needy

[Joel S. Berson]

At 9/19/2012 11:10 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>1993 is pretty damned recent by  my standards. I was an experienced grownup
>by then, who would have thought it sounded weird had I noticed it that
>early.

Have some condescension for us young whippersnappers!  That is,
"affability to one's inferiors, with courteous disregard of
difference of rank or position".

I agree the 1993 quote isn't quite "whining for attention", but I
still feel I heard that sense earlier.  No evidence, of course.

Joel


>Anyway, it's more specific as I've heard it than "in need of a thing."  I
>have heard at least one kid admonished, "Don't be so needy!" (I.e., "quit
>whining for attention.")
>
>JL
>On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 10:44 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: needy
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > At 9/19/2012 09:26 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > >Cf. the recent disdainful sense of "needy," i.e., "needing or demanding
> > >attention from another person."
> >
> > How recent is the disdainful" needy?  Or by "recent" do you mean
> > "lately becoming more frequent"?  The OED has (2.b, "In need of a thing"):
> >
> > 1993   J. Green It: Sex since Sixties 420   Men are as needy of touch
> > as women, if not more so, because they don't get as much as women do.
> >
> > Close, if not a cigar?
> >
> > And I have a feeling of its having entered my archives (neurons)
> > earlier -- 1950s?  1960s?
> >
> > Joel
> >
> >
> > >JL
> > >
> > >On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 8:22 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> > ><wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
> > >
> > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > -----------------------
> > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > > Subject:      victim = 'feckless irresponsible individual'
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > Remember how "hero" is expanding to include a kind of victim?
> > > >
> > > > For the past 24 hours I've heard and read numerous comments to the
> > effect
> > > > that Mitt Romney "considers 47% of voters to be victims."
> > > >
> > > > But he doesn't. He said they think of *themselves* as victims. Because
> > Mitt
> > > > Romney still seems to know what "victim" means  .
> > > >
> > > > Of course, most people want to help victims, but that's not the point.
> > The
> > > > point is that Romney didn't say that putative people who believe the
> > > > government owes them "medical care, food, housing, you name it" are, in
> > > > *his* opinion, "victims."
> > > >
> > > > But that's how the press, pundits, and public are telling it, even when
> > > > they go on to clarify the details.  GOP as well as Dem pundits.  At
> > some
> > > > level of their consciousness a "victim" is a kind of "loser."
> > > >
> > > > Nowadays it shows weak character to be a "victim."
> > > >
> > > > Instead of a "survivor."
> > > >
> > > > JL
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > > >
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> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >--
> > >"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >
> > >------------------------------------------------------------
> > >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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