It's always rather amusing when a word once blameless now has a rude meaning, and a double example of this is
dicked in the nob, which once meant
silly.
Nob used to mean head in C18th thieves slang and
dicked... well
dicked is a bit obscure, but the first recorded use of it to mean
penis wasn't until a slang dictionary of 1891.
What we might now call a dick was, back in the C18th, sometimes referred to as a man's
gaying instrument, where
gaying meant
happy-making.
I think I should stop there, only noting that, according to William Holloway's
General Dictionary of Provincialisms, in early Victorian Yorkshire an
ass-hole was an ash-hole.
I've nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award
ReplyDeleteMr Forsyth you have excelled yourself.!
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the scene in Monty Pythons "Life of Brian". Lots of happy making going on there..
"I have a very gweat fwend in Wome called Biggus Dickus"
"Does anyone else feel like a little giggle when I mention my fwend, Biggus, Dickus"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atBdNHGxEEY&feature=player_detailpage#t=174s
P.S. I second the "Versatile Blogger Award"
It might be a bit confusing to be called an 'ash-hole' by Sean Connery....
ReplyDeleteLaurie -
I just ran across this phrase in a regency era romance novel and couldn't wait to see what it would have meant then. I appreciate your explanation as well as your well timed end to it. It was enlightening and amusing.
ReplyDeletebloody hell
ReplyDelete