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From: dnc@dartvax.UUCP (David Crespo)
Newsgroups: net.women,net.nlang
Subject: Re: \"Guys\" is to \"\" as ...
Message-ID: <3632@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 28-Sep-85 19:43:21 EDT
Article-I.D.: dartvax.3632
Posted: Sat Sep 28 19:43:21 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 30-Sep-85 02:12:29 EDT
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Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
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Xref: watmath net.women:7568 net.nlang:3610

> >      What we seem to need is a word with similar origins as "guy": i.e. a
> > short, one-syllable, slightly old-fashioned woman's name.
> 
> 	"Guy" didn't always mean a casual term for 'man'. It comes originally
> from the British custom of making dummies ("guys") to use in hanging Guy 
> Fawkes in effigy on Guy Fawkes Day. Boys raised money for fireworks and such
> by putting their "guys" out on street corners and soliciting donations
> ("penny for the guy?"). (If I'm wrong on the details here, someone with British
> experience please come to my rescue) To refer to someone as a guy was somehwat
> derogatory at one time. I recall seeing a usage in "Little Women", in the 
> scene where Meg is staying with wealthy friends who dress her all up for a
> party. An older gentleman sees her and comments that "now they've made an
> awful guy of her". So it wasn't necessarily sex-specific in that case. I'd
> be interested in other references folks are familiar with.
> 
> -- 
> jcpatilla
> 
> "At night, the ice weasels come."

*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***
 ....
 ...which reminds me, now that we are on the
subject of word-origins, anyone out there up
on the origin of erotic terms, such as...
well I leave that up to you. Can anyone
say if there is a sexist bias in them?
As Wittgenstein said: meaning is usage
(roughly, as I misquote the great 
philosopher). I very much enjoyed
jcp's derivation of 'guy', though I
think it also owes a lot to being
similar to 'girl' and 'gal' (alliteratively,
n'est-ce-pas?). 
    
     calling a man(boy) a girl can
be very insulting, so I would guess (yes)
that guy would do the same of a ...(ahem)
she-creature (if you will). But, in
certain contexts THIS IS NOT SO.
     Note that in the "Little Women"
quote, the usage depended somewhat on
"guys" being "guys". 
the remark might also have been made 
hurtfully. 
      Lastly:
 
"And you knew who you were then,
Girls were girls and Men were Men!
(CAPS THE EDITOR'S!)
 
keep the peace...dnc
Mister we could use a man like
Herbert Hoover again..."