[Ads-l] bossy pants/bossypants

[Mark Mandel]

And the presence of "pants" may imply a woman taking a man's role.

MAM

On Thu, Nov 12, 2020, 7:47 PM Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

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

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