Female Genitalia

[Gregory {Greg} Downing]

At 10:56 PM 9/26/2000 -0400, Bill Smith wrote:
>I have encountered that twice, in both instances
>from an African-American woman reporting her grandmother's instructions for
>bathing: "Wash as far as possible, and then wash possible."  Does it occur
>in any other context?
>

An example from fiction -- Joyce, _Ulysses_ (1922; passage composed 1921),
from a 33-y.-o. woman's thoughts in 1904 about an occasion on which she and
her future husband had flirted in the late 1880s:

"glauming me over and when I said I washed up and down as far as possible
asking me and did you wash possible"

So, in case anyone was wondering, this isn't a new joke!


Greg Downing, at greg.downing at nyu.edu or gd2 at is2.nyu.edu