"dickhead" in the news

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Sun Jun 15 23:36:24 UTC 2014


>..."prick" is vulgar whereas "dick" and "dickhead" are colloquial and not
to be used in polite company but are no longer vulgar.

A distinction without a difference? Or is "prick" just more vulgar? If so,
why?


JL


On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 6:57 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "dickhead" in the news
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I would say that "prick" is vulgar whereas "dick" and "dickhead" are
> colloquial and not to be used in polite company but are no longer vulgar.
>
> Both Wiktionary and the Mac American English dictionaries, however,
> classify dick and dickhead as vulgar slang.
>
> As to the meanings, the Mac dictionary gives dick as short for dickhead.
>
> Wiktionary has:
>
> dickhead: A jerk; a mean or rude person.
> dick: A highly contemptible person.
>
> A very good friend of mine, however, takes pride in the fact that he's a
> dick, by which he means he messes with people. I would say Wiktionary's
> dickhead definition is closer to that meaning.
>
> As to dorkiness, Wiktionary also has this:
>
> dickhead: A stupid or useless person.
> Example sentence: 2 + 2 is 4, dickhead.
>
> The dorky meaning works better for me when dickhead is in the vocative
> case.
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>
> Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/videos
>
> On Jun 15, 2014, at 3:37 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
>
> > The usual distinction is that a "dick" is often a dork, but a "prick" is
> > always dispicable.
> >
> > A "dickhead," however, is generally an idiot.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 4:59 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject:      Re: "dickhead" in the news
> >>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > ------
> >>
> >> On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 4:40 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >>>
> >>> On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 3:54 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> how can we tell it was 'dickhead' and not 'asshole'?
> >>>
> >>> How can we tell that it was "dickhead" and not "dick"? Does "dickhead"
> >>> provide the words or the music or both?
> >>>
> >>> _Khui_ is the word for "dick" in the relevant sense. But my very
> limite=
> > d
> >>> experience is that Russiam GI-equivalents say things like "ia ne khuia
> =
> > ne
> >>> slyshu" =3D "I don't hear dick," "khui tebe v zhopu!" =3D "a dick for
> t=
> > hee
> >> into
> >>> thine arse!" (=3D "fuck you!"?) and others equally irrelevant.
> >>
> >> Looks like it's =D1=85=D1=83=D0=B9=D0=BB=D0=BE (khuilo/huylo). So just
> "d=
> > ick," I guess.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/top-ukrainian-diplomat-calls-putin-a-di=
> > ckhead
> >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putin_huylo!
> >> https://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D1%85%D1%83%D0%B9%D0%BB%D0%BE
> >>
> >> --bgz
> >>
>
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