a16d9e59   
   From: Elaine@KEThompson.org   
      
   On Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:40:31 +0100,   
   green_knight@greenknight.org.uk.invalid (Catja Pafort) wrote:   
      
   >Brian M. Scott wrote:   
   >   
   >> You should be asking whether the origin comes to   
   >> mind when the phrases are used.  That varies by person and   
   >> context; at least with 'pansy-ass' it frequently does not,   
   >> and I have the impression that some may in fact not even   
   >> know its origin.   
   >   
   >I did not know it's origin, in fact, I cannot recall hearing that   
   >precise term before, but it's so blindingly obvious a formation that I   
   >did not need that knowledge.   
   >   
      
   /unlurk   
      
   "blindingly obvious" *to you*.  Not, apparently to Sea Wasp, not to me   
   and not to Brian here.   
      
      
   All in the USA, I believe.  I've run across the phrase, but only as a   
   general insult along the lines of lily-livered or yellow-bellied but   
   with an air of the UK about it.   
      
      
   Which is - I think - Brian's point.  In our context it isn't terribly   
   offensive.   
      
   I've had to put some thought into figuring out how it is offensive in   
   other dialects of English.   
      
      
      
   >   
   >   
   >> It seems to me that you are assuming that the problem is on   
   >> the writer's end and refusing to consider the possibility   
   >> that it might be on the reader's end.   
   >   
   >I think that, when using terms that create a wide-ranging consensus as   
   >to their offensiveness, a writer ought to be aware - particularly if the   
   >term is as transparent as the one in question   
      
      
   See above.  It *isn't* transparent to speakers of various flavors of   
   US English.  (I grew up in California, Brian is somewhere in the US,   
   I'm not sure where, and Wasp is East Coast - NY, I think.)   
      
      
   And consider again the reader's end of responsibility.   
      
      
   Elaine T.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)