Re: CHAT: Anglicisms

John Cowan wrote:
>
> Sally Caves wrote:
>
> > oh what was the name of that old red dictionary
> > that some of you folks of my generation will remember from your
> > highschool days; terribly bowdlerized--
>
> Thorndyke & Barnhart, perhaps?

Bingo!  Thorndyke and Barnhart.  We used to make fun
of that dictionary.  It was so "careful" of a ten
year old child's sensibilities.  (I mean then; I
was ten in the sixties when it was possible to be
completely ignorant about things.)  "Sex, n:  the gender
of an animal or human, i.e., male or female,"
"Gender, n: one of two categories used to distinguish
the sex of an animal or human." (okay, what about
INTERCOURSE?)  "Intercourse, n.  The act of copulation."
"Copulation, n: the act of sexual intercourse."
"Sexual, adj.:  having to do with sex."  "Sex, n: ..."

(These dictionary writers weren't going to tell your
ten-year-old any secrets...).  You can see why
"masturbation" wasn't in my juvenile T. word lists.

Sally