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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Whoa, that Atlantic crossing is definitely showing!
Pimp has a very different meaning in the States!!
Not necessarily related to being pompous, though I suppose
any of them could be. A female pimp is called a madam.
One of them in California became notorious a few years ago,
when some famous young actors were caught soliciting the
illegal service she was providing.
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
> Pimp has a very different meaning in the States!!
Over here in th UK, a pimp is someone (usually a man) who solicits custom for a prostitute (usually a woman) and takes a portion of her (his!) earnings - usually a very large portion. He will also protect his investment by making sure, a) that no-one else steals his partner's custom and b) that she comes to no harm from kinky or psychopathic customers. He may also arrange robbery of customers.
A ponce is someone who lives on the immoral earnings of a woman without doing anything much for it. A parasite, in fact. I have never heard of this soubriquet being applied to a woman, whereas pimp, whilst usually associated with males, does not appear to be inherently gender specific.
I have a perfectly respectable reason for having all of this information !!!
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
my understanding was that 'poncey' also had the senses of 1) effeminate 2) snobby, ostentatious; I seem to remember the M. Python lads using it in this fashion.
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
>'poncey' also had the senses of 1) effeminate 2) snobby, ostentatious
I agree that the word does have the sense of "ostentatious", probably because of the stereotype of a ponce wearing flash apparel and adornments. (Like most stereotypes, it is not particularly true - all but one of the ponces I have known were fairly non-descript, ordinary sort of fellows - if a bit sad.) The undoubted connotation of effeminacy possible stems from this, as well. I am not aware of snobbishness being connected, though. I cannot see any reason why a ponce should be a snob _because_ he is a ponce. Any snobbism would surely be rooted in other aspects of his character and background?? However, some of the girls that they lived on were incredibly snobbish - I must write a treatise on the class-structure of harlotry, some day - and maybe it was catching? Plenty of other things to do with the trade were - - -
(Hey!! I've just inadvertantly used the spell-checker - isn't it a hoot?? snobbishness comes out as "Snodgrass" !)
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460
addict
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addict
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460 |
Well, hello, RhubarbCommander, and what a fascinating life you must have led. Please tell us more ...
No sooner had I put "An exaltation of larks" away after posting in another thread, than I'm at it again! Here's a couple or three relevant collective nouns for this thread:
- a herd of harlots
- a mews of cathouses
- a concatenation of orgiasts.
Sorry, Jackie, I couldn't find one for 'gutters' but I'll keep trying.
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
A herd of harlots has been expressed as:
A volume of trollops
An anthology of pros
TEd
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
>and what a fascinating life you must have led. Please tell us more ...
I reiterate - my knowledge has all come from respectable and legitimate research - all financed from public sources.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
>> A ponce is someone who lives on the immoral earnings of a woman without doing anything much for it. A parasite, in fact.
With a nod to this week's theme: Something akin to a gigolo, then (though in a gigolo's case, the woman's earnings need not be "immoral").
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
A palette of drabs
A glut of sluts
A wind of wenches (this is reaching a little bit, I admit). Long i.
A portfolio of scarlet letters
A sweep of streetwalkers
A cart of baggage
A quorum of queans
A trill of trulls
and (my favorite)
A flourish of strumpets
TEd
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