# What does "Miss Thing" mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 8, 2001, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-miss-thing-mean/57241 "2001-03-08T17:27:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-miss-thing-mean/57241/21 "2016-06-05T14:08:14Z")
According to the lovely NGram viewer, there were three peaks in the usage. 1. 1919-1920, America only 2. WWII era, USA and British 3. 1997, gradually rising over decades, then falling off. This peak slightly higher than the other two. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-miss-thing-mean/57241/22 "2016-06-05T14:26:30Z")
David Carter, in “Stonewall”, a book about the Gay Revolution, writes that in the 1960s “until properly introduced it was de rigueur argot to call everybody “miss thing,” (after this, it was discretionary usage)”. > **[Stonewall](https://books.google.com/books?id=j04jLSvGNSMC&pg=PA57&dq=miss-thing%2Bworld%2Bwar%2Btwo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAveexipHNAhUKSSYKHZjYDSEQ6AEINjAE#v=onepage&q=miss-thing%20world%20war%20two&f=false)** > > David Carter's Stonewall is the basis of the PBS American Experience documentary Stonewall Uprising.In 1969, a series of riots over police action against The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, changed the longtime... ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-miss-thing-mean/57241/23 "2016-06-06T09:52:22Z")
15 years, 3 months. Record for a SD Zombie? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-miss-thing-mean/57241/24 "2016-06-06T11:25:04Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > 15 years, 3 months. > > Record for a SD Zombie? There was no Ngram viewer 15 years ago, so new data is available. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-miss-thing-mean/57241/25 "2016-06-06T15:53:52Z")
**Eve** always made such great contributions to threads. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-miss-thing-mean/57241/26 "2016-06-06T16:00:41Z")
It means that the beanpole dames in the magazines ain’t it. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-miss-thing-mean/57241/27 "2016-06-06T16:48:01Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > It means that the beanpole dames in the magazines ain’t it. The type of ladies who are not allowed to roll in my Mercedes, and instead must roll a Honda playin’ workout tapes by Fonda. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-miss-thing-mean/57241.md?page=1)