Precise Citation for Major Antedating of Euphemistic Sense of "Make Love"

[Jonathan Lighter]

<<The title is a
euphemism for sexual intimacy>>

Actually it isn't. It applied to flirting, petting, and smooching, but to
"having sex" only by semantic extension.

In later years, well....

JL


On Sat, Aug 23, 2014 at 8:30 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Precise Citation for Major Antedating of Euphemistic
> Sense of
>               "Make Love"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Does anyone know the history of "faire l'amour"? I was speculating =
> earlier that it may have undergone the same shift earlier than, and =
> hence been a catalyst for, "make love".  What I'd need is the French =
> counterpart of the OED, but if anything like that is accessible online I =
> don't know where or how. =20
>
> LH
>
> On Aug 23, 2014, at 7:52 PM, W Brewer wrote:
>
> > Wonder if  Kahn & Donaldson's <<Makin' Whoopee>> 1928 could have =
> effected
> > semantic extension of <<makin' love>> around that time.  (<<The title =
> is a
> > euphemism for sexual intimacy>> /Wikip)
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DANRPmTZRqkg
> >=20
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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