"Fanny" in US English

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thanks for 1922, Doug. That is certainly the copyright date. I wonder how widely known the American interpretation was in England at that time.

  I wonder too how frequent the sexual sense has been in Britain, esp. since ca1900.  OED's cites are from _The Pearl_ (1879),  a slang dictionary,  _Finnegans Wake_, and Erica Jong's 18th C. pastiche, _Fanny_.

  My impression is that it has usually been a kind of coy euphemism, perhaps esp. among women, rather than a fully-sexualized term. But I could be wrong; my reading of relevant British (and Irish) sources has been comparatively limited.

  JL





"Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Douglas G. Wilson"
Subject: Re: "Fanny" in US English
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>FWIW, my mother, b.1914 in Longview, TX, used "fan your fanny" as a
>joking replacement for "give you a spanking." When she wasn't joking,
>she straightforwardly stated, "I'm going to beat you till I can't
>see you!"

I used to hear "fan your fanny" too (maybe not from my mother but from
other relatives IIRC). Also, a little stronger maybe: "tan your hide".

-- Doug Wilson


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