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Doug said: > well I dont know, but I think many would still say 'puss' & 'here puss > puss,' & I have to wonder if the obscene use of 'pussy' isn't the usage > that's old-fashioned, so many other terms including the famous four > letters having come to the fore, so to speak.... I'm not sure that's it's oldfashioned, at least yet, as it still seems to be extending its meaning. Anyone know when the term pussy-whipped was first used? I first came across it about five years ago when it was used to me in the Public Library in Nottingham by an authentic Vladimir-and-Estragon (he even had his trousers tied with a tie) in the course of a discussion about the meaning of "Two, two for the lily white boys" in The Dilly Song. I was with my daughter, and after about half-an-hour, I realised that she was becoming a little bored (not to say annoyed by her father's habit of managing to get involved in a discussion of linguistics and the archeology of folksongs with a couple of tramps in a public space) so I said I'd have to go. The Vladamir member of the pair then scathingly said that I shouldn't let myself be pussywhipped. After we left, Catherine said, "Daddy, what did he mean by that?" I didn't have the nerve to explain, given the misconception it was obviously based on. On the other hand, the only other occasion I've heard it used is by my son, who is four years older than his sister. So does one extrapolate from that and say that the term came into use in a four year period (Andrew is four years older than his sister) or is only used by men? Given that my daughter is (or was, before she became a nursery nurse and had to clean up her mouth when talking to the children in her charge) or could be one of the most foul-mouthed creatures I've encountered, it's odd that she hadn't come across the term. Generational, indeed. [Just looked up Beale/Partridge, and "pussy-whipped" is given there as 1950+, originally American. For what that's worth.] Rodent