Lady,' 'Woman,' and 'Person

STUDIES Of words which have different values on the two sides of the Atlantic are of interest in throwing light on national points of view, and in helping to clear up possible misunderstandings. As the meanings of these words are often the same, the differences frequently lie in the connotations, which change from time to time and from locality to locality: the 'overtones' of the words rarely appear in dictionaries-except as the words are labelled 'colloquial,' 'cant,' or 'vulgar'-and observations concerning the connotative value might be said to belong on the outskirts of more ambitious studies in comparative literature. It is becoming more and more clear that American literature is no longer an offshoot of English literature, but is taking on as marked a character of its own, as is the American language; we must recognize that often the same word has a different coloring when it crosses the ocean

Genealogy · Psychology · Travel Writing and Literature · History

• Asymmetries in Male/Female Word Pairs

  Linda Bebout•American Speech•1995

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