ho = 'eager or gullible enthusiast, usu. female (for); "sucker" (for).'

[Wilson Gray]

The proposed analysis strikes me as being insufficiently abstract to
be capable of explaining the entirety of the data. Of course, "a
journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," to coin a
phrase.

An exteremely-interesting first step, however.

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain


On Sat, Apr 23, 2011 at 2:46 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: ho = 'eager or gullible enthusiast, usu. female (for);
> Â  Â  Â  Â  Â  Â  Â "sucker" (for).'
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Makes sense to me. Except maybe the very last part.
>
> "Ho" differs connotatively from "whore" - except for people who always say
> "ho." But nowadays most of the people who affect "ho" undoubtedly say
> "whore" (or, OK, "whaw") on those rare occasions when they're not trying to
> sound uberkool.
>
> A "ho" would seem in general to be younger, fresher, more attractive and
> vivacious, less poxed up than a "whore."
>
> JL
>
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 23, 2011 at 12:58 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wro=
> te:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: ho =3D 'eager or gullible enthusiast, Â  Â  Â  Â  Â  Â  Â usu.
>> female
>> Â  Â  Â  Â  Â  Â  Â (for); "sucker" (for).'
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>>
>> "Variation" sounds too weak and lacks descriptive precision, although it
>> is clearly not wrong. After all, it involves substitution of a synonym
>> from another context. I don't know if there is a term for it, but I'll
>> call it "secondary semantic substitution". What I mean is, if you have a
>> pair X =3D=3D Y and a collocation XZ, then someone can "coin" YZ=3D=3DXZ.=
> Â I
>> suppose, this begs for a "primary semantic substitution". OK, suppose
>> you have X=3D=3DY in some context and X is used regularly in another
>> context. Then Y is substituted for X in that context, where it was
>> previously unavailable.
>>
>> I usually use =3D=3D for either synonym or exact translation. I can also
>> create a "tertiary semantic substitution". Suppose X~Y are two related
>> terms from some context (e.g., whore and pimp, with ~ meaning
>> "related"). Then XZ can produce YZ. The only example that comes close
>> that I can think of is "X porn" and "X whore". Is there an "X pimp"
>> variant that's related to "X whore"?
>>
>> OK, I'm just making it all up... Does any of it make sense?
>>
>> VS-)
>>
>> On 4/23/2011 11:23 AM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
>> > On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 11:20 AM, Jonathan Lighter
>> > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> Â wrote:
>> >> 2011 Â http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/153089481 : First I should
>> >> mention that I am a "ho" for "Letters" compendia. That being said, TE
>> >> [Lawrence] was a really fascinating dude.
>> > Isn't this just a variation of the "X whore" snowclonelet, glossed by
>> > Arnold Zwicky as =91one who craves X (or something to do with X)
>> > extravagantly=92?
>> >
>> > http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/x-whore/
>> >
>> > --bgz
>> >
>> > --
>> > Ben Zimmer
>>
>> Â ------------------------------------------------------------
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>>
>
>
>
> --=20
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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