Usage poll: 'tart' (of a woman)

What does tart mean (re: women)

  • ‘prostitute’
  • chiefly ‘prostitute’ but sometimes a promiscuous woman
  • chiefly promiscuous woman but sometimes ‘prostitute’
  • promiscuous woman
  • I didn’t know it had anything to do with women
  • other

0 voters

As a reference to a woman, what’s your impression of this word (without looking it up)?

  1. It means ‘prostitute’
  2. It chiefly means ‘prostitute’ but can also mean a woman considered to be sexually promiscuous.
  3. It chiefly means a woman considered to be sexually promiscuous but can also mean ‘prostitute’
  4. It means a woman considered to be sexually promiscuous.
  5. I didn’t know it had anything to do with women
  6. Other

You should know :wink: like Chinese words, it can take on many connotations.

To use it as meaning prostitute, seems antiquated to me.

AFAIK, I thought it is a British slang word for someone who is just a bit to free with their sexuality for the social norms. :idunno:

I’m trying to find out just how antiquated that is, actually. :wink:

floozy

I would have offered chiefly a prossie, but sometimes just an attractive woman. No need for promiscuous. Consequently I opted for number one.

HG

:laughing: great word

Does anyone here actually use trollop or strumpet, btw? The word, I mean… :stuck_out_tongue:

Trollop, strumpet, crumpet, bit of fluff. piece of skirt, tart, can all be used without necessarily referring to a prostitute.

HG

[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Trollop, strumpet, crumpet, bit of fluff. piece of skirt, tart, can all be used without necessarily referring to a prostitute.

HG[/quote]

Yeah, what HG said.

It must be country related as well. Women call men tarts in Australia as something of a backhander or just for fun. Girls call each other tarts. If the reference was prostitute then we’d not be busy using the term with such ease.

On a personal basis I’m fond of tart.

The thread title sounds like some new version of the Al Pacino film…“Tart of a Woman.” What next? “Cream Puff of a Man?”

Or perchance some Henry James?
“Pastry of a Lady.”

My apologies. I need to get some air. :smiley:

I’ve heard ‘she sure is a tart’ used just to describe a hottie.

I’d say the chief (underlying, original) meaning is “prostitute”, but it’s used more oftren to mean a promiscuous woman nowadays.

[quote=“Ironman”][quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Trollop, strumpet, crumpet, bit of fluff. piece of skirt, tart, can all be used without necessarily referring to a prostitute.

HG[/quote]

Yeah, what HG said.

It must be country related as well. Women call men tarts in Australia as something of a backhander or just for fun. Girls call each other tarts. If the reference was prostitute then we’d not be busy using the term with such ease.

On a personal basis I’m fond of tart.[/quote]

Slapper.

She’s saucy!

‘Hoor’ is the more contemporary usage down our way.

Nope never heard it describe me. But then again,I’m not around when Sandman is thinking about me. :smiley:

When I’ve heard it used it seemed more to refer to just a hot woman. Like chick/babe. Then again, I’ve mostly heard it when Hugh Grant was talking about women in movies. Certainly a sexist term, but I didn’t get the feeling that it was a pejorative reference.

The basic, original meaning is “prostitute.” But it has also been frequently used as an insult, not to prostitutes, but to women who are more active sexually than the speaker thinks appropriate. This leads to people saying ‘she looks like a tart’ to describe sexually attractive women, and therefore now it will sometimes be said about someone who is hot - but not necessarily a prostitute, not necessarily sexually promiscuous.

I don’t think Americans use this word unless they are talking about about these yummy frosted pastries:

Those who use the word “tart” when they actually mean “ho” must be folks who are older than grandpa.

[quote=“Erhu”]I don’t think Americans use this word unless they are talking about about these yummy frosted pastries:

Those who use the word “tart” when they actually mean “ho” must be folks who are older than grandpa.[/quote]

But you can’t stick your knob in one of those. ‘It burns! It burns!’ (Oh, wait, no, it’s just the same…)

Yes, confirmation it is cultural. I didn’t think Americans used tart the same as they don’t use crumpet.

Not sure why females and bakery items are so linked in Commonwealth language.