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Mute vocabulary

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32 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3
schoenewaelder
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 Message 25 of 32
10 January 2014 at 2:59pm | IP Logged 
luke wrote:
Prostitute is someone who does it for money. Hooker is less offensive than whore. A hooker also does it for money. A whore might just be someone who sleeps around.


In the last 20 years or so "whore" has gone frome being an archaic word for prostitute to a fairly offensive term of abuse. I was suggesting that its use 50 to 200+ years previously, and in which context I was wondering over it's pronunciation, would have been equivalent to "hooker" today. In today's language, they are not equivalent.

[edit]

The reason I didn't know how to pronounce it, was because when I was reading such books 30 years ago, it was a word that you rarely heard spoken out loud. Calling someone a "whore" would have been as ridiculous as calling someone a "bounder". That is my UK perspective anyway. Perhaps it was always a term of abuse in the US, and we picked it up from there.

[edit]

The colloquial term for "prostitute" in my childhood (70's - 80's) was "pro" which can probably still be used in context, but primarily is used to refer to "professional" these days. Which reminds me of one of my favourite movie scenes from "The Man with Two Brains", when whatsisname finally gets to sleep with whatshername and he says afterwards: "That was soooooooo..........professional"

Edited by schoenewaelder on 10 January 2014 at 4:33pm

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schoenewaelder
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 Message 26 of 32
10 January 2014 at 3:02pm | IP Logged 
tarvos wrote:

Because as a Dutch speaker, I colloquially tack it onto the end of every sentence :)


I've just realised you meant "hoor". I thought you meant that Dutch speakers say "hoer" all the time so that it had lost it's shock value (like the Irish say "feck" all the time. You have to be careful what you say.



Edited by schoenewaelder on 10 January 2014 at 3:04pm

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tarvos
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 Message 27 of 32
10 January 2014 at 3:21pm | IP Logged 
schoenewaelder wrote:
tarvos wrote:

Because as a Dutch speaker, I colloquially tack it onto the end of every sentence :)


I've just realised you meant "hoor". I thought you meant that Dutch speakers say "hoer"
all the time so that it had lost it's shock value (like the Irish say "feck" all the
time. You have to be careful what you say.



It was a joke :) Although the Dutch are fond of cursing, and that curse you mentioned
also exists. I don't use that one really.
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luke
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 Message 28 of 32
10 January 2014 at 3:28pm | IP Logged 
schoenewaelder wrote:
luke wrote:
Prostitute is someone who does it for money. Hooker is less offensive than whore. A hooker also does it for money. A whore might just be someone who sleeps around.


In the last 20 years or so "whore" has gone frome being an archaic word for prostitute to a fairly offensive term of abuse. I was suggesting that it's use 50 to 200+ years previously, and in which context I was wondering over it's pronunciation, would have been equivalent to "hooker" today. In today's language, they are not equivalent.

The reason I didn't know how to pronounce it, was because when I was reading such books 30 years ago, it was a word that you rarely heard spoken out loud. Calling someone a "whore" would have been as ridiculous as calling someone a "bounder". That is my UK perspective anyway. Perhaps it was always a term of abuse in the US, and we picked it up from there.


It is definitely a word that will offend many. As far pronunciation, I can understand the difficulty for someone who hasn't heard it spoken. It doesn't follow the rule of similar words like "what", "where". It does follow the rule of "who". That is, the "w" is silent.

In the U.S., hooker is somewhat dated. It was popular in the 70s. If you watch movies or media from that time, it would be the common term for a "street walker".
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Gunshy
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 Message 29 of 32
10 January 2014 at 8:19pm | IP Logged 
Andrew Hore just recently retired from the New Zealand All Blacks. His position was hooker. We'll sadly never see A. Hore play hooker for the All Blacks ever again. ;-)
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Serpent
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 Message 30 of 32
11 January 2014 at 10:30am | IP Logged 
If anyone cares, the neutral term to use is sex worker. Especially when the job is legal.

Says me who kinda agrees with siomotteikiru that LR is better than orgasms...
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maydayayday
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 Message 31 of 32
12 January 2014 at 9:28am | IP Logged 
Serpent wrote:
If anyone cares, the neutral term to use is sex worker. Especially when the job is legal.

Says me who kinda agrees with siomotteikiru that LR is better than orgasms...


? !!!!
You is doing it wrong - LR that is
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schoenewaelder
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 Message 32 of 32
13 January 2014 at 1:41pm | IP Logged 
I'm thinking of starting up a telephone book reading service for special clients. Modest rates. Discretion guaranteed.

Edited by schoenewaelder on 13 January 2014 at 1:43pm



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