[Ads-l] sex pest

[Laurence Horn]

Yeah, my first association when I saw "sex pest" was crabs, and I don't
mean the kind they serve you with a hammer in Baltimore or San Francisco.
I don't know if they're still around, but they were certainly a pest in the
60s and 70s: https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/pubic/disease.html

They put the prurient in "pruritus".

LH


On Thu, May 18, 2023 at 2:49 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> "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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>

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