[Ads-l] "prostitute/whore with a heart of gold"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Surely you jest.

JL

On Tue, Apr 28, 2015 at 2:00 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "prostitute/whore with a heart of gold"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Well, there is the distinct possibility that the practice of referring to
> random, beneath-a-man's-serious-notice women as "whores" - whether they
> were in fact selling it, were merely giving it away, or were nice girls
> being annoying by refusing to get up off it, even after exacting the
> promise not to tell - was completely unknown in the English-speaking world,
> until dekkids after the first rap album went platinum.
>
> Am I right, fellas?
>
> On Tue, Apr 28, 2015 at 9:21 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
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> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "prostitute/whore with a heart of gold"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Probably not, though in reality there was some overlap, which was widely
> > understood or suspected. Chorus girls showed their legs for the interest
> of
> > males, danced in skimpy costumes ditto, wore lots of makeup, etc.
> Hmm.....
> > Stereotypically they had "sugar daddies," which was just one step away
> from
> > prostitution - if that much.
> >
> > The streetwalker in Sherwood's "Waterloo Bridge" (1929) was an out-of
> work
> > chorus girl.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Apr 28, 2015 at 12:59 AM, Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
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> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Bill Mullins <amcombill at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      "prostitute/whore with a heart of gold"
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > _Picture-Play Magazine_  July 1925 p. 105"However=2C Hope unties her
> > > blindf=
> > > old and twangs her little lyre=2C for I understand her next picture
> will
> > > al=
> > > low her to play a =96 it must be said =96 vamp with a heart of gold."
> > > _Variety_ 1/12/1932 p 50 col 5"Mary Nolan is more restrained as a
> > > racketeer=
> > > ing lady with a heart of gold."
> > > _Modern Screen_ June 1933 p 87"Sizzling story of the good old days of
> New
> > > Y=
> > > ork with Mae West as the wicked woman a heart of gold."
> > > _Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin_ 3/13/1937 p 10"It deals in a
> dull
> > > an=
> > > d ponderous manner with one of those "ladies of the evening" with a
> heart
> > > o=
> > > f gold=2C who allows herself to be talked into posting for a famous
> > artist=
> > > =2C and under his guidance learns to loathe the life she has been
> > living."
> > > =
> > >  [quoted from NY World Telegram]
> > >
> > > "Chorus girl with a heart of gold" shows up regularly starting in the
> > late
> > > =
> > > 1920s.  Was "chorus girl" understood to be a euphemism for prostitute?
> > >               =
> > >                   =
> > >
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> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
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>
>
> --
> -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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-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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