the (new) wh-word

[Ben Zimmer]

On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 1:42 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
> So we (some of us, anyway) are used to worrying about wh-words in
> language:  who, what, where, when, why, and their ilk.  They even
> have their own wiki site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wh-movement.
> But now we have a new one:
>
> ===============
> Meg Whitman Called 'Whore' By Someone In Jerry Brown's Campaign ...
> I'm not one to jump to the defense of the "wh" word, but in this
> case,...
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Freevo/meg-whitman-whore-brown_n_755745_63190262.html
>
> The NOW chapter of CA didn't even say what Jerry Brown and his aide
> did was wrong by calling her the WH word and should apologize
> https://theview.abc.go.com/forum/national-organization-women?
>
> Is it true that someone working for Brown called Meg Whitman the wh
> word (ore)? And Jerry Brown did not scold him, but went along with it?
> http://www.topix.com/forum/us-governors/jerry-brown/TPNKB0FGK5A9SM84I/p22
> ================

Somewhat similar taboo avoidance occurred in 2006 when the Boston
Herald reported on Hillary Clinton being called a "political wh***":

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003431.html

As for the Brown/Whitman incident, TV talking heads have preferred to
use rhyming avoidance for "whore," as lampooned by Jon Stewart last
night:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-october-11-2010/indecision-2010---unforced-errors-edition

--bgz


--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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