"prostitude" = gigolo

[ronbutters]

Not necessarily. 

(1) If the man is "financially supported" by the older woman, then he is not a prostitute, which is one who directly offers sexual services for pay, quid pro quo. 
(2) If the man is paid to "be her escort" without sexual services, then he is certainly not a prostitute.
(3) Male prostitutes service clients of both sexes; GIGOLOS (or so the dictionary says; see NOAD below) service only female clients.

All of these points agree with my intuitions as well as being supported by the dictionary definition. I have never heard the term GIGOLO applied to young men who are supported by sugar daddies, though I suppose someone might do it as a mild sort of metaphor, especially since no alternative comes to my mind: HUSTLER has more of the sense of 'prostitute'; ESCORT is often a euphemism for 'prostitute'; YOUNGER LOVER seems somewhat dated (and does not necessarily convey the sense of financial dependance).


gig•o•lo |ejig/flP|  n. (pl. -os) often derogatory a young
man paid or financially supported by an older woman
to be her escort or lover.
  a professional male dancing partner or escort.
–ORIGIN 1920s (in the sense ‘dancing partner’): from
French, formed as the masculine of gigole ‘dance hall
woman,’ from colloquial gigue ‘leg.’
gig•ot |ejig/t|  n. a leg of mutton or


On Mar 28, 2010, at 12:04:20 PM, "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:

At 3:51 PM +0000 3/28/10, ronbutters at aol.com wrote:
>Yeah but a gig(g)olo is not quite a male prostitute?
>

Hmmm...Not all male prostitutes are gigolos, but aren't all gigolos 
male prostitutes? (And "prostidudes" might single out the relevant 
ones, like our Mr. Markus.)

LH

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