[Ads-l] sex pest

[Ben Zimmer]

"Sex pest" is popular in British tabloid headlines for, e.g., allegations
against Prince Andrew. I see it's also gotten a fair amount of use on
Jezebel, which is the source of the Yahoo News story that JL links to. "Sex
pest" is actually a useful term, since it implies something a bit less
extreme than, say, "sexual predator." Not sure if there's a good AmE
equivalent.

"Sex pest" was also used on a past episode of "Succession" (Season 2, I
believe), but that may be chalked up to the fact that the show has a lot of
British writers creating dialogue for (mostly) American characters. I've
also noticed "could do" (with periphrastic "do") and "brains trust" in
recent episodes. If any "Succession" fans have noticed other Britishisms
popping up, send them my way -- I'm keeping a list for a potential future
piece on the language of the show.

--bgz

On Thu, May 18, 2023 at 2:17 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> https://www.yahoo.com/news/lauren-boebert-filed-divorce-her-143000040.html
> :
>
> Lauren Boebert Filed for Divorce, and Her Sex Pest Husband Didn't Take It
> Well.... Jayson was arrested for and pleaded guilty to public indecency and
> lewd exposure after allegedly exposing himself to two girls at a bowling
> alley.
>
> Sounds like more than just a "pest," but maybe I'm old-fashioned.
>
> JL
>
>

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