mistress

[Laurence Horn]

And for our grandmothers (and sometimes their [grown] children), mistresses typically were "kept".  Or they could be "kept women".  And where the…gentleman? (sugar daddy? naah) kept his mistress was their "love nest", a term dear to the hearts of tabloid headline writers.  Ah, those were the days!

LH

On Apr 12, 2012, at 9:03 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> I agree with Amy. That's how my grandmother used the word.
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 8:25 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: mistress
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> On 4/12/12 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
>>> Date:    Wed, 11 Apr 2012 02:31:43 -0400
>>> From:    "Douglas G. Wilson"<douglas at NB.NET>
>>> Subject: Re: mistress
>>>
>>> On 4/11/2012 1:25 AM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>>>>> ....
>>>>> So my question is 1) is it true that the term "mistress" applies only
>>>>> to a non-marital partner of a/married/  man?
>>> --
>>>
>>> I don't believe so. I suppose one can discuss at length whether the
>>> right word in a given case/society is "[de jure or de facto] wife",
>> My mother has applied the term to my unmarried uncle's (her brother)
>> girlfriend. My mother did so knowing that it's a marked term and in
>> order to mark her disapproval of their remaining unmarried yet cohabiting.
>>
>> So, in that one speaker's ideolect/lexicon, no: he does not have to be
>> married.
>>
>> Granted, this is limited anecdotal evidence.
>>
>> ---Amy West
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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