Re: Brugmann's Law

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

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

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott"
> <BMScott@...> wrote:
> >
> > At 5:37:37 PM on Friday, January 18, 2008, Rick
> McCallister
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I distinguish /w/ & /wh/ but I've never heard
> anyone say
> > > /hwor/ You must have grown up a puritanical
> household if
> > > you never heard the word a a kid
> >
> > I can't imagine why you would think so; the
> subject simply
> > never arose, so far as I can recall. In any case,
> mine was
> > by no means a puritanical family.
>
> The word is pretty much literary in the circles I've
> moved in. As an
> adolescent and young man the word used in jokes was
> usually just
> 'prostitute', with some presence for the word
> 'tart', and with some
> use of the words 'call-girl' and 'hooker'. The
> likeliest need for
> discussing them was Bible stories.
>
> Richard.
>
>

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