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A friend uses this ____-whore construction all the time. I challenged her to find a better way to say it. I suggested addict, enthusiast, devotee, and several other words. She said none of these convey her meaning the way whore does. She says she'll watch anything. I told her she's not being paid to watch, and whore would imply that she is.

Can anyone suggest a better alternative?

trw
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    Personally I'd say that a "TV whore" is somebody who portrays a whore on television. – tobyink Sep 25 '14 at 22:40
  • @tobyink: Or perhaps someone who watches TV for money. – Drew Sep 26 '14 at 02:32
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    I suspect that this usage derives from crack whore which implies that the person is so addicted that they will do anything to get more; just as a traditional whore will do anything for money, they will do anything for crack, and your friend will do anything for TV. – Jim Sep 26 '14 at 03:10

4 Answers4

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If you call someone a tv junkie, they won't be offended. You probably won't even get their attention.

Gary's Student
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TVphile (compare with pedophile)

TVholic (compare with alcoholic)

These two come to my mind. If she is crazy about watching it, fanatic might work. However if she wants to denote the sense of leniency/low standards (as suspected)

casual couch potato

could be suffice albeit it starts to get wordy.

It's her call after all!

Crosscounter
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What about TV buff by analogy to movie buff for movie lover?

RegDwigнt
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    A TV buff is not necessarily someone who watches it a lot. It is someone who is knowledgeable about the topic TV and quite interested in it. – Drew Sep 26 '14 at 02:33
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Couch Potato implies more than just watching TV habitually, but most TV junkies are couch potatoes.

SF.
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