mistress

[Jonathan Lighter]

A "kept woman" indeed.  Even that was so unspeakable that my grandmother
also abbreviated it to "K.W."

JL


On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 10:02 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: mistress
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
> >>
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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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