proms

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@domain.elided>]

Sonny writes "I am guessing that the word was originally without salacious
connotations, but through euphemistic use assumed mostly that, similar to the
change in the meaning of the word int*****rse."

 Certainly correct in both cases; neither 'sexual promiscuity nor 'sexual
intercourse' is a redundancy. ('Was', anyhow.) When Wordsworth, a very proper
poet (not to say a stuffy one) wrote of "the dreary intercourse of daily life"
he was certainly not thinking about either procreation or pleasurable
recreation.

 The British term 'shooting brake' or 'shooting break', alternate spellings,
meaning a dedicated vehicle for hunting excursions, may be archaic and
slightly snobbish in an egalitarian society of mostly urban, mostly one-car
families, but what does the American term 'station wagon' mean? Surely it is
equally archaic, dating from a period when people rich enough to take
vacations would take the train to a resort where the hotels would have
carriages meeting the trains to bring them and their luggage to and from the
station. And now (requisite content) Alfa has swallowed that foreign term
whole.

 What would be a reasonable term for such a car today? 'Kombi' doesn't do it,
nor does the current German 'Touring'. Unfortunately the very logical 'Sport
Utility Vehicle' has already been preempted.

 John H.

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