| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
| |
| pasty (adj.), pasty, pastie, pasties (nn.) |
| |
| |
| The adjective comes from the noun paste, and its first syllable is pronounced like it, PAIST. It means paste-like in color or texture or both and gives us a stock description of a pale, unhealthy-looking complexion, as in He is a pasty-faced little runt. A pasty (usually pronounced PAS-tee, but sometimes PAIS-tee, possibly under influence of the noun paste) is a pie or tart, especially a meat pie. The pie is sometimes spelled pastie, and its plural is pasties. The same spelling gives us the noun used for the small adhesive circles stripteasers sometimes paste on their nipples; this word, however, is always pronounced PAIS-teez. | 1 |
| |
| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
|
|
