euphemisms
Benjamin Barrett
gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM
Fri Dec 23 08:40:25 UTC 2011
On Dec 23, 2011, at 12:29 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>> I've been meaning to see if I can spot a clear example where "stomach" means "intestines." AFAIK, "stomach pain" often refers to intestinal pain (at least I have been working on getting those correct for several years).
>>
>
> I've used stomach" as my usual word for the actual stomach, for the
> abdomen, and for the intestines my entire life. "Stomach pain" is,
> IME, always intestinal pain, unless otherwise specified.
Then OED has a range of meanings for "stomach," but none seem to capture this common usage. BB
>
>> As for "room business" (fang shi, likely 房事) mentioned in the Economic article, Lisa See uses "bed business" in her novel "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" (http://ow.ly/88ziE). I do not know if they are the same or not. I believe the word "bed business" was used in the film as well.
>
> "Room business" and "bed business" have no meaning for me. No doubt, I
> should read the relevant articles.
It's Chinese :)
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list