cundrum

[Laurence Horn]

At 7:48 AM -0800 11/29/06, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>This nonstandard variant of "condom" didn't make it into HDAS 1
>because it isn't slangy enough. Its absence from OED, however,
>prompts this post:
>
>   1886 in _Southwestern Reporter_ I 251: He claims she yielded this
>objection on his telling her he could use an instrument for
>prevention called a "cundrum."
>
>   1973 Kenneth Burke in William H. Rueckert, ed. _Letters from
>Kenneth Burke to William H. Rueckert_ (West Lafayette, Ind.: Parlor
>Press, 2003) 202: In intercourse sans cundrum.
>
>   2004 Ben Gazzara _In the Moment_ (N.Y.: Carroll & Graf) 98 [ref.
>to ca1941]: He told me...that I should only use a "cundrum" called
>Ramses because they...didn't break. We didn't know how to pronounce
>"condom" in those days.
>
>   JL
>
Interesting.  Appears to be a blend of "conundrum" and...naaaah.

LH

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