[Ads-l] Mae West (life jacket)

[Shapiro, Fred]

I am not an expert about Mae West, but my impression is that she was a very intelligent woman who was not conventionally beautiful but who, because she flaunted contemporary mores, became a leading "sex symbol."  Perhaps this led to her being associated with bustiness even if she was not particularly busty.

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2024 3:16 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Mae West (life jacket)

Rhyming slang for "life vest" is my guess.

Mae West was not especially busty.

JL

On Thu, Aug 15, 2024 at 2:45 PM James Landau <
00000c13e57d49b8-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> two different etymologies for "Mae West" meaning life jacket:
>
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3Dyu9H0Hv4Ot4C%26printsec%3Dfrontcover%26dq%3Doperation%2Bmincemeat%26hl%3Den%26newbks%3D1%26newbks_redir%3D0%26sa%3DX%26ved%3D2ahUKEwjepPSm0PeHAxU0FFkFHSJ3IQIQ6AF6BAgMEAI%23v%3Donepage%26q%3Drhyming%2520slang%26f%3Dfalse&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C310a8851bd484b97a5f008dcbd5ee173%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638593462419723860%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=rZQGXeymb2GHbd%2FNlZNhWyh5NGklbUzwIOR1qqIkabU%3D&reserved=0<https://books.google.com/books?id=yu9H0Hv4Ot4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=operation+mincemeat&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjepPSm0PeHAxU0FFkFHSJ3IQIQ6AF6BAgMEAI#v=onepage&q=rhyming%20slang&f=false>
>
> Ben Macintyre _Operation Mincemeat_ New York: Harmony Books, 2010 ISBN
> 978-0-307-45327-3, page 168
> "The yellow military [life] jackets were known as "Mae Wests," from
> rhyming slang for "breasts."  When fully inflated, the rubber jacket gave
> the wearer a distinctly busty look reminiscent, if you happened to be a
> sex-starved soldier, of the curvaceous film star."
> Which etymology is correct, rhyming slang or the film star?
> James Landau
> jjjrlandau at netscape.com
>
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