For those of you involved with the Man Friday discussion. =)
Girl-Friday:
[<GIRL n. + Friday, the name of Robinson Crusoe's servant in Defoe's novel (see MAN FRIDAY n.), after MAN FRIDAY n.] A female assistant, esp. one who performs general tasks in an office.
Man-Friday:
[Alluding to Robinson Crusoe's servant Friday in Defoe's novel, whom Crusoe usually refers to as ‘my man Friday’.
1719 D. DEFOE Life Robinson Crusoe 224 And first, I made him know his Name should be Friday, which was the Day I sav'd his Life. 1719 D. DEFOE Life Robinson Crusoe 245, I takes my man Friday with me.]
Someone regarded as having the characteristics of Defoe's man Friday; a servant, an attendant; a personal assistant who does all kinds of work; a companion.
- Merriam Webster -
- Main Entry: girl Friday
-
- Function: noun
- Etymology: girl + Friday (as in man Friday)
- Date: 1940 : a female assistant (as in an office) entrusted with a wide variety of tasks
Girl-Friday:
[<GIRL n. + Friday, the name of Robinson Crusoe's servant in Defoe's novel (see MAN FRIDAY n.), after MAN FRIDAY n.] A female assistant, esp. one who performs general tasks in an office.
Man-Friday:
[Alluding to Robinson Crusoe's servant Friday in Defoe's novel, whom Crusoe usually refers to as ‘my man Friday’.
Someone regarded as having the characteristics of Defoe's man Friday; a servant, an attendant; a personal assistant who does all kinds of work; a companion.
2 comments:
Okay, I would have never thought of looking it up in the dictionary... But at least now we know for sure that our guesses were correct!
I forgot His Girl Friday was on our "to watch" list. (We should really write all these down...) So many movies, so little time...
I can always count on you for interesting etymology tidbits. Thanks! ;)
~Dee
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