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Monday, August 02, 2010
Prudish and Puritanical
Forgive me, Sue.
Whenever your time allows you I would like to ask you to explain two words you have used in your last comment to Sahar. Would you please tell us what you mean by Americans being "prudish and puritanical"?
With a lot of thanks,
T
Prudish is a word for people who are very picky and set in their ways. A prudish woman would be very careful that she never ever broke a rule. She Would obey all social customs to the extreme. Kind of the "Old Maid School Teacher" type.
Puritanical comes from the fact that Puritan Christians from Europe were some of the first people here in the 1600s. They were very strict in their dress and behavior. In Salem, Massachusetts they even burned some women as witches. They believed people were born bad and could not be saved from that. We still have people in the USA who are extreme in their habits and religion. They want things very formal and according to old rules and regulations. Every country has such people. Every religion has such people.
2 comments:
Prudish is a word for people who are very picky and set in their ways. A prudish woman would be very careful that she never ever broke a rule. She Would obey all social customs to the extreme. Kind of the "Old Maid School Teacher" type.
Puritanical comes from the fact that Puritan Christians from Europe were some of the first people here in the 1600s. They were very strict in their dress and behavior. In Salem, Massachusetts they even burned some women as witches. They believed people were born bad and could not be saved from that. We still have people in the USA who are extreme in their habits and religion. They want things very formal and according to old rules and regulations. Every country has such people. Every religion has such people.
Thank you very much, Sue for your very vivid and helpful note.
Here are some more notes for more help from: http://thesaurus.com/browse/prudish
Definition: shy and strict in behavior.
prudent means careful and sensible or marked by sound judgment, while prudish means excessively proper or modest in speech, conduct or dress.
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