In today's encore selection
-- euphemisms for the word "prostitute":
"If prostitutes are members of the world's oldest profession, then
devising alternative names for them is one of the oldest forms of
euphemizing. Streetwalker -- in use for more than four centuries --
is among the most euphemistic. Christian essayist G. K. Chesterton once
fretted that referring to women who sold their bodies as simply 'ones who
walked the streets' condoned this contemptible occupation. Other euphemistic
terms that might have concerned Chesterton include sporting lady, fancy
lady, lady of the night, working girl, call girl, and party girl.
Perhaps alluding to their status as members of the oldest profession, some
prostitutes in his time called themselves professionals. When academy
was a euphemism for 'brothel,' those who worked there were called academicians.
"Prostitute first appeared in the early seventeenth century as
a euphemism for 'whore,' one that drew on the Latin verb prostituere,
or 'offer for sale.' (A female character in Shakespeare's Pericles,
Prince of Tyre, says 'prostitute me to the basest groom / That doth
frequent your house.') Whore evolved from the Anglo-Saxon 'hore,'
which some etymologists think may be a euphemism for a word never recorded.
After 'whore' took on connotations, sixteenth-century translations of the
Bible replaced that word with harlot. This term originally referred
to a disreputable young man, then was applied to women who liked to kick up
their heels, then to prostitutes. In time, "harlot" itself became
so contaminated that it could no longer appear in respectable publications.
"Another synonym for 'prostitute,' tart, has an interesting
etymology. Originally that noun referred to a small pastry, as it still does
today. Over time, 'tart' was used affectionately for a sweet young woman,
then for women considered sexually alluring, After that, 'tart' became synonymous
with a promiscuous woman. Finally, it referred to women who charged for
sexual services, at best 'a tart with a heart,"
"During the American Civil War, camp followers, whose ranks
included 'canteen girls,' and 'drink sellers,' offered soldiers their wares
(themselves, mostly). Contrary to popular assumption, the term 'hooker' did
not originate with camp followers of soldiers commanded by Union General
Joseph 'Fighting Joe' Hooker. Although it's true that during General Hooker's
era, Washington's many prostitutes were sometimes called 'Hooker's Division,'
calling any such woman a hooker predates the Civil War by at least a
couple of decades. According to lexicographer Stuart Berg Flexner, 'hooker'
originally referred to prostitutes who worked in Corlear's Hook during the
mid-nineteenth century, a section of New York also commonly known as 'the
Hook.' They were hookers. Others believe that this appellation
originated with the fact that prostitutes said they hooked
customers. Their brothels were called hook shops.
"Determining what to call prostitutes has long vexed members of the
media, When a play opened in New York in 1934 that included a character
called 'The Young Whore,' one newspaper there changed her designation to 'A
Young Girl Who has Gone Astray.' Three years later, when Bette Davis played a
prostitute in Marked Woman, her character was called a nightclub
hostess. In From Here to Eternity (1953), the prostitute played
by Donna Reed (yes, that Donna Reed) was referred to as simply a hostess,
In the euphemism business, vagueness reigns.
"At one time, model could be a euphemism for 'prostitute.'
('Model for hire.') Today, to the dismay of legitimate masseuses, their job
title often doubles as such a euphemism. More often, contemporary call girls
call themselves escorts, a term Amy Fisher -- who once worked for an
escort service -- called 'prostitution lite.' In the Philippines, Guest
Relation Officer, or GRO, is a euphemism for 'prostitute.'
Teenage girls in Hong Kong, who go on paid 'dates' with older men that may
involve sex, call this compensated dating.
"One of the most forlorn euphemisms for compensated sex that I've ever
seen was in a news article about South Asian women who'd been laid off from
factory jobs. Asked what she and her colleagues were doing now, one said that
a young coworker was engaged in 'making men happy.' "
Author: Ralph Keyes
Title: Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms
Publisher: Little, Brown
Date: Copyright 2010 by Ralph Keyes
Pages: 67-69
About delanceyplace
Delanceyplace is a brief daily email with an excerpt or quote we view as interesting or noteworthy, offered with commentary to provide context. There is no theme, except that most excerpts will come from a non-fiction work, mainly works of history, are occasionally controversial, and we hope will have a more universal relevance than simply the subject of the book from which they came.
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1 comment:
A hoek (pronounced hook) is the Dutch word for a street corner.
Thus women who hung round street corners were hoekers.
They should at least look at that derivation given New York's Dutch history.!
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