To bodice-rip (was Re: bodice-ripper (1978), bodice-ripping (1979))

[Neal Whitman]

Enough with the verbal nouns, on with the backformed verb "bodice-rip".
Here's "to bodice rip":
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22bodice+ripped%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=np&source=hp#channel=np&q=%22to+bodice+rip%22&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

For example:

Being in love is hard work. So is being in lust. Just ask a professional
tango dancer. Night after night, the good ones come out looking ready
*to bodice-rip*; men grasping at skin like it's freshly fired porcelain,
women clinging knee-to-thigh as if strong tendons are the secret to
sealing the deal.
http://www.fishnetsandfedoras.com/

I am glad to say that this film does not give in to the temptation*to
bodice-rip*, a tendency which has detracted from so many recent
dramatisations.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/cr/rR15KXSP2Z0SZGP

Here's a hapax "bodice-rip me":

Dude, I can read her MySpace page, myself. I don't need batteries for
that. I expect you to do the real-work. I expect you to work the dirt,
get grimy, come home sweaty, seething of manhood, and f'n take me. Throw
me down with your insight. *Bodice rip me *with your scoop, with your
quoted, anonymous, well-placed sources.
http://landoftampico.blogspot.com/2008/03/ny-times-article.html

And one of a couple of "bodice-rip her":

Basically, the Raider raids, and then checks in with Jessica to
*bodice-rip her* every so often.
http://readreactreview.com/tag/jude-deveraux/

Neal


> On Tue, May 6, 2014 at 9:59 AM, Ben Zimmer<bgzimmer at gmail.com>  wrote:
> >
>> > >OED has "bodice-ripper" = 'a sexually explicit romantic novel' from
>> > >Sept. 1979. Slightly earlier:
>> > >
>> > >---
>> > >Charitey Simmons, "Dizzying Passion Ruffles the Pages of 'Hot' Historical
>> > >Novel"
>> > >Chicago Tribune, Feb. 8, 1978, Section 2, p. 4, col. 1
>> > >Publishers call them hot historicals as opposed to either the virginal
>> > >variety Barbara Cartland writes or to the bodice rippers "because
>> > >that's usually what happens to the heroines," Price [sc. Linda Price
>> > >of Bantam Books] explained.
>> > >---
>> > >
>> > >And here's the verbal noun "bodice-ripping":
>> > >
>> > >---
>> > >Suzanne Dolezal, "Sizzling Formula for Selling Books"
>> > >Boston Globe, Feb. 21, 1979, p. 59, col. 1
>> > >[Barbara Alpert of Ballantine Books:] "The books are geared to women's
>> > >sensitivities -- ideal love with a little bodice-ripping. You don't
>> > >take them seriously."
>> > >---
>> > >
>> > >--bgz
>> > >
>> > >--
>> > >Ben Zimmer
>> > >http://benzimmer.com/

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