Some linguistic confusion
Oct. 25th, 2009 02:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bobthemoleI looked up the dictionary definition of "skanky", and Wiktionary has this to say:
skanky Adjective (comparative skankier, superlative skankiest)
1. in the manner of a skank (disreputable woman)
skank Noun (plural skanks)
1. (pejorative, slang) A lewdly unattractive and disreputable person, often female, especially one with an air of tawdry promiscuity.
Now tawdry means "cheap or gaudy", which suggests that placing too low a price on one's promiscuity is a bad thing. But assigning any price to sex makes one a whore, which is also considered a bad thing. So, which kind of promiscuity is the good kind?
And doesn't this make the phrase skanky ho a self-contradiction?
skanky Adjective (comparative skankier, superlative skankiest)
1. in the manner of a skank (disreputable woman)
skank Noun (plural skanks)
1. (pejorative, slang) A lewdly unattractive and disreputable person, often female, especially one with an air of tawdry promiscuity.
Now tawdry means "cheap or gaudy", which suggests that placing too low a price on one's promiscuity is a bad thing. But assigning any price to sex makes one a whore, which is also considered a bad thing. So, which kind of promiscuity is the good kind?
And doesn't this make the phrase skanky ho a self-contradiction?