"fuck like a mink" [Was: "mink" (n.) = 'a black, a Negro'?]

[Wilson Gray]

I doubt that the average black American has any idea what a "mink" is,
other than an expensive fur coat. If it wasn't for the fact that I
read extensively, I certainly wouldn't know more than that. Joel's
opening sentence should read "... among white people," because it's
news to me. Black people don't know it. we say, "fucks like a rabbit,"
when the subject comes up.

-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





On Sun, May 10, 2009 at 12:03 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: "fuck like a mink" [Was: "mink" (n.) = 'a black, a Negro'?]
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Mink are known for ferocious and frequent fucking, so an association
> with race is unnecessary, and I would bet not involved in the etymology.
>
> At 5/10/2009 11:14 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>At 7:40 AM -0700 5/10/09, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>>>On May 9, 2009, at 8:46 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>In addition to dark-brown complexion, also "fuck like a mink", WRT the
>>>>stereotype of black (hyper)sexuality?
>>>
>>>in my experience, "fuck like a mink" is used of women and of couples,
>>>regardless of race.
>>>
>>>arnold
>
> Cassel's (Jonathon Green, 2005) has [1910s+] "of a *woman*, to
> copulate enthusiastically". Â [emphasis added.] Â As do similarly
> Partridge and Beale, Wilkinson (Thesaurus of Traditional English
> Metaphors), Chapman and Wentworth. Â But Fergusson and Partridge
> (Shorter Slang Dictionary) say "(esp. of a woman)". Â (These all come
> up with Google Books.)
>
> Joel
>
>>I've usually heard it used for women. Â (One g-hit for "he fucks like
>>a mink", another for "I just called to say your brother fucks like a
>>mink", but the disproportion is clear.)
>>
>>Curiously, though, it's on its way to being outpolled by what I take
>>to be an eggcorn, although (as often) a plausible one:
>>
>>"fucks like a mink": 2500
>>"fucks like a minx": Â  729
>>
>>"fuck like a mink": 105
>>"fuck like a minx": 236
>>
>>LH
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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