mistress

[Laurence Horn]

Not so unspeakable by the next generation down.  My mother was fond of pointing out that when she first met my father (in the mid-1930s) he was a "confirmed bachelor" (do *they* still exist?) who "kept a mistress".  It always seemed quite exotic to me when I was growing up.

LH

On Apr 12, 2012, at 11:03 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

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

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