From Chaucer to Mrs. Robinson, one of literature’s most subversive archetypes is also a surprisingly old one.
It gets them every time. “How many of you,” I ask a roomful of half-awake 18-year-old students, “are familiar with the term MILF?” There’s a frenzied exchange of knowing smirks.
Determined to maintain an academic tone, I ask the next question. “And how many of you know the etymology of this acronym?”
“Mom I’d like to fuck!” one particularly enthusiastic scholar blurts out.
“Thank you,” I say over the tsunami of snickers. “That’s what it stands for. But where does it come from?”
- InsideHook
