I Love Little Pussy

[Michael Newman]

What's clearly needed is a retro heterosex pick up pub with a sign of a cat and a male chicken on it called the "Cock and Pussy."
Michael Newman
Associate Professor of Linguistics
Queens College/CUNY
michael.newman at qc.cuny.edu



On Mar 11, 2012, at 9:00 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: I Love Little Pussy
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Truly pathetic.
>
> These exx. are either from many years ago or entirely irrelevant (like
> Pussy Galore, who was not a feline).  And if "pussy" is always accepted as
> innocent, why wasn't it "Josie and the Pussies"?
>
> _Pussy_ 'coward; weakling' has strongly sexual/sexist overtones and always
> has, in my experience. That's not to say that some benighted souls don't
> derive it from "pussycat." But it will be a long time before you hear a
> public figure use it before a crowd, IMO.  ("Wimp," of course, is fine.)
>
> To restate the point: it is no longer customary in my experience for adults
> to refer to cats affectionately (at least within the hearing of other
> people) as "pussies" or "pussycats." The words they prefer are "kitties"
> and "kitty-cats."  Or "puddies" or  "puddy-tats."
>
> For obvious reasons.
>
> Ask a vet.
>
> JL
>
> On Sun, Mar 11, 2012 at 3:46 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: I Love Little Pussy
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> ... as is Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965) where I watched it not
>> six months ago.
>>
>> There's also the absolutely awful Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You (1970)
>> and the silly Josie and the Pussycats (2001) which is usually played on
>> regular cable channels, such as TBS, not the "classic" ones. A number of
>> French, German and Japanese films were also translated with "Pussycat"
>> in the title, but that's secondary.
>>
>> And don't forget cartoons, particularly Pizzicato Pussycat.
>>
>> As for straight "pussy" puns, aside from Are You Being Served ("It
>> appears Mrs. Slocum has lost her pussy"), there is also the skit in one
>> of the Austin Powers movies (perhaps even more than one)--which is a
>> direct riff on Bond (and not just Pussy Galore--"Right idea, wrong
>> pussy, Mr. Bond.").
>>
>>    VS-)
>>
>> On 3/11/2012 3:14 PM, Ronald Butters wrote:
>>> ...
>>> What's New, Pussycat? was a 1965 film that is surely still seen on TCM.
>>>
>>> ...
>>
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