"prostitude" = giggolo

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

Yeah but a gig(g)olo is not quite a male prostitute?



Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
Date:         Sun, 28 Mar 2010 11:38:31
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject:      Re: [ADS-L] "prostitude" = giggolo

On Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 10:16 AM, Amy West wrote:
>
> Spotted this in a wire story in the Boston Globe on Saturday:
>
>
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/03/27/first_legal_gigolo_leaves_nev_brothel/
>
> Brothel owner Jim Davis said yesterday that the Shady Lady Ranch had
> parted ways with the "prostitude'' who worked under the name Markus.
>
> Why the new for a new coinage? And is it just me, or do others think
> that this blend should be "prostidude"?

Indeed. I've now posted about this on Language Log (with a hat tip to Amy):

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2212


--Ben Zimmer

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

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