Who says ''Merkins''?

[Charles Doyle]

Yes, that was every language geek's favorite joke back in the LBJ era--even among us Texans who might not even have noticed the presidential pronunciation had we not known about merkins!

The pubic wigs were (apparently) much in demand among ladies of fashion in the 17th century--perhaps to disguise the baldness that can result from syphilis.  And to think: now our female students (and some males) deliberately denude themselves of the very hairs that their forebears took such pains to replace . . . .

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2006 09:14:40 EDT
>From: RonButters at AOL.COM
>Subject: Who says ''Merkins''?
>
>It was a commonplace joke during the earlier years of the Viet Nam War that the president of the United States addressed the country as "My fellow Merkins." He was from Texas. Our dicitonaries told us that MERKIN means 'artifical pubic hair'.

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