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Re: USAGE Re: [CONLANG] Bunty.

From:And Rosta <and.rosta@...>
Date:Saturday, June 21, 2008, 17:06
Michael Poxon, On 22/06/2008 17:22:
> And's usage is parallel to mine. I've often called my lady friend a > "****ing clever bint" or suchlike - but I would never, ever, call a > woman that I did not know a "bint". To me, it's very insulting used that > way. Possibly because it's monosyllabic, ends with -nt, and is female it > suffers by association with a word too undignified for this noble list. > I think it's Arabic, maybe came from WW2 soldiers in North Africa? > Surely though "bint" isn't similar to "wench". There's no disrespect > involved with wench as there is with bint (quite the opposite in my view > - associations of buxom fun lasses, barmaids, etc...)
I meant that in some parts of the country, _wench_:_lady_::_fiddle_:_violin_, i.e. they differ in register rather than meaning; likewise, _mog_:_cat_, _bug_:_insect_ and so forth. And I'd been thinking that _bint_ too differed in register rather than meaning, until I noticed the semantic element 'foreign'. --And.
> Mike > >> Mildly disrespectful rather than very insulting, I'd say. Comparable >> to _fiddle_ versus _violin_. It's a synonym of _woman_, and similar to >> _wench_ (in being a synonym of _woman_ with different sociolinguistic >> value), and unlike innumerably many other derogatory words for women >> that add some further element of meaning (sexual laxity, garrulity, >> irascibility, etc.). Actually though, I might be wrong, for upon >> further introspection I conclude that it means 'foreign (nonanglo) >> woman'; I would never talk about a 'Yorkshire bint' or a 'Texas bint', >> but I would call my missus an 'Eyetie bint'. However, neither Dennis >> the repressed serf nor the OED agree with me on this. >> >> --And. >