randy is known in AE, too.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horn%C3%BD_Zemp...

Horny Zemplin - eine für Touristen attraktive Region am Rande der Slowakei ...

I would consider "randy" somewhat along the lines of "boot" and "bonnet" some AE speakers have heard of the BE terms, but they don't typically use them. If "randy" were common in the sense mentioned by overt ("sexuell erregt"), then I doubt Randy would be so commonly used as a first name or nickname for Randall in the US.

The Oxford Learner's Dictionary lists it as BE,
http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/...

and I consider this source more reliable than Merriam Webster, which doesn't mark it as BE: http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/...

Why would Randy not be common because of a double meaning? Is Dick any less common because it also means penis? Or what about Willie or Fanny? I used to have a girlfriend from NYC; she sometimes called herself "randy Randy." Of course, that was a long time ago, and her real name wasn't Randall. It was Miranda.

Prince Andrew wurde ja mal wegen seines regen Liebeslebens "Randy Andy" (BE) genannt. Und andrerseits lässt sich mein Freund Randall aus NY (AE) ohne Hintergedanke "Randy" rufen ...

I apologize for the poor punctuation in my previous entry: I edited and didn't fix things properly. What I meant to write is: along the lines of "boot" and "bonnet." Some AE speakers have heard of the terms, but most don't typically use them.

Why would Randy not be common because of a double meaning? Is Dick any less common because it also means penis?

I suspect that Dick is less common because of the other meaning, though I don't have data handy. People named Richard can choose to go by Rich or Rick or Ricky, and I would guess that some choose one of those over Dick because they don't want the association made. That's not to say that everyone avoids the name: I've known a few people who went by Dick. I also knew a female Randi.

For what it's worth, wikipedia includes randy in its list of BE words not commonly used in the US, though it comments that it has become more common.

I don't mean to claim that no one in the US knows or uses randy to mean sexually excited. However, it still strikes me as chiefly BE. Things change, though. Spot on, go missing and ginger have all become more common in the US and may soon not seem BE to Americans. Randy still strikes me as very BE; AE speakers in other parts of the US or who travel in other circles may react differently to it. I'd be curious to hear what other AE speakers say.


en.wikipedia.org/wik/List_of_British_words_not_widely_used_in_the_United_States

In my experience, Amy-Mimi is right: Some AE speakers may know "randy" in the sense of "horny", but many don't, and the word is not generally used in this sense in AE.

Hi, Martin--cal. Thanks for spoiling my edit of the link. ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wik/List_of_Brit...

So much for my valuable support :-)

Why would Randy not be common because of a double meaning? Is Dick any less common because it also means penis?

Nö. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Size_Dick

und hier nun der korrekte Link zu #6 /#8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_...

And from this side of the pond:
Yes, "horny" is understood in the UK but in my view would still generally be seen as more AE (though, like, many other terms, I suspect it is becoming more common). People of a certain age (i.e. me!) probably wouln't use it.

Randy ist auf alle Fälle mehr BE. Ich habe jahrelang mit amerikanischen Soldaten gearbeitet, da war die Umgangssprache schon "sehr salopp", aber randy habe ich da nie in diesem Zusammenhang gehört.

Just because some people don't know it (and yes, working with American soldiers is, of course, the best qualifier of all), the word still exists in AE. It's listed in M-W, the infamous Urban Dictionary, and several others, including the Oxford version below. I'm not arguing that it's better known or more widely used in BE, I'm just saying (and have done so since #1) that it's known in AE. I, for one, have known it since the late '70s.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definiti...
HOME US ENGLISH
RANDY
randy
Syllabification: rand·y
Pronunciation: /ˈrandē /
Definition of randy in English:
ADJECTIVE (randier, randiest)
1 informal Sexually aroused or excited.
2Scottish archaic (Of a person) having a rude, aggressive manner.
Origin
mid 17th century: perhaps from obsolete rand 'rant, rave', from obsolete Dutch randen 'to rant'
Derivatives
randily
randiness


Edit: btw, Amy-MiMi, my question regarding Dick was rhetorical. Of course Dick is still a very popular name and has been for a long time. In fact, you might even remember ol' Tricky Dick, he of the Watergate scandal. There's also Dick Butkus, Dick van Dyke, Dick Cheney, Dick Allen, Dick Clark, Dick Cavett, just to name a few more. The list is literally endless.

Just because some people don't know it [•••] the word still exists in AE.

Nobody has said anything to the contrary, unless I've missed something.

Just stumbled across this little tidbit of information:
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2000-12-06/news/...
Santa Can Be a Randy Bastard
Video stocking stuffers for a horny New Year

Merry x-mas! :-)

Edit: whynotme seems to think so, Gibson.

Nein. Ich meinte nur, dass es da wohl nicht so verbreitet ist, dude ;-)

OT
Of course Dick is still a very popular name and has been for a long time. 

Interesting. As I thought about the use of "Dick" for "Richard," I thought, "I haven't heard many younger people called Dick in ages." Then I looked at the US Census Bureau's figures on the popularity of the names "Richard" and "Dick."

"Dick" and "Richard" peaked in popularity in the 40s/50s. The popularity of both has dropped off rapidly and drastically since then -- which is why I know few younger people with either name, I'd say.

http://www.ourbabynamer.com/Richard-name-popu...

According to Collins, the "vulgar" meaning of "dick" has been around since the 19th century, so I'd guess that that hasn't influenced the popularity of eithe Richard or Dick all that much.
/OT

from Dude's link in #16; "...brazenly for a mainstream thriller, and his bum is everywhere—just deliciously lewd-icrous.", and the title of the piece makes one wonder whether BE is popular in Seattle. :-)

Danke an alle. Thanks to everybody.

Danke insbesondere an Amy-MiMi für den Link zu dem Wikipedia-Artikel "List of British words not widely used in the United States".

Hier noch ein kleines "Schmankerl" (wie sagt man im Englischen? "Tidbit"?), auf das ich in Youtube gestoßen bin:

Austin Powers: "Do I make you horny baby? Do I make you randy?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec_n2YTdA24

;-)

I agree with Amy-MiMi.

And from this side of the pond:
Yes, "horny" is understood in the UK but in my view would still generally be seen as more AE (though, like, many other terms, I suspect it is becoming more common). People of a certain age (i.e. me!) probably wouln't use it.

It's not just understood; it was around in BE the 19th century, which leads me to believe it also originated there (Americanisms weren't really a phenomenon back then).

From "to have the horn":

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/...
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=horny

My baby-boomer, BE-speaking mother was definitely able to tell me why one graffiti-artist wag kept erasing the S from the "Hornsey Lane" sign in North London circa early 1990s, anyway.

That reminds me; some time ago the lower bowl of the "B" in "Bornheim Mitte" (Ffm) on a sign over the entrance to the U-Bahn was scratched off (at night presumably). :-)

I remember "to have the horn" in the UK many decades ago; I suspect "horny" has become more common (as an import?) since then.

Some people are just really dedicated to the sexual-innuendo-in-public-signage cause!