"slut" in the news

[Jonathan Lighter]

Rodgers 1972 defines "slut" as a synonym of "whore," i.e., "a man-hungry
man."

Undoubtedly gay usage has been an influence, but there's no question in my
mind that '80s feminism plays a role too. (_Life_ '89 was quoting
high-school girls).

I remember how weird it seemed ca1976 when many coeds (can I use that word?)
began reporting _fox_ to me as a synonym of "good-looking guy."

 Speaking of "coeds," a promotion for a special college-themed week of
Jeopardy! (within the past month) used the word *unmistakably* IMO to refer
to college students in general.
(Something like this: Two guys and a girl are competing. Voiceover says "Can
these coeds win blahblahblahblahblahblah dollars for blahblahblahblah .")

I didn't report it because it seemed like an aberration. Maybe somebody
spliced in the wrong clip.  Anyway, I ran a search for the phrase "Can these
coeds" and was supplied with countless sites with the word "Porn" in the
title.

JL


On Sun, May 29, 2011 at 2:35 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "slut" in the news
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 12:07 PM -0400 5/29/11, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >"Slut" may be insulting, but it quit being "sexist" long ago:
> >
> >1989 _Life_ (July) 29: "We talk about guys being sluts too," says one
> girl.
> >
> >1995 _Jerry Springer Show_ (synd. TV series): He's really pathetic. He's
> the
> >biggest slut I know.
> >
> >GB disgorges more than fifty exx. of the phrase "He's a slut."  The Web,
> >32,000.
> >JL
>
> I suspect the earliest uses of male-directed "slut" were from gay
> usage.  I'd check the Rodgers lexicon but I don't have it on me.
>
> Also back in the early 90s, Pam Munro's UCLA Slang Dictionary 3
> included a sex-neutral entry for _slut_ (something like 'sexually
> promiscuous person') but a listing for _skank_ reading 'female slut'.
> No entry for 'male slut'.
>
> LH
>
> >On Sun, May 29, 2011 at 1:05 AM, Ben Zimmer
> ><bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu>wrote:
> >
> >>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>  -----------------------
> >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>  Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> >>  Subject:      "slut" in the news
> >>
> >>
>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>  ---
> >>  http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/05/28/slut/index.html
> >>  The word "slut" has been getting around a lot lately. Just this week,
> >>  MSNBC host Ed Schultz was suspended after calling conservative radio
> >>  talk show host Laura Ingraham a "right-wing slut." Soon after, he went
> >>  on TV to express his regret at length and, interestingly, became
> >>  choked up when he apologized to his wife in particular. This follows
> >>  the hubbub over emerging global SlutWalks, edgy anti-rape protests
> >>  staged in response to a Canadian official's remark that women should
> >>  protect themselves by not dressing like "sluts." The marches have
> >>  garnered international coverage all month long and revived debate
> >>  about whether the slur can be reclaimed. [...]
> >>  For their part, the women of "The View" were laughing about the
> >>  four-letter word this week. While discussing the Schultz incident,
> >>  Barbara Walters was quick to point out that she had been jokingly
> >>  called a slut before by Joy Behar, who followed up by admitting to
> >>  being a total "Scrabble slut" herself. Jokes! Then, just to keep
> >>  things interesting(-ish), Whoopie argued that we shouldn't see any
> >>  difference in the word coming from a man like Schultz than from a
> >>  woman like her co-host: "No. Slut is slut" (unlike "rape" and
> >>  "rape-rape").
> >>  ---
> >>
> >>  "Scrabble slut," of course, follows the "X slut" variant of the "X
> >>  whore" pattern -- discussed in the past here and on Arnold Zwicky's
> >>  blog. Arnold calls "X whore" a "snowclonelet composite [meaning]
> >>  roughly 'one who craves X (or something to do with X) extravagantly'".
> >>
> >>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0506C&L=ADS-L&D=0&P=22676
> >>  http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/x-whore/
> >>
> >>  --bgz
> >>
> >>  --
> >>  Ben Zimmer
> >>  http://benzimmer.com/
> >>
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> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
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