[Ads-l] cowardless

[Laurence Horn]

I'm sure "cowardice" is in the mix along with "cowardly", but I'd be wary of singling out "gutless" or "spineless" or any other specific "-less"; more likely it's the speaker's tacit association of "-less" as an evaluatively negative or privative suffix with no specific positive in mind.  

LH

> On May 17, 2016, at 2:30 PM, Benjamin Barrett <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Or perhaps a blend of “cowardly” and “cowardice”, which is why it doesn’t sound so bad.
> 
> Benjamin Barrett
> Formerly of Seattle, WA
> 
>> On 17 May 2016, at 11:25, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at MST.EDU> wrote:
>> 
>> Looks like a lexical blend: "cowardly" + "gutless".
>> 
>> Gerald Cohen
>> ________________________________________
>> Original message from Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM], Tuesday, May 17, 2016 12:24 PM:
>> 
>> Means 'cowardly' to someone, prob. infl. by "cowardice."
>> 
>> CNN plays a death threat phoned in to a Democratic party official calling her a
>> "cowardless piece of shit."
>> 
>> The caller sounds sober, btw.
>> 
>> Seemingly many raw Google hits.
> 
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