Antedating? of "shot his wad" 1896

[Wilson Gray]

On Sep 19, 2004, at 5:22 PM, Mullins, Bill wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating? of "shot his wad" 1896
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
>> Subject:      Antedating? of "shot his wad" 1896
>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
>>
>> P.S.  If anyone can cite the first use of the term in a
>> sexual = connotation, I would be grateful.
>>
>
> If online searchable indices/databases of pornography ever appear, a
> whole
> lot of terms will be antedated.
>

Quite so.  For example, from reading My Secret Life by "Walter,"
published in parts 1888-1894, I learned that "punk," which is an
insulting term for a male homosexual in BE, was used as a term for a
female prostitute in Victorian England.

-Wilson Gray