# I need a futuristic word for Prostitute/courtesan **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284 "2006-04-04T17:26:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![bitwise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@bitwise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bitwise)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/61 "2006-04-05T04:11:03Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Some other innocuous words that may conceivably shift its meaning: > > _Maid > … > Maiden_ That would be a rather ironic shift in meaning; maids and maidens without their maidenheads. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/62 "2006-04-05T04:33:40Z")
Which is exactly why, given human nature, it’s a likely term for a prostitute. Compare “Get thee to a nunnery”: In Shakespeare’s day, “nunnery” was slang for a brothel. See also “upright fellow” or “legitimate businessman” for a member of a criminal organization. Of course, you could use all of these suggestions together. Joe: Mary is a senseo. Bob: A what? Joe: You know, a companion, a courtesan, a whoroid, a satisfier, a meretrix, an erotizan, a doxy, a star whore, a lady of the stars, a cyprian, a rocket rider… ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/63 "2006-04-05T04:45:59Z")
Padawan. What? ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/64 "2006-04-05T11:45:27Z")
I’ve got it! _Client Server_. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/65 "2006-04-05T12:24:09Z")
Starlot! ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Incongnito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4af34b/32.png) [@Guy\_Incongnito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incongnito)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/66 "2006-04-05T12:57:00Z")
Ho-bot. Cut. [Bopper](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bopper). ---
**Author:** ![Citygirl852](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Citygirl852](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Citygirl852)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/67 "2006-04-05T14:23:47Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > How about [licensed Companion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inara_Serra)? I came to this thread specifically to suggest “Licensed Companion”, but I got it from the “In Death” J.D. Robb series. Cool stuff…apparently, prostitution will be legal in 2059. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/68 "2006-04-05T14:41:07Z")
Interstellar-distress-call girl ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/69 "2006-04-05T15:13:44Z")
Whorp factor. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/70 "2006-04-05T21:52:29Z")
Coozemonaut! ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/71 "2006-04-05T22:05:13Z")
cum-capsule? planet of the gapes? denizen of uranus? (okay, that’s a definite no) transactor/tranactrix a mete-whore? release engineer? a bacchan-alien? ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/72 "2006-04-06T00:42:32Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Furnature \<-- from Soylent Green Weirdly enough, in the series Ai no Kusabi, the Furniture are the people whose caste is too low to be a whore and end up being the bodyguards for them instead. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/73 "2006-04-06T00:57:58Z")
For the caste: Coitusian For the individuals: Copulatrix Concubix For boy-toys (male to male): Urano (not from what you think [perhaps](Saturday, March 4 1230-130)) Ganymediator ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/74 "2006-04-06T06:00:32Z")
> [@Mouse\_Maven](#): > > Latin for postitute is _meretrix_. Its fun because its similar to dominitrix. I think _succuba_, for “she who lies beneath” is also usable, though it may mostly mean “mistress/kept woman.” [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meretrix](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meretrix) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/75 "2006-04-06T06:14:25Z")
I could see changed meaning for maid, dear, jenny, nurse, secretary, help, queen… \*Sexgineer \* if you’re being silly. \*Succu’ \* if you’re being a bit punny. [http://catholic.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/lookit.pl?latin=succuba](http://catholic.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/lookit.pl?latin=succuba) " **succuba** succurro : to run up under / aid, assist, help. " ---
**Author:** ![Joools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6de8d8/32.png) [@Joools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joools)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/76 "2006-04-06T06:35:28Z")
> [@galen ubal](#): > > Hmmm…how about, make up a name completely, and introduce it through context, not explaining it at all. Or take a current word/name, and do it the same way. For example: > > Mary was a good _rewo_; expensive, but she was good in bed and she listened well. > or > Mary was a good _bob_; expensive, but she was good in bed and she listened well. I love it. If you do this, you should push it as far as you can. Find something that in the current day has absolutely no sex appeal and try to make it work. For example: **kissinger**. Which I also like because, if you strip away the cultural context it kind of works as a combination of kissing + messenger. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/77 "2006-04-06T08:52:15Z")
Yesterday I finally caught up with Heinlein’s “All You Zombies”, which I’d more or less known the plot of for years but never read. In it, “service station” doesn’t mean anything to do with pumping gas, and he makes reference to visiting a service station (as we use the term) and remarks that it doesn’t have a bed. ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/78 "2006-04-06T10:46:06Z")
What makes sense within the world about which you are writing? How exactly have prostitutes come to be a venerated caste? What’s the cultural landscape and heritage? What languages are in use and where did they come from? Who is driving the slang? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/79 "2006-04-06T11:00:17Z")
Oh, I forgot “highly venerated.” Um, I just made up “mamantai” for you. It’s altered from a Spanish word which translates as “sucker,” but no one has to know that. Or something harking back to Hellenistic temple prostitutes, like “Sakerdess” as an adaptation of “sacerdos.” ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-futuristic-word-for-prostitute-courtesan/351284/80 "2006-04-06T11:32:33Z")
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