# Harlot vs. whore **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 4, 2005, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324 "2005-02-04T04:58:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WeRSauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@WeRSauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WeRSauron)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/1 "2005-02-04T04:58:03Z")
[This thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5799790) has spurred my mind to ask: what is the technical and exact difference between a harlot and a whore? And what is a tart? WRS ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/2 "2005-02-04T05:25:52Z")
Whore = someone who desires (in this example, sex.) to an unseemly degree Harlot = See Whore, and add overtones of perversion. Harlot used also to refer to jester or clown. Tart = A pastry. Or see Whore or Harlot with an outward appearance of decency or at least coyness. ---
**Author:** ![WeRSauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@WeRSauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WeRSauron)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/3 "2005-02-04T15:52:20Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > Whore = someone who desires (in this example, sex.) to an unseemly degree > Harlot = See Whore, and add overtones of perversion. Harlot used also to refer to jester or clown. > Tart = A pastry. Or see Whore or Harlot with an outward appearance of decency or at least coyness. Regarding “harlot,” what is meant by “overtones of perversion”? What sort of perversion? Incest? Bestiality? Insatiability? WRS ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/4 "2005-02-04T16:18:22Z")
According to [infoplease.com](http://infoplease.com): whore = a woman who engages in promiscuous sexual intercourse, usually for money harlot = a prostitute; whore tart = Slang.a prostitute or promiscuous woman So to answer your question, there is no difference. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/5 "2005-02-04T16:22:44Z")
whore = performs sexual acts for money harlot = woman in period novel performing sexual acts for money tart = a whore, but she’s real cute about it so she’s not \*so \* bad ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/6 "2005-02-04T16:38:29Z")
A friend of mine was once married to a dancer in a breast bar. She was talking about another dancer, calling her a whore. I asked, “How do you mean that? Is she a prostitute?” She said, “No. A whore will screw anybody. A prostitute will screw anybody for money.” That was her take on it. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/7 "2005-02-04T16:40:11Z")
whore = person who has sex for reasons other than the pleasures thereof, i.e., to get something in exchange for sex harlot = woman who does what she wants but not with you, buddy, therefore she obviously lacks taste and discrimination tart = woman who does what she wants with you but has an irritating way of creating the impression that she might do what she wants with other guys, too ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/8 "2005-02-04T16:45:02Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > Whore = someone who desires (in this example, sex.) to an unseemly degree And what are you defining as an unseemly degree? (Honestly, I think we’re back in the Stone Ages. I can want as much sex as I want and still not be a whore.) ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/9 "2005-02-04T18:05:41Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > A friend of mine was once married to a dancer in a breast bar They served milk? ---
**Author:** ![pontia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@pontia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pontia)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/10 "2005-02-04T18:24:40Z")
> [@](#): > > (Honestly, I think we’re back in the Stone Ages. I can want as much sex as I want and still not be a whore.) YES! YES! YES! **Anaamika** , you stole the words right out of my mouth! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/11 "2005-02-04T18:30:52Z")
Nuances: “Harlot” is slightly archiac and is usually only used in a biblical context (or by those who are using a biblical reference) “Tart” is primarily British. US speakers rarely use it. “Whore” is the most common US usage, and is a more insulting way to put it. in addition: “Prostitute” is a fairly neutral way of putting it. It also is less of a value judgment: you can call someone a whore who is not a protitute if she sleeps with a lot of people. With a prostitute, money changes hands. “Hooker” is a less stuffy way of referring to a prostitute. “Call girl” is an expensive prostitute. So named because you call for their services instead of meeting them on the street. “Slut” is a pejorative for a promiscuous woman. It usually does not refer to an actual prostitute, and more often is a general purpose insult, though there are usages where it is meant in a neutral or even nonsexual sense as someone who has a passion for something. “Sex worker” is a blanket euphemism for prostitutes and for woman who work in such jobs as strippers and phone sex operators. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/12 "2005-02-04T18:35:39Z")
interesting thread 🙂 What associations does anybody have for ‘hussy’? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/13 "2005-02-04T19:47:56Z")
**whore** - Japanese word meaning “a bunch”, ex. “I eat a **whore** rot of food”. **tart** - Tweety bird word meaning “begin”, ex. “Dat puddy tat is weally **tart** ing to bodder me”. **hussy** - Drunk female word meaning “husband”, ex. “I shwear ossifer, my **hussy** wush driving. Hic!” **harlots** - Southern US expression meaning “vain”, ex. “She shore brushes her harlots”. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/14 "2005-02-04T19:55:25Z")
> [@pontia](#): > > YES! YES! YES! **Anaamika** , you stole the words right out of my mouth! 😉 Judging by the tone of your post, that isn’t all she took. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/15 "2005-02-04T19:58:26Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Judging by the tone of your post, that isn’t all she took. _snort_ ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/16 "2005-02-04T21:46:54Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > And what are you defining as an unseemly degree? > > (Honestly, I think we’re back in the Stone Ages. I can want as much sex as I want and still not be a whore.) You know…more than her fair share. More than just to make babies. 😃 Thanks for the smack down, was carelessly vague (and I kinda liked getting smacked!) Hussy, by the way, originally was short for Housewife (“Husswife” I believe, in Middle English). But we all know what housewives get up to, thus the term shifted its meaning. A little. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/17 "2005-02-04T23:12:17Z")
A Hussy is a woman south of the Mason-Dixon Line, or on the Eastern Seaboard, who goes in public without proper undergarments. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/18 "2005-02-05T00:18:54Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > You know…more than her fair share. More than just to make babies. 😃 > Thanks for the smack down, was carelessly vague (and I kinda liked getting smacked!) Ok, apology accepted. 'Cause, you know, \*I’m \* a nice girl. And I loooooooove sex. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/19 "2005-02-05T00:40:48Z")
:: looking up Albany in the atlas :: ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324/20 "2005-02-05T00:43:25Z")
Nothing to add except a joke: Guy sits next to a woman in a bar. Guy: If I offered you a million dollars, would you make love to me? Woman: Uh…probably, yeah, sure. Guy: OK, here’s $20. Let’s go. Woman (outraged): What do you think I am?!!??? Guy: We’ve agreed what you are. We’re just haggling on the price. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harlot-vs-whore/288324.md?page=2)