[Ads-l] bossy pants/bossypants
Dan Goncharoff
thegonch at GMAIL.COM
Thu Nov 12 19:27:15 UTC 2020
Is the phrase inherently sexist? A guy would just be called bossy; a woman
is called bossypants.
DanG
On Thu, Nov 12, 2020 at 11:24 AM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Not in the OED or Merriam-Webster.
>
> Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bossy_pants <
> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bossy_pants>) has labeled as informal.
>
> The Spectator, vol 256, apparently 1986, has it twice
> https://tinyurl.com/yytg8xcm <https://tinyurl.com/yytg8xcm>
>
> ###
> Having quite successfully built up the impression of Mrs Thatcher as a
> petulant bossy pants who cannot bear to lose even on a single relatively
> minor issue…
>
> When people understand what [Mrs Thatcher] is up to, they regard her as a
> great leader; when they don’t, she is a bossy pants.
> ###
>
> Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
> Formerly of seattle, WA
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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