacity in the personality of a man
> would look like.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 11:53 AM, Jesse Sheidlower<jester at panix.com> wrote:
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> > Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: Â  Â  Â  Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> > Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: vivacious
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Wed, Jul 08, 2009 at 08:50:25AM -0700, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> >> NYT Magazine, 7/5/09, Mark Leibovitch, "On the Coast of Crazy" (about
> >> Gavin Newsom), p. 29:
> >>
> >> Â  He is vivacious and something of a political thrill-seeker ...
> >>
> >> my eye was caught by "vivacious", which sounded a bit odd to me used
> >> of a man. Â NOAD2 says:
> >> Â  (esp. of a woman) attractively lively and animated
> >>
> >> (AHD4 and the OED have no note.)
> >>
> >> raw google webhits have "she is vivacious" slightly ahead of "he is
> >> vivacious", but only slightly. Â and the relevant OED cites are pretty
> >> well balanced. Â so i'm not sure why i (and NOAD2) associate
> >> "vivacious" with women more than men.
> >
> > FWIW, I share this association.
> >
> > Jesse Sheidlower
> > OED
> >
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>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> –––
> 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.
> -----
> -Mark Twain
>
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