So on the bus this morning I accused my four year-old of being a “contentious little broad”. I am roundly informed by my feminist buddy that one does not refer to women with that term, because it’s offensive.
I’m sure she’s right, because she usually is, but I’m still not clear on the origins of the word. I always thought vaguely that it was something to do with playing cards.
Does this term have an offensive origin? How far distant is it now? I mean, was it once offensive but now I can argue my corner as long as I’m among friends? Or is it in fact hideously insulting and I shouldn’t even be asking the question?
I’ve found this much in Jane and Michael Stern’s Encyclopedia of Pop Culture in the article on Frank Sinatra:
Broad: “An affectionate word for ‘woman.’ Calling a girl a ‘broad’ is far less coarse than calling her a ‘dame.’”
This doesn’t say anything about the origin or why some people would be offended by it. Possibly it’s one of those words that was okay 50 years ago but became offensive over time.
So if the word originally meant “prostitute” before meaning “woman,” it’d be about as offensive as “ho.” Would you call your daughter a contentious little ho? I hope not.
(Naturally, words change int heir connotations over time; “broad” is nowhere near as offensive as “ho,” but that may just be because it’s obsolete as a word for “prostitute.”
Now for my side story:
Back in 1997, I was temping on UNC-CH’s campus as they were looking for a new university president (or provost or something–university leader, anyway). I knew that a woman was among the finalists, but I was still shocked to see The Daily Tarheel banner headline: “BROAD ELECTED AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT.”
Her name, as I quickly found out, was Molly Broad; but I still think the editor was snickering.
On the “prostitute” side, Frank Sinatra is said to have stuffed money into the cocktail glass of a gossip columnist at a party, telling her, “You’re nothing but a two-dollar broad.”
On the “woman” side, a character in the B.C. comic strip is known as The Fat Broad. As you know, that cartoonist is rather straight-laced. He probably would not have called her that if he meant “a lady of the evening.”
The meansings of words do change over time, which is why it is acceptable to call a woman broad, even your 4-year-old daughter, because it no longer means “prostitute.” You should not, however, call her a “slut,” despite the fact that the word once meant nothing more than “female.”
Whether it’s acceptable is not a factual question. The only factual question is why someone might be offended by the word; its history provides such a reason.
If this question were posted in General Etiquette, I’d be inclined to agree with you, though :D.
That sounds too absolute. It seems like the term has become more acceptable, but only when it’s said in jest. The fact that Ross was talking about his four-year-old may have made it sound worse.
As a kid I lived in Brooklyn on and off several times in the 30s, and “broad” was the norm for referring to any female, usually in an affectionate manner. Sometimes, not quite so much, as in, “Geez, looka da built on dat broad!”
Many movies made in the 30s and 40s used the term pretty generally, but mostly by lower-class characters. As I was born in dat borough, I can admit that back then most of us were pretty low-class, aspiring to middle class.
As I recall, it began to be considered offensive about the time the feminist movement started. Rightly so, probably.
What I regret is the loss of the genuine Brooklyn accent. Last guy I heard use it fully was Buddy Hackket.
I remember an old Bloom County cartoon where Milo (?) goes off to find Betty Crocker. He finds her but she’s the wrong side of sixty, sat behind a typewriter somewhere far off in the corporate headquarters. Anyway the point is that he’d seen his search as a “Search For Lost America”, and figures after a chat with Betty that he’s actually found her. Ms Crocker thinks about this for a bit and says “Overly hyped but basically a good broad.”
I always thought of it thus, as a positively affectionate term.
My father tells me that during WWII female US Marines were known as BAMs, for “broad-assed marines.”
I never heard of it having a sexual angle. I think of it as an old-fashioned, mildly rude term for a woman, like “tomato.” Women of a certain age can use it of themselves, and men whom they know and like can use it of them; but I’d never use it of or around a stranger.
There is an area of eastern England called “the Broads” which consists of a series of rivers and artificial lakes. This may be a myth, but there was supposed to be a billboard just outside Norwich railway station which read “Welcome To The Norfolk Broads” This supposedly amused American servicemen arriving at the station, and gave entirely the wrong message about Norwich.
No cites, but I’ve always been under the impression that it was related to the newspaper broadsheet. As in broadsheet spread, wide spread, spread open, legs spread.
Jane Mills described the same explanations and pejorative connotations as already covered in this thread. Then she added a twist:
Against this tide of pejoration A Feminist Dictionary defines broad as “a woman who is liberal, tolerant, unconfined and not limited or narrow in scope.” (1985)
—Jane Mills, Womanwords: A Dictionary of Words about Women (), p. 55.
Now that’s the kind of broad I like to be. Sounds pretty good when you put it like that!
