FW: Antedatings for BBC List

[FRITZ JUENGLING]

I haven't heard 'rubber' for YEARS.  I don't think most of my students would know it and none would say it.  With the rise of AIDS, condom just became the most usual term. IN an earlier email (which doesn't seem to have appeared on ADS-L--probably lost in cyberspace), I gave another term:
party hat
Fritz

>>> fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU 06/10/05 02:13PM >>>
On Fri, 10 Jun 2005, Michael Quinion wrote:

> Now you know more about the background, please instruct me and other
> Brits on this list. Is there really no equivalent American euphemism
> like "something for the weekend"?

There are others on this list who know far more than I do about slang, but
let me answer as best I can.  I'm sure there are various euphemisms
for "condom" in American English, but I don't think there are any
elaborate ones like "something for the weekend" in general usage.  The
major euphemism in American English is the simpler "rubber."

Fred Shapiro


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