[Ads-l] bossy pants/bossypants

[Dan Goncharoff]

I don't see a male usage in the 24 years from the earliest usage through
Tina Fey's book. Just saying.

On Thu, Nov 12, 2020, 7:37 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:

> Maybe Tina Fey’s memoir _Bossypants_ has contributed to the perception Dan
> notes.
>
> > On Nov 12, 2020, at 2:35 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
> >
> > “Mr. Bossypants” is how I usually think of the word and that version has
> plenty of hits on Google. That’s not to say, however, that there isn’t some
> sort of sexism inherent in the word. BB
> >
> >> On 12 Nov 2020, at 11:27, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >>
> >> 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.
> >>> ###
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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