Re: "Lip" as in "impudence" - question

Let's look at "insolent":

(snip)

Now,

1a: shows that bosses could be insolent towards their subordinates

However, the more limited 1b doesn't allow that and that seems to be
more frequent, at least based on what has been posted until now (see
Tony Cooper's and my postings).

Marius Hancu


Thanks. Just as I thought.

I was actually thinking of a scenario in a 1976 book, where an 8-year-
old boy silently uses the word in reference to the authoritarian
treatment he gets from his (much older) four sisters, who also talk
constantly about the careers they'll have as adults. However, I didn't
want to say that until now.

"Now, I don't mind women's lib - only women's lip."

I realize, of course, that if the story were about a girl of that age
who's always being ordered around by her apparently unloving teenage
brothers, many female readers would assume that the brothers were
doing it out of a sense of sexist tyranny. However, it's probably safe
to say that any sibling 5 years older or so than the younger one HAS
been given permission by the parents to be bossy, for the younger
child's own good (and to give the parents some time off from child
care) - and when you're the younger sibling with an age difference
like that, you can't really expect a very sympathetic relationship.
What teen wants a pesky 8-year-old around when the teen's busy with
something else?

Bottom line: If it's inappropriate for a girl to call it "lip" when
the "lip" is coming from an older sibling, whether male or female,
isn't it just as alarming when a boy does it? (Personally, I consider
the word to be very vulgar, maybe because I almost never hear it
used.)

If you're interested, it's a kid's book, 40-plus pages, with many
illustrations, by Susan Terris. Title: "No Boys Allowed."

From Google Books:

"I don't mind women's lib--only women's lip." That's how eight-year-
old Tullius Cicero Sharp IV, known as Tad, explains his problems with
four bossy older sisters. And when the girls plan Ma's birthday dinner
without consulting him, Tad decides to go downtown alone to buy his
own present and then finds himself without bus fare for the trip home.
Tad's walk home after dark is truly scary--a lonely park, the lighted
windows of strange houses, a burntout mansion, even a neighbor's bull
terrier all feed his active imagination. Otherwise this is one of
those narrowly focused gestures of independence that relies on the
reader's own feelings about. big sisters to provide the emotional
stuffing.

(end)

Lenona.
.

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