[thechat] English Language Terms

Paul Cowan evolt at funkwit.com
Sun Nov 3 16:20:00 CST 2002


Erika wrote:
> But I will bet that "bitch" and "whore" were never equivalent.  You
> might be thinking about "slut" (also the older word, "strumpet,"
> implies whoredom or at least very loose sexuality).

Ahhh.. but "slut", in its original sense, didn't have anything to do
with sexuality. "Slut" just meant "a slovenly or unkempt woman", hence
the at-least-moderately-well-known nursery rhyme, "See Saw Margery Daw",
which most people know as:
    See-Saw, Margery Daw,
    Jacky (or Johnny?) shall have a new master;
    And he shall have but a penny a day,
    Because he can't work any faster.

but is listed in the "original" Mother Goose publications, which are still
being published today, presumably without being revised, as:
    See-saw, Margery Daw,
    Sold her bed and lay on straw;
    Was not she a dirty slut
    To sell her bed and lie in the dirt.

(we've got a recent "Mother Goose" book with this version in it)

Rather harsh in these modern times, I would have thought.

Paul.




More information about the thechat mailing list