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

[Bill Palmer]

pardon me, omitted a word in the last post.

Is "playboy" being replaced by "playa"

Bill P
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Palmer" <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 8:10 PM
Subject: Re: "playboy" [Was: article on the name "America"]


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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "playboy" [Was: article on the name "America"]
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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"]
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> 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."
>>
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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