very minor note on "lady" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[victor steinbok]

I withdraw my comment. "Bag woman" is common, but clearly not as
common as "bag lady". But it also lead at least a couple of companies
to use "bag woman" as a tongue-in-cheek brand name for purses and
other assorted "women's" bags. I guess my "preference" was attached to
the incident in Boston, when a state rep helped a rather famous "bag
lady" after she got struck by passing cars in front of her home on
several occasions. A few months later, the woman finally was killed
when yet another car hit her. At that point, it came out that she
carries over $1 million in her bags and that she actually left a will
that had been changed to make the state rep and his assistant as her
beneficiaries. Her sister, who had not spoken to her for over 50
years, contested the will and won. My recollection was that the Boston
Globe and other local publications used "bag woman" as neutral,
instead of what might have been perceived as "affectionate" in "bag
lady".

She'll always be a "bag lady" to you, Jon. I can see a variant of a
song with that line.

VS-)

On Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 10:44 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I'm with Bill.
>
> A "bag lady" is a bag lady.  To some she might be a "bag woman," but to me
> that can only be a lady who who collects and delivers bribes, bets, etc.,
> for crooks.  Like a bagman, only a lady.
>
> JL

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