NOW 1

[donbott]

Is it alright to refer to NOW as a broad based organization?

 

[KenCunningham]

Probably bang on the money there Dave.

 

[TheRambler]

Online Etymology Dictionary

broad
O.E. brad, from P.Gmc. *braithaz (cf. O.Fris. bred, O.N. breiðr, Du. breed, Ger. breit, Goth. brouþs), of unknown origin. Not found outside Gmc. languages. Slang extension to meaning "woman" (1911) may be suggestive of broad hips, but it also may trace to Amer.Eng. abroadwife, for a woman away from her husband, often a slave. Earliest use suggests immorality or coarse, low-class women. Because of this negative association, and the rise of women in athletics, the track and field broad jump was changed to the long jump c. 1967. Broadside (nautical), 1591, "the side of a ship above the water, between the bow and the quarter." Broadcast, originally "scattering seed" (1767), applied to radio waves 1921. Broadsword is O.E. brad swurd. There was a street named Broadway in many towns; the allusive use for "New York theater district" is first recorded 1881.

 

[jebenson]

...the track and field broad jump was changed to the long jump c. 1967.



Now that's just funny!

What, were they afraid that people would think that it was an event where the men jumped over the women?

I used to rock and roll every night and party every day. Then it was every other day. Now I'm lucky if I can find 30 minutes a week in which to get funky. - Homer Simpson

 

[SantaMufasa]

Changing the "broad jump" to the "long jump" (to become more Politically Correct) reminds me of the purported reasoning for the linquistic non sequitur "hexadecimal". (For those of us who did not take both Greek and Latin during our educational careers, "hex" derives from the Greek for "six", and then combines (seemingly incongruously) with the Latin-based "decimal" for "ten".)

Back in the 1950's when computer programming resulted from mathematical geeks ordering otherwise incomprehensible 1s and 0s, the programmers recognised that a more efficient shorthand for discussing those 1s and 0s was to combine the Base-2 (binary) symbols in groups of 4 binary digits (2[sup]3[/sup]), forming a single Base-16 digit. Back then, the term for Base-16 was correctly formed from the all-Latin "sexadecimal". But, as programmers are wont to do, they abbreviated "sexadecimal" simply to "sex".

When the virtually all-male cadre of programmers (except for Captain Grace Hopper and Charles Babbage's girlfriend, Ada Lovelace) went home and their wives asked them, "Whatcha do today?", many of those wives became both indignant and suspicious when their nerdy/geeky husbands answered simply, "I've been working with 'sex' all day."

To avoid unsavory domestic confrontations, the "Geeks went Greek" (and Latin) with "hexadecimal".

So now you know The Rest of The Story.



Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[

http://www.dasages.com:

Providing low-cost remote Database Admin services]
Click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips if you use Oracle in Utah USA.

 

[SteveGlo]

Did you hear about the cross-dresser who claimed in his defence (in court) that he "couldn't have done it because he was a broad at the time"?...

yes it is very, very dated

 

[elanor]

Although it isn't used much these days, I've heard the word "broad" used a couple of times...and all of the users said the same thing, "She's a tough, old broad."
Except when my dad used it (ages ago) to describe female drivers, I've never heard it used any other way!
Thanks!
Elanor

 

[PaulTEG]

Mr Higgins,
thanks for the heads up ...oooer ... * for that

[avoids vivid senior moment ... thought I was losing it]

Spend an hour a week on CPAN, helps cure all known programming ailments ;-)

 

[Jomama46]

I hardly ever hear the term "broad" except in old Damon-Runyonesque movies.

Jomama

 

[BoxHead]

I've heard it (in the company of men) as "Some broad walks in and says..." or "This broad pulls out right in front of me..."

Of course, it used to be on my bumper sticker, "LYSDEXIC NO BROAD", but I always figured that if it was offensive to anyone it would just be some broad who didn't get it.

I wonder if there's an eqivalent term for men...

 

[strongm]

But it doesn't work properly...

 

[AnotherHiggins]

I wonder if there's an eqivalent term for men...

I'm not going to start using 'herstory' instead of 'history', but I do think that there is plenty of evidence of our language being the product of male-dominated societies.

And I think the inequity of gender-specific derogatory terms is a fine example. I won't list them here (both to avoid offending anyone and because it would be a long, unpleasant task), but I can think of many more female-specific offensive/dismissive terms than male-specific ones.

[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue][/tt]
[tab][red]The plural of anecdote is not data[/red]

Help us help you. Please read FAQ181-2886 before posting.

 

[SantaMufasa]

Actually, John, I can think of several male-specific derogatory terms, most of which are unprintable here. Amongst the printable ones are:

Dipstick
Doofus
Dork
Dipwad
Dipweed
Dungpile
Demento Man
Dragon Breath
Dog Breath

...and those are just some of the 'D words'. Need I continue?

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[

http://www.dasages.com:

Providing low-cost remote Database Admin services]
Click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips if you use Oracle in Utah USA.

 

[2ffat]

The one I hear most often is jerk.

James P. Cottingham
-----------------------------------------
[sup]I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229![/sup]

 

[SteveGlo]

I think men are just referred to as "men!" and enough said.

 

[Dollie]

I'd be happy to volunteer examples for the rest of the alphabet, SantaMufasa, but I believe that I'd just be poking a stick into a hornet's nest.

 

[SantaMufasa]

Dollie,

We men (hornets) love sticks and the like (...you know, baseball bats, cricket bats, hockey sticks [field and ice], golf clubs, skis and ski poles, swords, lances, rifles, bows, arrows, javelins, pole-vaulting poles, et cetera), so go for it !!! Poke that stick...we're asking for it!

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[

http://www.dasages.com:

Providing low-cost remote Database Admin services]
Click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips if you use Oracle in Utah USA.

 

[tsdragon]

Dragon Breath

HEY! I resent that!

(Not really, but if I hadn't commented someone would have wondered if I was paying attention.)

"Ape" is probably one of the most common derogatory terms for a man.

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.