Ah, good to have you back, setting things straight, Robin.
Of course, I've heard that (or read it) for years now, & so it goes....
But I think the '-whipped' version remains strong while just the term
less so? (& note the continued use of the hyphen here! CBC Radio's As
It Happens had an interview with the editor of the Shorter Oxford about
the loss of the hyphen the other night, & boy you should have heard the
responses. You can look them up on CBC.ca, the website, including a
verse in defense of the hyphen.).
Doug
On 27-Sep-07, at 7:48 PM, Robin Hamilton wrote:
> 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
>
>
Douglas Barbour
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When you combine two unique voices
it creates a third, phantom voice.
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