"playboy" [Was: article on the name "America"]

[Bill Palmer]

So is "playboy" being by "playa"?

Bill P
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 6:40 PM
Subject: "playboy" [Was: article on the name "America"]


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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "playboy" [Was: article on the name "America"]
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>
> The pre-1920 "playboy" seems to have been primarily fun-loving (rather
> than
> "pleasure-seeking") and irresponsible, given (perhaps) to drinking,
> fighting, sporting, and whoring. The term seems to have carried some
> slight
> opprobrium.
>
> In contrast, the modern "playboy" is usu. well-to-do and socializes
> successfully with
> many women (who are not predominantly prostitutes).
>
> The condition about prostitutes is significant.  As I read it, a young man
> in the 19th C. who consorted regularly with prostitutes and was generally
> irresponsible, but was also seeking a wife, would very clearly be a
> "playboy."  Since the mid 20th C., however, the playboy doesn't want a
> wife.
> As OED suggests, he is also paradigmatically well-to-do. (Cue the Jordan
> Playboy.)  However, if his "sexual promiscuity" is chiefly with
> prostitutes,
> he is not a "playboy."  A playboy easily gets social dates with numerous
> women. He's still a "playboy" even if he's not having sex with them, and
> "playboy" usu. carries little or no opprobrium.
>
> "Sexual promiscuity" has never been a defining characteristic.  Moreover,
> today's "playboy" need not be generally irresponsible at all. Many
> successful business executives and dedicated athletes are "playboys."
>
> JL
>
>
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


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