"man or beast"

[Jonathan Lighter]

As documented in HDAS, though only from several years later.

JL


On Mon, Sep 30, 2013 at 2:50 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "man or beast"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> For one, brief, shining moment in '50's Los Angeles, _beast_ was extracted
> from this collocation and used among the young men of the local black
> bourgeoisie as a slang-term for "girlfriend."
>
> --
> -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
>
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