p... !

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Sat Sep 29 01:45:48 UTC 2012


On Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 6:04 AM, Paul Frank <paulfrank at post.harvard.edu> wrote:
> a foreign word and therefore, presumably, inoffensive.

"Foreign [language]" isn't necessary. "Different dialect" is
sufficient. Back in the 'hood in the '40's through the '70's, at
least, _tap that ass_ - a crude replacement for _fuck_ - and its
variants were considered to be so obscene that members of the fair sex
weren't even aware of their existence, supposedly.

Yet, this phrase and its variants now fall trippingly from the tongues
of white actors in comedies and dramas on TV and in the movies without
the least hesitation. My WAG is that the phease is taken to be a black
euphemism for "fuck," when it's "fuck" which is - or was - the
euphemism.

Shocking!

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list