[Ads-l] "Desnuda"

[Laurence Horn]

> On Sep 13, 2015, at 10:34 PM, Bonnie Taylor-Blake <b.taylorblake at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> I'm not sure how much staying power "desnuda" has in American English,
> but it's recently seen a lot of exposure through its application to
> those naked, painted ladies in the heart of New York City.
> 
> Perhaps my Twitter feed is just having a summer fling with the word,
> but I thought I'd at least make note of "desnuda" before it vanishes
> with the chill of autumn.
> 
> -- Bonnie

I've been hoping that when the thermometer drops, the painted ladies of Times Square (not to be confused with the eponymous houses in San Francisco) might don those cozy shawl/hoods of the sort pictured at http://tinyurl.com/q6gclck (while still relying on paint alone to keep their more southerly exposures warm) and thereby come to be known as "desnoodas".  Remember, you can't pronounce "desnuda" without "snood".

LH  
> 
> --------------------------------------
> 
> [From Colleen Wright's "The Painted Ladies of Times Square," The New
> York Times, Late Edition (East Coast), 16 Aug 2015: MB.8. Online
> article, link below, is titled "The Desnudas of Times Square, Topless
> but for the Paint."]
> 
> Mey Ovalles ignored the snickers of gawking boys and the smartphones
> snapping photos as she clutched her bra to her chest and her bare skin
> became an opaque shade of blue with white sparkles.
> 
> She shielded her nipples until they were cloaked with brush strokes,
> though her curvy, sun-kissed body -- with the exception of a nylon
> thong -- was exposed to hundreds of passers-by in Times Square. She
> felt naked until she became a canvas of red, white and blue.
> 
> This was part of Ms. Ovalles's daily routine as a desnuda, a Spanish
> word meaning naked that has been embraced by the women who strut
> around the Times Square pedestrian plaza topless and covered in body
> paint to pose for photos in exchange for tips.
> 
> Ms. Ovalles is one of the newest participants to join the parade of
> seminude performers contributing to the carnival-like atmosphere amid
> the sea of tourists. "Oh my God, it's a lot of people who see me
> naked," Ms. Ovalles, 27, said. "It's too fun. It's totally different."
> 
> The earliest sighting of a desnuda seems to date to the summer of
> 2013, according to posts on social media. But this summer, on any
> given day, there are at least a dozen young women, primarily Latinas,
> of all heights and body shapes, strolling through the pedestrian
> plazas, trying to capitalize on this suggestive performance art.
> 
> [...]
> 
> (Online version at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__tinyurl.com_ofodbyp&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=5L5v4Wnqw56LW5V5m0BNUhOPnGMiM_8DdaFq4cxVYhI&s=ZZZhIbj1B2HyMNgzOB6fbA8md9-8O72CC1CvXq0G2gw&e=  or
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.nytimes.com_2015_08_16_nyregion_the-2Ddesnudas-2Dof-2Dtimes-2Dsquare-2Dtopless-2Dbut-2Dfor-2Dthe-2Dpaint.html&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=5L5v4Wnqw56LW5V5m0BNUhOPnGMiM_8DdaFq4cxVYhI&s=b4A5-_1fw-uolPXslqQA1YD-ATryq_h5SSoCex9i25g&e= )
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=5L5v4Wnqw56LW5V5m0BNUhOPnGMiM_8DdaFq4cxVYhI&s=DWhFiMlZ_pLFee5qYI4uLQp7Hdbb9yFMtpL7SZHw4H4&e= 

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