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

[Jonathan Lighter]

Seems so. _Player_ magazine, a black-oriented  _Playboy_ clone, was already
on the stands twenty or more years ago.

On further reflection, I'd describe the early "playboy" paradigmatically
as feckless, the new one as unusually successful with women.

JL

On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 8:14 PM, Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at bellsouth.net>wrote:

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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"]
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> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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> > 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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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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