Date:    Fri, 22 May 1998 09:59:21 -0700
<br>From:    Grant Smith <gsmith[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]EWU.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: Scumbag (continued)
<br>
<br>>     But the key word in this language is one used primarily in lower-economic
<br>>groups, and among youngsters, particularly in the urbanized areas of the
<br>>eastern part of the United States, where semen is called _scum_ and the condom
<br>>is known as _the scum bag_.*
<br>>     (* I am informed that this usage is rather limited in the United States
<br>>to the East coast, to urbanized areas, and to immigrants and first- and
<br>>second-generation Americans.  Several readers, hailing from the South, Mid-
<br>>West, and Far West, inform me that they had (a) never heard the word used in
<br>>this manner before reaching New York, or (b) never heard the word used in this
<br>>manner before reading this manuscript.  I am pleasantly surprised to learn of
<br>>the confinement of this practice to a limited segment of the American
<br>>population.)
<br>
<br>I remember hearing _scum_ used as a designation for semen as a young
<br>teenager in the early 50s in Bellingham WA.  The general meaning of _scum_
<br>would seem to make this specific usage among active and poetic teenagers
<br>almost inevitable.
<br>
<br>Grant Smith
<br>Eastern Washington University
<br>