Extendible porn

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Mar 15, 2010, at 1:20 PM, Jon Lighter wrote:

> The most interesting thing to me in all this is that earlier exx. of
> "X
> porn" imply that porn is a sinister, disgusting thing (e.g., "war
> porn").
>
> The recent usages imply that it's something plain enjoyable. (To my
> ears,
> "Jew porn" sounds more like a neo-Nazi phrase than a humorous
> description of
> something fascinating and harmless - which is how it seems to have
> been
> intended.)
>
> JL

from earlier ADS-L discussion:

James Harbeck 3/28/09 with _torture porn_, then from a Google search
on {“it’s just * porn”}:
   food porn, journo-porn, hurricane porn, lifestyle porn, war porn,
automotive porn, veg growers porn, car porn

Jesse Sheidlower 3/28/09:
   It's in OED, _porn_ n.(2) sense 2, "As the second element in
compounds: denoting written or visual material that emphasizes the
sensuous or sensational aspects [AMZ note: sensuous *or* sensational]
of a non-sexual subject, appealing to its audience in a manner likened
to the titillating effect of pornography," with quotes back to 1973,
including _food porn_, _disaster porn_, _gastro-porn_, _weather porn_,
etc.

Mark Mandel 3/28/09:
  And the 1991 cite, from the sf semi-pro magazine "Locus", comments
on the productivity of the construction:

   1991 Locus May 19/2 Practically anything that can be obsessed about
turns up as hyphenated pornography: food-porn, disaster-porn.

.....

other examples on the "sensuous" appeal side:

http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/gimme-shelter/
with _house porn_ (from Terry Castle), referring to magazines with
sumptuous depictions of interiors

for some years I’ve used _library porn_ with reference to reference to
the Levenger catalog; some hits for this 3/15/10, from “librophiliacs”

then plenty of hits for _book porn_, including
   In lieu of book porn, here’s magazine/journal porn for you voyeurs
   http://ofblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/in-lieu-of-book-porn-heres.html

....

of course, there are hits for "X porn" 'porn depicting Xs, porn with
Xs in it', as in _kiddie porn_ and _kid porn_.  but this has literal
_porn_ in it; such things are subsective compounds, whereas the other
examples above are "resembloid composites", in which the composites
are not actually porn, but merely *like* porn in some respect.

.....

Benjamin Barrett has now offered at least one pretty clear example of
"X porn" 'sensuous or sensational material appealing to Xs': _Jew
porn_.  i quickly found one more, _bibliophile porn_:

BIBLIOPHILE PORN: A BOOK LOVER’S TOOL FOR GETTING OFF ON STACKS
   http://scoutmagazine.ca/2010/02/15/bibliophile-porn-a-book-lovers-tool-for-getting-off-on-stacks/
(with photos of stacks that would appeal to bibliophiles)

no doubt there are other examples of this sort around.

arnold

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