Jeremy R. Ellis - Come Again?: Racy Slang, Expletives, and Curses from Around the World

Jeremy R. Ellis

Skyhorse Publishing

Copyright 1996, 2012 by Citadel Press. Originally published as Talking Dirty. Reprinted by arrangement of Citadel Press/Kensington Publishing Corp.

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the boys i mean are not refined, copyright 1935 1963,1991 by the Trustees for the e. e. cummings Trust. Copyright 1978 by George James Firmage, a politician is an arse upon, copyright 1944, 1972,1991 by the Trustees for the e. e. cummings Trust. The lines from the way to hump a cow is not, copyright 1940, 1968,1991 by the Trustees for the e. e. cummings Trust, from Complete Poems: 1904-1962 by e. e. cummings, edited by George J. Firmage. Reprinted by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.

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10 987654321

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN: 978-1-61608-638-1

Printed in China

To my wife

The Free Speech Movement (nicknamed by its opponents the Filthy Speech Movement) at the University of California at Berkeley, from September to December, 1964, had a sign on the campus:

FUCK. If this sign said KILL, I could not be arrested.

Some things old, some things new, some things borrowed, and plenty of things blue. This is Talking Dirty: Slang, Expletives, and Curses From Around the World.

There is, to be sure, an almost overwhelming use of what have until recently been considered dirty words in the movies, novels, lyrics of popular music, greeting cards, bumper stickers, cable and even some network television, and, of course, everyday conversation. The purpose of this book is to provide an overview and sampling of the current and historic uses of dirty words; it is not intended to be complete, nor could it be without expanding it significantly and changing its focus. If you are entertained by Talking Dirty and learn at least a few interesting pieces of information, the objective will have been achieved. (You may, for example, never say swivel or quaint again.)

Talking Dirty is much more than lists; it is intended as an enjoyment, a browsers delight, to be dipped into, sampled, and perused as an entertainment, not consulted as a dry research companion.

The focus of Talking Dirty is on the words and related lore, not on pornography or ribaldry. It is not intended to be an exhaustive compilation of definitions or words with similar meanings, nor a comprehensive research work on dirty words. It is neither pragmatically possible nor within the scope and intent of this book to list all related items from my experience and other sources. I have concentrated on the inclusion of material of historic, literary, curiosity, or amusement value, as well as a variety of non-American items. The lists of synonyms, for example, are not intended to be all-encompassing, but contain just some of the many hundreds of dirty slang words. In The Anatomy of Swearing, Ashley Montagu notes that there have been more than 1,200 English synonyms recorded to describe the sexual act.

Further, I have excluded the vast majority of the work of numerous current comedians, movies, and rap music performers, which is rife withif not blatantly defined bydirty words.

I recognize that many of the terms are derogatory. Unfortunately, too, a significant portion of sexual slang is violent, homophobic, or disparaging of women or various ethnic groups. I have tried to exclude at least the most egregious examples of these. If I have not fully succeeded, I ask that you understand that no offense has been intended.

The taboo or dirty quality of some of the terms in Talking Dirty sometimes depends upon their usage including the intent, manner, and tone of the user, the company and circumstances, and the context of the usage. Such words as ball, hump, pussy, and bone, for example, are usable without critical reaction in many situations and would definitely draw such a reaction in others.

The section categories are, to some degree, arbitrary. Some items could actually be in a number of sections. There were innumerable choicese.g., a British military abbreviation could have been placed in the British, military, or abbreviation sections. I chose the British section and attemped to be consistent in my selections.

In order to avoid male or female bias and the cumbersome constructions he/she (or she/he) and him/her (or her/him), I have opted for the ungrammatical but utilitarian them.

The most beautiful thing in the world is freedom of speech.

Diogenes, The Cynic

The Old Testament of the Bible has some interesting uses of language, although not all versions of this book utilize the most earthy words.

In The First Book of the Kings, Chapter 4, is the following:

Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house

of Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall.

In Chapter 16 of this same book is the following:

He left him not one that pisseth against a wall,

neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends.

Similar lines about pisseth against the wall are echoed in Chapter 21 of this book, as well as in The First Book of Samuel, Chapter 25 (twice).

In The Book of Isaiah, Chapter 36, a question is asked: Hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?

A similar sentiment is expressed in The Second Book of the Kings, Chapter 18.

Swyve meant fuck in the fifteenth century and was used by Chaucer and other authors of the time. Its etymology is shared with swivel.

The origin of avocado is an Aztec word for testicle.

Shit shares its etymology with shed, from the Old English scedan, to divide or separate.

The root of the word fart is in the Sanskrit word pardatehe breaks wind.

The derivation of the expression to be hoist by your own petard is the use of the petard, an old explosive device whose name derives from the Latin, pedere, to fart, which is related to the French for fart, peter.

Etymology of cunnilingus: cunnus and lingere (to lickboth from the Latin).

The source of the common expression when the shit hits the fan is probably from an old joke about a man on the second floor of a building who could not find a place to shit. He found a hole in the floor and did his business there. When he returned to the bar on the first floor, all of the customers had left, and only the bartender was still there. The man asks why the place is empty and the bartender replies, Where were you when the shit hit the fan?