Re[2]: [tied] Re: Brugmann's Law

At 12:57:27 AM on Saturday, January 19, 2008, Rick
McCallister wrote:

> --- Richard Wordingham <richard@...>
> wrote:

[...]

>> The word ['whore'] is pretty much literary in the circles
>> I've moved in. [...]

> In American English it's very much alive in the spoken
> language.

Overall, yes, but it depends on the circles in which one
moves.

> I've heard the word as an insult all my life. It's up
> there with bitch, skank, skag and slut and dialect ho' and
> beotch.

I don't think that I've ever heard <skank> and <skag>,
though I've encountered one and possibly both in print. I
didn't hear <bitch> or <slut> used as a face-to-face insult
until I was at least in my teens, though by then I'd
probably already heard them used of someone who was not
present. It wasn't until much later that I heard <whore> so
used, and I don't recall noticing <ho'> until I came to
Cleveland.

Brian