is "dirty blonde" depreciative?

[Laurence Horn]

On Mar 24, 2012, at 8:45 PM, Ronald Butters wrote:

> I thought it was ditchwater blonde.

Definitely dishwater, as far as I know.  Not to be confused with bottle blonde, which was depreciative, except for Clairol executives.  "Ditchwater blonde" would have been a nice eggcorn, though.

LH


> Or maybe I am confusing it with "dull as ditchwater"?
>
> On Mar 24, 2012, at 8:24 PM, Larry Sheldon wrote:
>
>> On 3/24/2012 7:17 PM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>>
>>> On Mar 24, 2012, at 5:12 PM, Geoff Nunberg wrote:
>>>
>>>> From the OED:
>>>>
>>>> dirty blonde adj. and n. orig. U.S. (mildly depreciative)  (a)
>>>> adj.(of the hair) dark blonde; blonde tinged with a darker colour;
>>>> (b) n.a person with hair of this colour.
>>>>
>>>> When I was growing up, the term referred simply to a hair color,
>>>> with no implication of disapproval.
>>>
>>> for me too.  but then i'm an old guy.
>>
>> Me too.  I'm not sure I remember "dirty blonde" but there was
>> "dishwater" blonde that I think was a color descriptor with no other
>> implications.
>>
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