"erectile dysfunction" -- not for tender ears?

[Geoff Nathan]

Actually, she wasn't prevented from saying 'vagina', she was censured for saying it, and not permitted to speak on a later, unrelated, topic. As was another legislator: http://www.freep.com/article/20120615/NEWS06/206150329 Geoffrey S. Nathan Faculty Liaison, C&IT and Professor, Linguistics Program http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/ +1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT) +1 (313) 577-8621 (English/Linguistics) ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Victor Steinbok" <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2012 3:45:04 AM
> Subject: Re: "erectile dysfunction" -- not for tender ears?
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: "erectile dysfunction" -- not for tender ears?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Well, the Florida House did try to censure a member for saying
> "uterus"
> on the floor. And yesterday, a Michigan Rep. was prevented from saying
> "vagina" in her speech on an abortion bill. In every case, the prudish
> element was Republican legislators.
> VS-)
> On 6/16/2012 1:54 AM, Geoffrey Nunberg wrote:
> > This is two years old but I just ran into it. For the taboo
> > avoidance file:
> >
> >> State employees, have no fear -- thanks to the General Assembly,
> >> your health coverage will continue to cover drugs to treat erectile
> >> dysfunction. Gov. Tim Kaine (D) had recommended cutting funding for
> >> Viagra and similar drugs� The General Assembly agreed to restore
> >> funding for the drugs�But are lawmakers squeamish? When Kaine
> >> recommended the cut, he spelled out the words "erectile
> >> dysfunction." But in the assembly's budget, the pills are referred
> >> to more obliquely as "ED drugs."
> >> Rosalind Helderman, Washington Post
> >> http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/03/general_assembly_stands_firm_o.htm
> > I'd have figured that anybody who's old enough to know what the
> > words "erectile dysfunction" mean wouldn't have to be protected from
> > them. Still, we're talking about the Virginia legislature here.
> >
> > Geoff
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