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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
A UK radio advertisement for men’s suits uses the word ‘portly’, not a commonly used word these days.
Portly ~ adjective: 1. slightly overweight
2. having an air of grandeur ( archaic )
15th century. Formed from port in the sense of “bearing, manner.”
The second meaning is new to me but perhaps explains why the word seems to be applied exclusively to men, since in the 15th Century I guess women were not considered capable of having an air of grandeur!
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
I've never heard women being referred to as portly even now dxb. Whenever I hear the word, a picture of a slightly weighty gentleman (not fat, just slightly weighty) with a mustache, and a pipe, pops into my head.
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
My sense of the word "portly" is that it comments on body size without being negatively critical. I think it arose at a time when a certain amount of extra weight was a sign of prosperity and thus a good thing, not a politically-incorrect bad thing, like it is today.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
oh i thought this was a potent potables catagory! port or stout.. (ones a wine, ones a beer, but there is also porter, another kind of beer...)
excuse me, i suddenly realize i am thirsty.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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Hey, Helen, you're still thinking Jeopardy! 
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
We could imagine portly women if the descriptions had been set up for us, say in a literary passages. I won't aspire to that high level. Briefly, however, if you imagine a very large woman with finishing school posture, impeccably groomed in very expensive business dress--a thousand-dollar-suit and three times that in accessories--she'd be well on her way toward being considered portly. Throw in a deep alto-toned voice, an air of dignity, a soupcon of middle-agedness (lord, I need a synonym for middle-agedness!), and, voila!, you've got a portly woman!
*Excuse my not looking for French accents. I'm a horrible laze in that regard.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
women, well certain women, never become middle aged, they become women of a certain age, and are often so described in the NY Times.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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Yeah, and we don't sweat, either: we glow.
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
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Thanks for supplying the synonym, of troy.
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Land of Kentucky again, Jackie: And would you say stallions sweat and mares glow?  (I think all horses glow, but that's irrelevant here...)
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