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slang word for Prostitute "TOM"

Posted by Israel izzy Cohen on July 29, 2005

In Reply to: slang word for Prostitute "TOM" posted by Lewis on July 25, 2005

This may be an ironic/sarcastic usage of the Hebrew word taf-vav(oh)-mem ToM which means "purity, innocence, chastity". In Israel today, ToM is sometimes a girl's name.

A similar example of this type of usage is the English word "hokum" with the meaning "nonsense". It is probably derived from
Yiddish/Hebrew het-vav(oh)-khaf-mem-heh KHokhMa which means "wisdom". The ironic usage already exists within Yiddish.

Israel "izzy" Cohen

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