"notorious" goes neutral

[Jonathan Lighter]

I should mention too that although the "Rape of the Sabine Women" was
alluded to in passing as something naughtily amusing, the numerous later
allusions to the absurdly staged fake "rape" whose planning occupies much of
the play were mostly or entirely replaced by the word "raid."  (E.g., more
or less, "What sort of a raid did you have in mind?")

Also, the character who played a fake Indian was referred to as an "Indian"
but later as "not really a Native American."

JL

On Sat, Aug 6, 2011 at 6:46 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "notorious" goes neutral
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Today we went to a local production of _The Fantasticks_. The Chairman of
> the Board of the theater group (in her late '30s, I'd guess) introduced
> the performance by saying that it was based on a little-known play by the
> "famous and notorious Edmond Rostand."
>
> Rostand's "most notorious play was _Cyrano de Bergerac_."
>
> No, there was not a hint of irony or playfulness in either her intonation
> or
> her body lingo.
>
> Note too, as a curiosity, that she described herself as "Chairman" rather
> than "Chairperson."
>
> "Notorious" thus = 'noted; celebrated.'
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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